Int. J. Critical Accounting, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2013 213 Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Government-linked companies’ (GLCs) performance – a structuration perspective: Malaysian evidence Yeng Wai Lau Department of Accounting and Finance, Turku School of Economics, Rehtorinpellonkatu 3, 20500 Turku, Finland E-mail: YengWai.Lau@tse.fi and Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Malaysia E-mail: waily@econ.upm.edu.my Abstract: Malaysian GLCs are under pressure to perform due to their role in helping the country to become a developed nation. Using the structuration theory as a framework, this paper seeks to provide a critical perspective on GLCs’ performance. This study has found that GLCs are pressured to strike a balance across political, economic and social goals, and attainment of some of these goals, especially goals non-financial in nature, is not necessarily translated into improved financial performance in the short run. Assessing only the financial aspects of GLCs’ performance does not provide a complete picture of GLCs’ achievements. Despite the importance of non-financial performance, the challenges associated with defining, measuring and using non-financial indicators remain unresolved. Future research can consider exploring how best to assess the non-financial aspects of GLCs’ performance in light of the significance of GLCs’ political and social obligations, which do not necessarily lend themselves to financial evaluations. Keywords: government-linked companies; GLCs; financial performance; non-financial performance; structuration theory; Malaysia. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Lau, Y.W. (2013) ‘Government-linked companies’ (GLCs) performance – a structuration perspective: Malaysian evidence’, Int. J. Critical Accounting, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.213–227. Biographical notes: Yeng Wai Lau is a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. She is currently pursuing her research interest in critical accounting and decision making as a Post Doctoral Researcher at Turku School of Economics, Finland; i.e., from 2010 to 2012. She completed her doctoral degree in Accounting at University of Melbourne, Australia, in 2007. Her doctoral research investigates, in an experimental setting, the influence of the presentation of costs information on decisional performance. She teaches principles of accounting, costs accounting, accounting information systems, strategic cost management and entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level.