In an era where the financial landscape is marked by unprecedented complexity and rapid evolution, the divide between theory and practice has never been more captivating, or indeed, more crucial. There is dynamic interplay between financial theory and real-world practice. The chasm between theory and practice is far from a mere academic discourse as it manifests in boardrooms, trading floors, investment committees, and countless other corners of the financial world.

With this notion, groups of students from the Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (FBM-UiTM) organized an Industry Talk entitled “Corporate Finance: Theory Vs Reality” as a part of their syllabus for Introduction to Corporate Finance (FIN430). The talk was held on 19th May 2023 at DK1 (200), UiTM Puncak Alam Selangor. The objective of this talk is to enhance the knowledge of the students regarding corporate finance and to expose the students with the current issues pertaining to corporate finance in Malaysia. Besides, the talk is also to provide a platform of discussion for the students with the industry.

The speaker for this talk was Puan Noor Erni Surya Noordin, Chief Financial Officer at Jentayu Sustainable Berhad whom has been in the corporate world for more than 18 years. Prior to joining Jentayu, she used to serve at UiTM Holdings Sdn Bhd as Group Chief Financial Officer for 3 years and at International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) as Executive Director of Finance & Administration for 5 years. With her extensive experience in corporate world, she managed to make the session lively as well answering questions given by the audience.

The success of this talk was based on collaborative efforts from various parties. It was carried out by 2 classes of students in collaboration with The Association of Finance (TAF), and guided by their lecturers namely Dr Nur Zahidah Baharudin, Dr Imani Mokhtar, Prof Dr Jaafar Pyeman, Puan Nor Akila Mohd Kasim and Puan Bushra Mohd Zaki. A total of 203 students from Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance) and Bachelor of Business Administration (Islamic Banking) participated in the talk. It is hoped that there will be more of such programs in the future and the involvement of more students is expected.