PhD Proposal Defence

Six phd candidates presented their preliminary research proposals yesterday. Students are basically to work on all the comments and recommendations given by the panels and to improve their proposals before the next
IPSIS's Graduate Study defense on 9th March 2010. It was indeed a good session as students were more relaxed and the panels gave some very constructive comments. Good luck everyone...

Meeting the Vice Chancellor

Prof Dr Ibrahim and I met up with the vice chancellor Y. Bhg. Dato’ Prof Ir. Dr. Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar.
Basically we updated him on ARI's status as a MOHE centre of excellence and the faculty's plan to put UiTM on the world map. ARI and the faculty will continue to work together and will enhance our international collaboration. Our professional accreditation will now include the newer professions such as forensic accountants, financial anti-fraud specialist, anti money laundering specialist, fraud examiners and financial eye witnesses.
As such we hope to introduce new enhancement programs to our already accredited Bachelor of Accountancy.

Meeting with MOHE

Today Prof Rashidah, Ms Roszana Tafsir and Prof Dr Normah attended the meeting with Prof Dr Jailani and his team from MOHE. Basically the meeting was to discuss ARI's plan and activities as a MOHE centre of excellence. In principle, the proposed plan was accepted and from now on, ARI is to move forward aggressively to position itself as a global reference centre in Islamic Financial Criminology. Initial contacts have been made with prominent scholars in Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology for collaborative research projects. The launching of a journal on Islamic Financial Criminology and an international conference on Islamic Financial Criminology will take place in December 2010.

UiTM CoE Audit

The Research Management Institute (RMI) in a meeting with heads of CoE today discussed the use of "MyRA" (a research assessment tool used by the Ministry of Higher Education) to assess the performance of various Centres of Excellence. Effectively, CoEs with marks exceeding 150 points will be categorized as "Tier 1", those whose marks are between 100-150 as "Tier 2" and those with "75 - 100" marks as "Tier 3". Others whose marks are below 75 points would remain as special interst groups (SIGs). The university in return will award different levels of incentive grants to each of the CoE category. This hopefully will encourage the respective CoEs to work harder to benefit the incentive scheme...

Islamic Financial Criminology Conference 2010

ARI hopes to host an international financial criminology conference themed "Islamic Financial Criminology" in December 2010. The two-day conference will invite renowned international speakers in the areas of Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology. We are also planning to launch a special edition journal on Islamic Financial Criminology during the conference. ARI researchers will also be sharing their research findings related to Islamic Financial Criminology during the event.

"Concern Over Push to Reform Islamic Finance"...

This is an excerpt from today's NST - Biznews page 10.
"...The global financial crisis has intensified a push for Islamic finance to return to its roots and move further away from conventional banking. Recent sukuk defaults and the Dubai debt crisis have given ammunition to critics, who argue that Islamic instruments would have held up better if there were not such a close resemblance between sukuk and conventional...". Well, there's certainly a lot of research potential and innovation in Islamic finance that researchers can possibly explore. ARI invites interested researchers to collaborate with us...

Islamic Financial Criminology...

MOHE is asking if ARI could explore on Islamic Financial Criminology. It si an integration of Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology. To date, more and more financial institutions are establishing the Islamic finance as one of their products. As a CoE focussing on financial criminology, ARI is committed to explore in new research area such as Islamic financial criminology - this includes developing tools for detection, prevention and investigation of financial fraud that might involve this latest product. ARI is inviting international renowned researchers on Islamic Finance to collaborate with us...

Happy Chinese New Year

ARI wishes a Happy Chinese New Year to all ARI and Faculty of Accountancy members who are celebrating CNY: Dr Wee Shu Hui, Dr Lai Ming Ling, Dr Huang Ching Choo, AP Tew You Hoo, AP Son Tan Sing, AP Tan Lay Leng...Kong He Fa Chai

CSSR 2010

The university's annual Conference of Science & Social Science Research (CSSR 2010) will be held in December.
Last year, CSSR 2009 attracted more than 500 papers. Selected papers will be published in two of the university's prominent journals - Social and Management Research Journal (SMRJ) and Scientific Research Journal (SRJ). Details of the conference are as follows:

Date: 5 - 8 December 2010
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Deadline for Full Paper Submission: 14 April 2010

For details please go to http://www.uitmrmi.org/cssr2010/

Internationalization of ARI

In its effort towards internationalisation, ARI is encouraging its researchers to embark on collaborative research projects with international universities all over the world. Our current focus is on financial criminology - examination of current trends, fraud detection, fraud investigation, prevention mechanisms and governance strategies. Beside international universities, researchers should also consider partnering with international fraud prevention and enforcement agencies.

CPA Farewell to Ms William

The council members and the management team of CPA Australia (Malaysia) threw a farewell dinner to Her Excellency Ms Penny Williams as she is finishing her term as Australia High Commissioner to Malaysia.
ARI director who is also a council member attented the memorable event. Ms William has been instrumental and supportive to the development of the accounting profession, particularly CPA Australia in this country. ARI in turn is also actively involved with the research activities of CPA Australia. Selamat Jalan and thank you Ms William...

Meeting the Vice Chancellor

Twenty one professors were invited for a tea & discussion session with the vice chancellor today. Basically the VC shares with us his vision for UiTM. ARI's focus on financial criminology for the next three years fits well with the VC's vision of establishing the forensic studies in Shah Alam. So, within the forensic study framework, ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy can contribute significantly by producing forensic accounting graduates and researchers. God willing ARI also hopes to establish its own forensic lab in 2010. The lab will be equipped with contemporary tools such as polygraph machines, document analyzer and identification verifier.

NAfMA 2010 Opens

The Organizing Committee (OC) of the National Award for Management Accounting (NAfMA) had its first meeting today.
Apart from discussing post mortem issues of the previous NAfMA 2009, the committee had also elaborated on improvement initiatives for NAfMA 2010. More corporate visits and NAfMA workshops will be organized. The OC meeting was followed by an appreciation dinner for all NAfMA 2009 assessors.

Visiting Professors in Financial Criminology

ARI is planning to bring in three international professors whose expertise are in the area of financial criminology and forensic accounting as visiting professors for the institute. Professor Glen Moyes from Texas Pan University, USA is renowned for his research and publication in financial fraud red flags. Prof Sardar Islam from Victoria University has written papers on governance and financial integrity of the capital market. Prof Behnaz from Missouri has diversed research interest which includes forensic accounting.

NAfMA Appreciation Dinner and Post-Mortem

CIMA Malaysia & MIA are calling for a post-mortem meeting on this Friday 5th February to discuss on matters related to NAfMA 2009. This will be followed by an appreciation dinner for all members of three main committes: NAfMA Organising Committee (OC) Assessment criteria committee and NAfMA Assessment Committee. The meeting will also discuss on the forthcoming NAfMA 2010 event...