Theories association on public accounts committees (PACs) of Malaysia: an exploratory analysis into its role and establishment

Of the three legislature’s functions, unlike representation and law-making, oversight is particularly related to PACs. As a supposedly strong committee of legislature, PACs can emerge as a potential solution to the need of the State Legislative Assemblies (SLAs) to monitor the financial conducts of the state governments. However, within the Malaysian context, much about the related situations is not known due to limited exploration on the matter at states level. Focus has probably been more directed towards PAC at federal level as issues under purview at that level are more likely to capture public concerns and media interests. Thus, this paper attempts an exploration of states’ PAC practices, and associating them with some theoretical concepts in order to illuminate the current state of affairs. It seems that PACs’ institutional designs and capacity building are among factors to be improved to promote state PACs’ effectiveness. Such information gives this paper a knowledge base to launch further inquiries into future research initiatives regarding the topic