Thank You Prof Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman

Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman is a very much respected personality in Universiti Teknologi MARA and particularly within the accounting fraternity in Malaysia. Today is his last official day as the Dean of the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA and this entry is especially dedicated to this great man. Throughout his tenureship as a dean, Professor Ibrahim Kamal has successfully brought the Faculty of Accountancy to greater heights. Indeed, the establishment of the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) in 2003 was his own "brainchild". As a dean to one of the largest faculties in the university, he wanted to give equal emphasis to both academic programs and research activities. Hence, ARI was established so that keen researchers could embark on research projects and to focus on publications and academic writings. Facilities and resources were specifically given to ARI so as to allow the newly formed research institute to grow in tandem with the faculty's progress. ARI has since evolved from "special-interest group SIG" to "research centre" and to research institute. Today, it is one of the six national Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE). This successful evolution is in itself a tribute to the vision of this great man: Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal. We will certainly miss your leadership as a dean. Today, the faculty has grown many folds and has produced many "first". Thank you sir, may you continue to be a great mentor and an inspiration to all of us....

ARI's Phase 2 Proposal Retreat

Day 3
The proposal presentations continued on the third day of the Retreat. Useful feedback from the panels would be effectively incorporated in the research proposals. Cluster heads and their members made plans on interim reviews so as to ensure that research projects progress as planned. To support its global aspiration to become a regional centre of excellence in the niche research area of Islamic Financial Criminology, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)has recently established its own strategic initiatives known as "C-Cure". ARI's current C-Cure initiaves are namely: C-Cure International Grant, C-Cure Training, C-Cure Post Graduates, C-Cure PI, C-Cure Collaboration, C-Cure Publication and C-Cure Innovation.
The focus of 2012 research projects is to forge regional and international collaboration with renowned researchers and research centres. In a nutshell, the Retreat has achieved its objectives. In addition to the successful completion of its 2012 research proposals, Retreat 2011 at Port Dickson has been a great platform for team building for ARI researchers. May 2012 be another great year for all of us...

ARI's Phase 2 Proposal Retreat

Day 2
The second day is dedicated to the preparation of research proposals. All cluster heads gathered their respective researcher groups and syscronize their research objectives, data collection instrumentation, data analysis and deliverables. The groups also needed to discuss and select the best regional and international collaborators who could add value to their research projects. In tandem with Malaysia's aspiration to become an effective global hub for the Islamic Finance Industry, ARI's research thrust in Islamic Financial Criminology has two-prong long term objectives. Firstly, through its Islamic Finance research cluster, the Accounting Research Institute hopes to develop new potential products for the industry. In view of ARI's own expertise, there's certainly prospects in Islamic Microfinancing, Shariah Audit, Zakat and Waqaf. Secondly, through the Financial Criminology cluster, ARI hopes to mitigate financial crime and to develop fraud prevention mechanism in order to protect the Islamic Finance industry. Researchers were accordingly grouped to prepare their respective research proposals. All proposals were presented to the selected panel of experts...

ARI's Phase 2 Proposal Retreat

Day 1:
Researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) will be participating in a three-day research proposal retreat in Port Dickson on 27-29 December 2011. The Retreat is to specifically discuss, deliberate and finalise ARI's Phase 2 research proposals in Islamic Financial Criminology for 2012. The 2012 research proposals are cluster-based: three clusters under the Islamic Finance research thrust and another three clusters under the Financial Criminology group. For the Islamic Finance thrust, the three research clusters are namely "Islamic Microfinancing", "Shari'ah and Islamic Governance" and "Zakat & Waqaf". On the same token, the three research clusters for the Financial Criminology are namely "Financial Reporting & Governance of Non-Profit Organizations", Anti-Money laundering & Counter Financing of Terrorism" and "Anti-Fraud Methodologies & Fraud Risk Indicators". In view of the HICoE aspiration to go regional, all research clusters are expected to invite and to include regional and international collaborative partners in their research projects. On day one, ARI Director, Professor Dr Normah Omar gave a briefing on the aspiration and expectation of the Retreat. As cluster-based research projects, researchers need to syncronize their own research objectives with the cluster's overall objective. Participants were also advised to match their research timeline with expected deliverables. The 2012 research projects on Islamic Financial Criminology are more focused with deliverables in the forms of new products, new policies and innovation.

ARI-IBS Collaborative Research

Two Malaysian Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE): Accounting Research Institute (ARI)and Institute of Bioscience (IBS)are collaborating in a research project titled "Economic and Social Impact of Establishing a Microcomposite Algae Industry for Malaysia". Four ARI researchers, Associate Professor Dr Faizah Darus, Associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad, Associate Professor Dr Haslinda Yusuf and Dr Azizah Abdullah are involved in the collaborative project. IBS researchers include Prof Dr Mohamad Sharif, Prof Dr Abdul Rahman, Prof Dr Maznah, Prof Dr Rozita and Dr Sanjoy. As a result of new demand for renewable energy as well as potential in the wellness sector, Algae is a possible new industry for Malaysia. Among the social and economic impacts expected from this new industry is the development of new industrialization location for algae, new jobs for the community and finding alternative commercial usage of the algae composites.

CISM and Corporate Participations

The Private Sector Division of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) held its 2nd Corporate Integrity System Malaysia (CISM)Roundtable Session at the IIM office in Kuala Lumpur. Today's Roundtable Session was chaired by Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob (Chairman of The Malaysian Industrial Development Authority - MIDA and was IIM's first President). The half-day event discussed among others, initiatives to move the CISM forward. This includes the publications of two books on CISM in 2012: the first book on "CISM Framework" is to be written by the Academia Group who helped to develop the self-assessment CISM questionnaire and the second book on "CISM Ecosystem" would be "commissioned" to the Malaysian Council of Professors. In addition to the two books, future initiatives would include participation by the corporate sectors to utilize the CISM questionnaire and to conduct self evaluation of their own Corporate Integrity System.
Several corporations have indicated their interest to participate in the self-evaluation exercise. Today's event was attended by several corporate and public sector participants such as Celcom, Telecom Malaysia Berhad, Amanahraya Berhad, Al-Rajhi Bank, Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group (MSWG), the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP),Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC), MIMOS, MAICSA, CIDB, INCEIF and Universiti Teknologi MARA.

Financial Management for NPOs

In our effort to enhance our international collaboration, two Accounting Research Institute (ARI)researchers met up with CPA Australia Senior Policy Adviser Dr Mark Shying at the CPA Australia office in Kuala Lumpur. The meeting was essentially to discuss the possibility of adapting or benchmarking Dr Shying's framework on "Financial Planning & Management for Non Profit Organizations" for emerging economies in this region. Dr Shying developed the financial planning framework for CPA Australia and it was adopted successfully by the state of Victoria. As the two ARI researchers: Prof Dr Normah Omar and Associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad are currently undertaking a research project involving NPOs in Malaysia, Dr Shying's framework would certainly be handy to be adapted by the group.

Launching of New Annual Reporting Format for Societies

As part of a pilot project, the Selangor's Registrar of Societies (ROS) launched a new annual reporting format that societies registered in the state would need to comply to. ROS introduced a "B9" form which incorporates the requirements of three important legislations and recommendations: The Societies Act 1966; The Asia-Pacific Group of anti-money laundering (APG Mutual Evaluation 2007) and APG Non Profit Organization Typologies 2011. Five Accounting Research Institute (ARI)researchers: Associate Professor Dr Roshayani, Prof Dr Normah, Prof Dr Rashidah, Associate Prof Dr Jamaliah and Dr Intan Salwani participated in the development of this initiative. ROS is planning to introduce the online report submission within the next few years. Today, the launching of the new format was graced by the deputy minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, Dato' Lee Chee Leong at a special event held at Stadium Chin Woo, Kuala Lumpur. A total of three hundred participants who represented various societies in Selangor attended the launching ceremony. Congratulations ROS.

Welcome Prof Omar Masood

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)welcomes Visiting Professor Dr Omar Masood from the University of East London (UEL)to Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Prof Omar is also the Director of a newly launched Centre of Islamic Banking and Finance at UEL. Today, he visited ARI to discuss forthcoming 2012 collaborations: joint post-graduate supervision; post graduate exchange program; joint research; joint publication, training & consultancy and co-organization of future international conferences in Islamic Finance & Muamalat.

HICoE Audit 2011

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)welcomes two HICoE auditors or assessors Prof Dr Muhammad bin Jantan (MJ) and Associate Professor Dr Stephanie Pillai. The duo came to Universiti Teknologi MARA to conduct a site visit on ARI's 2010 performance as a Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence. The audit basically focuses on five main agendas: (i)to evaluate ARI HICoE's first year fundamental research projects in the area of Islamic Financial Criminology, (ii)to verify ARI's HICoE budget utilization, (iii)to discuss any matters or issues arising from ARI HICoE's implementation, (iv)to evaluate ARI's institutional profiles and to determine ARI's readiness to become a regional player and (v)for ARI to showcase its second year's research projects in the niche area of Islamic Financial Criminology. The one day event was attended by ARI's research fellows, Heads of Research Centres, research associates and research assistants. In their exit report, the auditors indicated their overall satisfaction with ARI's progress and development. Two very important suggestions proposed were (i) In view of its research focus in Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology, ARI should set up its own Research Ethic Committee (REC)to oversee ethics-related matters with respect data confidentiality and disclosures; and (ii)In showcasing its potential as a regional HICoE, ARI should develop measurable characteristics of its researchers so that they could be benchmarked by others. In a nutshell, ARI members appreciate the professionalism shown by the two auditors througout the audit session. Thank you..