Integrity Profiling Instrument - MIMOS & IIM

Following a successful launching of its Corporate Integrity System recently, the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) introduced another landmark integrity instrument, which was developed by one of its strategic partners. Premised on the principle of Psychometrics, the Integrity Profiling Instrument is a research product of MIMOS (Malaysian Institute of Microelectronics Systems)which is focussing on measuring the integrity of individuals. What is interesting about the instrument is the inclusion of two new variables, making it a Malaysian-Based integrity instrument. The product was introduced by Dr Haniza Yon, Lead Researcher and Director of the Psychometrics Centre at MIMOS at a half-day function yesterday, organized by the Private Sector Division of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity. As a Psychometrician herself, Dr Haniza has wide experience in the development of latent variables. Prior to joining MIMOS, Dr Haniza was a lead researcher in one of a leading evaluation companies in the United States of America. The event was well attended by researchers and industry players. The Private Sector Director, Mr Mohd Nizam Mohd Ali has initiated numerous private sector initiatives with different strategic partners involving academia and the industry. The Accounting Research Institute is indeed happy to be one of IIM's strategic partners.

Discussions on NPO Financial Reporting with ROS

One of the spinoffs of ARI's paper titled "Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) as a Medium for ML/TF - Red Flags for Identification" which was presented at the recent IFCTF 2011 conference was an interest shown by the Registrar of Societies (ROS)to develop a code of governance for NPOs. Currently, there are more than 90000 NPOs that are registered with the ROS. A formal development of a code of governance on NPOs is indeed timely. Today, two officers from ROS visited ARI for a preliminary discussion on how ARI and ROS can work collaboratively to develop such code. In addition to the code, it is also necessary for ROS to develop a suitable financial reporting system. The Accounting Research Institute has enough expertise to facilitate the development of such system. The policy development on the governance of non profit organizations in Malaysia is actually one of the major fundamental research projects to be undertaken collaboratively by the Accounting Research Institute with its many strategic research partners: ROS, CCM, FIU and several research institutions dealing with NPOs in Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. ARI is targeting to complete the project by the end of 2012.

Launching of Financial Guide Book for SMEs

Two researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) - Prof Dr Normah Omar and Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Sanusi were invited to witness the launching of a new publication Financial Guide for SME. The book is the result of a smart collaboration between SME Corp Malaysia and CPA Australia. Basically, the Guide has been adopted from the Australian version entitled "Achieving Financial Success" prepared by Jan Barned (CPA, FFTP) with assistance of CPA Australia and Small Business, Victoria. Both SME Corp and CPA Australia have been granted to copyright to reproduce the Guide and to modify the content to suit the Malaysian context. A group of ARI researchers, headed by associate professor Dr Zuraidah were among the privilege few who were invited by CPA Australia to review the Guide for its suitability to be adopted in Malaysia. Yang Berhormat Dato' Mukhriz Tun mahathir, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry was the honorable guest of honour of the event to launch the Guide book. Also present at the event were CPA Australia President and Chairman of the Board, Mr Low Weng Keong and Y. Bhg. datuk Ir Dr Mohamed Al-Amin Hj Abdul Majid, Chairman of SME Corp Malaysia.

ICGA 2012 Meeting in Sarawak

The UiTM-ACCA Asia-Pacific Centre for Sustainability (APCeS), one of the eight research centres at the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) will be organizing the 2012 International Conference on Governance and Accountability (ICGA 2012) on 15-18 February 2012 in Kuching, Sarawak.
The 2012 ICGA conference will be jointly organized with several other organizations namely (i) The Indonesian Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research Centre and Development (ICSEARD), (ii) Social Responsibility Research Centre Network (SRRNet - UK), (iii)DeMonfort University's Centre for Research into Organisation and Governance (CROG-UK); (iv)Centre for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability (CAGS), University of South Australia; (v) CSR Asia and (vi) The International Group on Governance, Fraud, ethics and Social Responsibility (IGonGFERS). Themed "Ethics, Accountability and Governance: Towards Sustaining Value Creation", ICGA 2011 attracts many renowned speakers which include Professor Lee Parker, Professor Roger Burri (both are from the University of South Australia) and Ms Rikke Netterstrom from CSR Asia. Today, Associate Prof Dr Faizah Darus (Head of APCeS, Dr Corina Joseph (Coordinator of APCes Sarawak Chapter) and their team members organized a meeting to discuss progress of ICGA 2012.

ARI Visit to UiTM Sarawak

As part of its "membership drive" initiative, several researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI),
visited UiTM Sarawak Campus to meet new members and to set up a state chapter for the Asia-Pacific Centre for Sustainability (APCeS) - one of ARI's research clusters. Whilst in Sarawak, Professor Dr Normah Omar (ARI Director), Associate Professor Dr Faizah Darus and Dr Haslinda Yusof (Head and Deputy Head of APCeS respectively) handed over the appointment letter for new members as well as to meet the ICGA 2012 conference committee.
APCeS Sarawak chapter will be the host of the forthcoming conference in February 2012. The team also met up with the marketing manager of Hilton Hotel in Kuching (the venue for ICGA 2012) to discuss detailed requirements and special needs for the conference.

Meeting Prof Schneider

It is such a privilege for ARI members to have the opportunity to meet Professor Friedrich Schneider who is one of the guest speakers at the IFCTF 2011. We were invited to the IFCTF 2011 welcome dinner at JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Professor Schneider (in grey shirt) is a Full Professor of Economics at Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria. He was President of the Austrian Economic Association (1997-1999) and President of the German Economic Association (2005-2008 ). He has also been consultant to numerous organisations including the Brussels EU Commission, IMF and the World Bank. He has published extensively in leading Economics journals including The American Economic Review, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, The Economic Journal and the Journal of Economic Literature. He has also published numerous book chapters and books including The Shadow Economy (with Dominik H. Enste, Cambridge Uni. Press, 2002), The Encyclopaedia of Public Choice Vol. I and II (with Charles K. Rowley, Kluwer, 2004), Changing Institutions in the European Union (Edward Elgar, 2004), Readings in Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy (together with Charles K. Rowley, Springer Publishing Company 2008), and The Economics of the Hidden Economy (editor of 2 volumes, in: Mark Blaug (ed.). In addition to his wide publication in economics, Prof Schneider has also written numerous discussion and journal papers in the areas of economic crime and terrorism financing.

Day 3: PECIPTA 2011

Unlike previous events where the competition results were usually known by the end of the second day, PECIPTA 2011 will only announce the results on the third day. The Director General of the Higher Education of the Ministry of Higher Education will make the announcement of the results before the event is officially closed at 5 pm today. Whilst the exhibitions continue with participoants receiving larger crowd of visitors, the judges and the Judging Committee of PECIPTA 2011 met and deliberated on the results of the competition. The Research Management Institute (RMI) of Universiti Teknologi MARA, as secretariat of PECIPTA 2011 had successfully developed a data management system that makes the judging marks and data easily captured and efficiently managed.
Prof Dr Normah Omar, the Director of Accounting Research Institute (ARI) is part of the judging committee of PECIPTA 2011. PECIPTA 2011 will end today and ARI congratulates Universiti Teknologi MARA for making the event a memorable one. Certainly, PECIPTA 2011 is a good benchmark to forthcoming PECIPTA and we wish the next organizer of PECIPTA 2013 will bring the event to much greater height....

Day 2: PECIPTA 2011

PECIPTA 2011 went on smoothly on the second day. There's a lot of visitors, including foreigners who are interested to know more about the event and the products.
There's a number of bussiness owners who are keen to collaborate with researchers and research institutes in developing innovative products or new instrumentation that could improve productivity or efficiency of organizations. Interestingly, the junior inventor category showcases a lot of products that have great potential for commercialization. The Accounting Research Institute receives a few visitors who are keen to work collaboratively with ARI to develop new training programs such as forensic accounting, wasiat management and wqaf administration. Unfortunately, whilst some participants and inventors are very enthusiastic to showcase their products, others are only interested with the judging aspect of the event and had "close shop" and left their booth empty on the second day itself. It is unfortunate that they might have to miss great opportunity when interested parties who came to their booth were not able to see their products at all (there's a number of such occasions...)

ARI Booth at PECIPTA 2011

The Accounting Research Institute welcomes all guests to visit our exhibition booth at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The exhibition is part of the international exhibition PECIPTA 2011 to be held on 13-15 September 2011. PECIPTA 2011 was officially opened this morning by the honorary minister Dato' Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin, Minister of higher education Malaysia this morning. With a theme "Invigorating Innovation in the New Economic Model", a total of 463 products are exhibited and judged for the competition. What is interesting about this year's competition is the introduction of the "Juniour inventors" competition where young participants from various secondary schools in the country will be showcasing their invention. The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) is competing in one Islamic Innovation product titled "The Awqaf Islamic System Administration (Daiyan)" through our two researchers, Ms Dalila Daud and Prof Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman.

PECIPTA 2011: Judges Meeting

In making sure that PECIPTA 2011 runs smoothly, it is very important that all products showcased for the competition are professionally judged.
PECIPTA 2011 has a large pool of judges comprisng experts from academia and the industry. For PECIPTA 2011, almost fifty percent of the judges are from the industry. The judges briefing session was chaired and presented by Prof Dr AzniZain Ahmed, Uitm's Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Internationaliztion). Prof Azni has a wide experience in handling and managing event such as PECIPTA as she was the assistant vice chancellor (Research & Innovation) for Universiti Teknologi MARA for many good years.
A total of 463 products will be judged in different categories: New invention, Newly marketed products, Junior invention, Young inventor (for schools) and a few other categories. The judging process will run over two days on 13-14 September. Whilst products are mostly judged on the 13th, judging for the best booth will be carried out on 14th September. Good luck everyone. May PECIPTA 2011 be a memorable event for all researchers....

Awaqaf Islamic System Administration

The Accounting Research Institute showcases one Islamic Accounting Innovative Product called "The Awaqaf Islamic System Administration" at the PECIPTA 2011 competition. The Awaqaf Islamic System Administration (Daiyan) is a useful tool to enhance internal management planning and decision making of waqf properties by the Islamic Religous Councils in Malaysia. As the first innovative waqf system, daiyan has high potential to be commercialized in Malaysia and other Islamic countries world-wide. It can be used as an instrument/guide on waqf properties management in a more structured way, plus appropriate disclosure of waqf reporting.

Congratulations UiTM

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)congratulates Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) for being listed in the THES Ranking 2011. Though listed for the first time within the "601+" category, it is a commendable achievement for the university.
As a large comprehensive university, Universiti Teknologi MARA has been making huge progress in spearheading research and publication activities to all its academic staff and post graduate students. The Shah Alam campus is specifically dedicated to research-related activities.