Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs / Muhammad Arieff Najmuddin Mohd Mohtar

As part of Universiti Teknologi MARA’s undergraduate program, every student is required to do an industrial training at the company of their choice at the end of the semester and are also required to do a research of the company itself or the industry of their choosing in order to complete their undergraduate studies. I am one of the lucky few who managed to get an industrial attachment with a think tank, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs. Which is a think tank that promote solution to public policy challenges. IDEAS consist of four main research team which are, Social Policy Unit, Democratic and Governance Unit, Economic and Business Unit, and Public Finance Unit. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Public Finance Unit. For this industrial training report, a research was conducted to identify the factors affecting Malaysian State-Owned Enterprises’ Liquidity Position. Based on the literature gathered, independent variables which consists of internal (Size and Return on Assets) and external (Gross Domestic Product and Inflation) were established. The sample used for this research were Government Linked Companies which are Felda Global Ventures, Petroliam Nasional Berhad, and UMW Holdings Berhad. The result of the research revealed that internal factors such as Size and Return on Assets have a significant positive role in affecting liquidity position while external factors are insignificant. Since this kind of research were not widely covered by other researchers, it was recommended for other future researchers to employ a wide range of variables which includes internal (company-based) and external (economic-based) to produce a more comprehensive result while also to include more known Government Linked Companies in the research sample. To conclude this, research about financial aspects of State-Owned Enterprises are important since it does not only play a vital part in keeping the economy afloat but also to the nation itself, hence, further studies of this particular topic should be made in great detail.