APMAA Conference 2011 - Day One

The International Conference of the Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA) 2011 started
on a high note with opening speeches by the President Prof Dr Susumo Ueno, Vice President Prof Dr Normah Omar and a keynote address by Datuk Bazlan Osman, CFO of Telekom Malaysia Berhad. Datuk Bazlan's paper titled "Management Accounting - A Value Creation Tool for Sustainability" discusses the various management accounting tools used and implemented by the telecommunication company. At TM Berhad, management accounting tools are used for profit planning, cost management, performance evaluation, developing strategic maps for Strategic Business Units (SBUs)and in deciding the quantum of stakeholders reward. In gauging and cascading the understanding of corporate vision, strategic objectives, actual implementation and business performance, TM Berhad uses the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) tool. After the morning break, the plenary session showcased two speakers: Prof Roger Willett from the University of Tasmania spoke on "Quantitative and Qualitative Methods and Trend in Management Research" and Prof Tae-Sik Ahn from Seoul National University, Korea discussed on "Social Responsibilities of Business School". A Discussion panel discussed a topic on "direction of Management Accounting Research in the Asia Pacific Region" saw five professors critically analyzing research directions in Japan (Prof Ueno from Konan University), Korea (prof Tae Young Paik, from Sungkyunkwan University), Indonesia (Prof Grahita from University of Merdeka, Malang), Thailand (Prof Wila-sini from Chulalongkorn University) and China (Prof Gu Liang Tang from International Business and Economics University).
After the lunch break, the conference continued with a FORUM where four practitioners and one professor participated in the discussion. The session was moderated by Mr Venkkat Ramanan, Head of CIMA Malaysia. he four practitioners were namely Mr Nor Haimee Zakaria from Bank Rakyat Malaysia; Mr Mohd Shukrie from Pos Malaysia Berhad; Mr Peer Mohamad from Bank Muamalat and Mr Terence Soo from Hicom Teck See. Prof Jimmy Tsay represented the academic researcher group. Wow, there's indeed so many things to learn. The day's event ended with a Summit meeting where invited heads of accounting association discussed of ways to move forward in promoting management accounting as a competitive tool. Mr Yeoh from MIA/CIMA presented a snapshot of Malaysia's National Awards for Management Accounting (NAfMA).