Forensic Accounting with Shuba Kumar

The Certified Practising Accountants (CPA Australia) organizes a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program for members and non-members at CPA's training room (The Gardens, Kuala Lumpur) today. The training entitled "Detecting and Preventing Financial Frauds in Organizations" was attended by eighty participants. The facilitator, Ms Shuba Kumar is a very experienced trainer. Ms Kumar was holding various positions in the corporate sector both in Malaysia and Australia. She is a fellow CPA (A)and has many years as auditor in one of the Big Four Accounting Firm. The training session was interesting and she shared with us her personal experiences. As professional accountants and effective auditors, we too have to know how "the financial number game is played". Thanks Ms Shuba Kumar for the thought provoking session...

Congratulations Winners to PAIB Articles of Merits

ARI wishes to congratulate two prize winner teams from UiTM for winning the Silver and Bronze awards respectively. The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee organises the competition as a way of selecting suitable articles to be submitted to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)for the annual "IFAC Articles of Merit".
Associate Professor Dr Huang Ching Choo won the silver award and RM2,000 cash prize. The Bronze award was won by Mr Zubir Azhar, Prof Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman and Dr Sharifah Khadijah Syed Agil with cash prize RM1,000. Congratulations....

Corporate Governance Week

The Corporate Governance Week 2010, themed Towards Corporate Governance Excellence is jointly organised by Securities Commission of Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia Berhad. The CG week 2010 commences this week on 28th June to 2nd July 2010. Various events which include Lecture Series, Panel Sessions, Forum and a Mini Conference will be offered to the public. As a Director of the Accounting Research Institute and representing the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (MII), Prof Dr Normah Omar has been invited to speak at the CG conference on a topic entitled "Corporate Integrity System Malaysia". Currently Prof Dr Normah is a member of MII's research project with the same title...

Multiple Efforts to Increase FRGS Applications

The Research Management Institute (RMI) is organising multiple programs to facilitate researchers to submit their FRGS application. There are FRGS clinics being offered concurrently in the Shah Alam campus and the various state campuses. At the same time, peer-review evaluation sessions are also held to facilitate researchers to submit their proposals on site. Congratulations RMI. We at ARI are also doing our bid and we hope to submit another 30 applications. Prof Dr Rozainun is heading this task.

Case Study Presentation to MINDA

ARI researchers comprising Prof Dr Normah, Prof Dr Rozainun, Assoc Prof Dr Rohaya, Assoc Prof Hj Idrus and Dr Azmi had a meeting with the management team of MINDA to discuss our case study framework of Malaysian Government-Linked Companies (GLCs)at MINDA office in Kuala Lumpur.
ARI had been approached my MINDA for us to present our case study framework. In support of Malaysia's aspiration to achieve the Vision 2020, GLCs have a very important role to play. MINDA being an institute responsible for training members of the board of directors aspires to educate them through training programs using the case study approach.

Vice Chancellor Special Projects (VCSP)

Today we attended a briefing by the University Strategic Planning Unit and the UEPMO consultants on VCSP.
ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy have been given special projects related to putting our programs and centre of excellence on the world map. Our initiatives include the internationalisation of ARI and our Master in Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology. Some of our existing professional programs namely CPA (Australia), ACCA, CAT, CIMA are already internationally-recognised.

FRGS Clinic

ARI wishes to remind members that the Research Management Institute (RMI)will be organizing a two-day research clinic at the DePalma Hotel Shah Alam on 23-24 June 2010. Members are encouraged to submit their proposals at the location. To those who have queries related to frgs proposal application & submission, please address them to panel reviewers who will be facilitating researchers during the two-day duration

A PhD VIVA

How best should one PhD candidate prepares for his/her viva? Prof Normah was recently an external examiner to one phd student of a local university. Yes, it is quite normal that a candidate faces the examiners and answers questions during the viva-voce.
What makes this one an extra special experience is the fact that so many of the candidate's collegues had requested to attend the session. Congratulations Fuad... (he is the one on the left in the second photo). He was calm and very focus (perhaps his friends were more nevous than he was)

Congratulations to the Bride's Mom

ARI wishes to congratulate Associate Professor Dr Faizah Darus, head of APCeS research centre and her husband Mr Nazir on the wedding bliss of their eldest daughter Aimi Zahara. Congratulations and thank you for you kind invitation...

Our Deepest Condolences

ARI extends our deepest condolences to two of our members: Associate Prof Jane Lazar for the demise of her beloved mother and to Azizul - our Master in Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology student who recently lost his 4-day old son

Bukit Tinggi Retreat - Day Three

Yes, we exceeded our original targets.
At the end of day three, thirty four proposals were prepared; forty concept papers were submitted and thirty five journal articles were edited.
Impressive indeed. Imagine how much we were able to accomplish in one weekend (these numbers were our wish throughout the semester). We have achieved the target of the retreat. Congratulations everyone. ARI wishes thank all researchers, our research assistants, our research officer & assistant research officer. , Congratulations to Dr Hilwani who organized the retreat; Prof Dr Rashidah & Prof Dr Rozainun, Assoc Prof Dr Zuraidah, Assoc Prof Dr Norzaidi and Dr Intan Salwani for a job well done. Thank you...

Bukit Tinggi Retreat - Day Two

The hardworking ARI members continued to work harder.
We all aimed to beat our own target. The firt group of researchers presented their research proposals in the afternoon of second day. At the end of the afternoon, 18 proposals were presented. After a long successful day,
it was decided that we were taking the evening off and together with our family members, it was a concensus that we are all to enjoy the barbeque dinner. It is important for us to have fun as well - it was a well deserving break...

Bukit Tinggi Retreat- Day One

ARI Bukit Tinggi Retreat 2010: 11 to 13 June 2010.
Our target is to have the following deliverables: 30 research proposals, 20 concept papers and 20 journal articles. We have assigned different specific members to take care of each deliverable.
Prof Rashidah & Dr Hilwani took care of the research proposals in Islamic Financial Criminology; Prof Rozainun and Assoc Prof Dr Zuraidah were in charge of concept papers; Assoc Prof Dr Norzaidi & Dr Intan Salwani was to convert thesis and completed research monographs into journal articles. All in all thirty four members came - 26 rooms in Berjaya Hill Resorts and 4 rooms in Selesa Holme. The first batch left the university by bus at 10.30 am and the rest went on their own. The program started at 4 pm.

Meeting the SCM

ARI was greatly previledged to be able to meet key people who were involved and responsible for the setting up of the Shariah Capital Market during its early years at the Securities Commissions (SC).
Our big thank you to Dr Md Nurdin Ngadimon (AGM - Syariah); Mr Zainol Ali, Manager of the Islamic Capital Market Department; Mr Noraizat Shik Ahmad (AGM). ARI members were briefed on the development of the Islamic capital market since its establishment in 2004.

Congratulations Prof Dr Azni

ARI wishes to congratulate Prof Dr Azni Zain Ahmed for her recent appointment as the new Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic & Internationalisation).
Prof Azni replaces Prof Dr Mustafa who successfully complted his term at the end of May 2010. Her appointment signifies a great history for UiTM as Prof Dr Azni is the first female DVC. Congratulations

NAfMA 2010

We had a great start for NAfMA 2010. The NAfMA Breakfast Talk held today at the Public Bank Training Centre had attracted more than seventy participants. Three previous winners namely Alliance Finance Group (represented by Mr Eric Lee), Keu Control Engineering (Mr Ang) and Centrury Siftmare (Mr Paremaswara Rajagopal) shared their experiences in NAfMA participations. The workshop was followed by a cheques handing ceremony and luncheon hosted by the Public Bank Berhad. Thank you all participants and the sponsor for your support.

Our Condolences

ARI wishes to extent our condolences to the family of the late Dato' Nordin Baharuddin, President of the MICPA who passed away yesterday.
He is a Council Member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants and is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a Member of the Financial Reporting Foundation. Alfatihah (note: photo taken from the MICPA website)

CSSR Deadline Extension

Good news for all ARI members. The university's CSSR conference scheduled to be held on 5-8 December 2010 has extended the submission deadline to 30th June 2010. Since each registered participant can submit and present up to two papers, ARI encourages each members to submit two papers for the conference. This is a great opportunity as CSSR 2010 conference will be indexed with SCOPUS and IEEE. Go for it everyone....

NEM Dialogue

ARI wishes to congratulate the Institute of Business Excellence for organising the New Economic Model (NEM) dialogue at the senate house, UiTM this morning. Participants are mainly invited practitioners from Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), Tekun, Bank Rakyat,Agrobank, Felda, Felcra,MARA, UiTM Alumni Society, IDB and lots of enterpreneurs. It was indeed a very good dialogue session. Sessions like this should be encouraged as the Prime Minister himself welcomes feedback and suggestions as the implementation of NEM will be consultative in nature....

Congratulations Prof Zubaidah

ARI wishes to congratulate one of our members,Prof Dr Zubaidah Zainal Abidin who has recently been appointed as the new Dean of the Post Graduate Institute (IPSIS). She took office on 1st June 2010. Prior to this appointment Prof Zubaidah was the deputy dean of IPSIS. We wish her all the best in her undertakings. Prof Zubaidah is also an active researcher with ARI. She is currently the head of the accounting and ethics education SIG at ARI. Congratulations again Prof Zu....

BANKSCOPE & OSIRIS

ARI has been informed by the university librirarian that the Tun Abdul Razak Library (PTAR) is considering the acquiring of the internationa BANKSCOPE & OSIRIS database of global financial institutions. ARI encourages all members to try out the database and give your feedback on suitability and usefulness to PTAR asap. Please get your password number from ARI staff. The trial duration is from 3rd June 2010 to 15th June 2010. Access Link is at http://bankscope.bvdep.com/
http://osiris.bvdep.com

Concept Papers in Islamic Finance and Criminology Mitigation

ARI is extremely encouraged by the overwhelming response to our call for concept papers in Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology which will be included in our forthcoming special issue of the Malaysian Accounting Review (MAR)Journal. Some of the selected titles include:
The establishment of “ Waqf Management Accounting Manual” to Enhance Disclosure Among Malaysian Islamic Councils; Financial Instrument and risk management in Islamic Financial Institutions; Models in Detecting False Financial Statements in Islamic Banking; The influence of the concept of “Taklif” to Muslim Accountants in preventing fraudulent financial reporting and auditing; Financial Criminology: A Study based on Quran and Sunnah; A conceptual framework of Islamic Work ethics; Rights and Responsibilities of Contracting parties on sale and purchase from Islamic Perspective; The Theoretical and Practical needs for Islamic Financial Criminologys Framework; Zakat and Distribution: A Mechanism to enhance the economic status of receipients; Patriot Act 2001 and the re-birth of Islamic finance; Corporate Integrity Framework: An Islamic View; Shariah audit framework; Terrorist Financing and Islamic Financial Institutions: a perceptional issue; The role of Muzakarah as a fraud mitigation tool and many more... MAR journal editors will be reviewing these papers for possible inclusion in our forthcoming publication. Thank you everyone.

Muzakarah on Islamic Finance

The three of us from ARI were very lucky for the invitation extended by the Department of Islamic Advancement (JAKIM) of the Prime Minister Department to attend a special Muzakarah session to discuss on the concept of IBRA' (discounts or rebates for early settlement of loans) often encountered by Islamic Financial Institutions globally.
Today's muzakarah was attended by 29 Islamic Financial Institutions, Islamic Finance scholars, academics, researchers and Ulama from all parts of the country. Muzakarah is a special meeting session held to deliberate on concepts, practices or even new products so that they are in tandem with the requirements of the Islamic Fiqh.
Though we were there as observers, it was a worthwhile time spent listening to experts in this area. In the past, the Muzakarah has been held once a year. Now there's call for the meeting to be held more frequently. It is at the Muzakarah that scholars and practitoners deliberate carefully on a certain topic. TQ Jakim for the opportunity given to us.

Welcome Dato' Prof Dr Mustafa Mohd Zain

ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy wish to welcome back Dato' Prof Dr Mustafa Mohd Zain. Dato' Mustafa has recently completed his two-year tenure as the deputy vice chancellor (academic and internationalisation). With his vast research and publication experiences in the area of corporate social responsibility, Dato' Mustafa's presence and participation at ARI will definitely benefit the university. ARI is looking forward to more national and international research collaboration from the Asia-Pacific Centre for Sustainability (APCeS).