Indonesia Visit - Day 3

On our last day visit in Indonesia, we met up with researchers whose research interest is in the area of forensic accounting. Dr Hendi who is the Head of the forensic accounting research group graduated with PhD in Forensic Accounting from the University of Wollongong, Australia. We agreed in principle to collaborate in two research projects related to (i)cost of corruption and anti-corruption mechanism and (ii) Behavioural perspective of financial criminology. The projects will involve comparative analysis between Malaysia and Indonesia. Besides research, the researchers have also agreed to jointly publish a forensic accounting bulletin - a professional journal/magezine. All in all, our Indonesian visits have been successful...

Indonesia Visit - Day 2

Whislt most of us were in Jogjakarta, two of our researchers - Associate Professor Dr Nawal & Dr Amrizah had gone to Samarang to meet up with their research collaborators. Since both Dr Nawal and Dr Amrizah are involved in researches related to Islamic finance and shariah audit, they made use of their visit to interview shariah scholars in Indonesia. From our observations and readings, Indonesia is fairly advanced in Shariah-related practices. In fact, Universitas Islam Indonesia itself is a private university which has been successfully established through the wakaf management system. Our second day in Indonesia is equally busy. In the morning, we met up with researchers and two vice deans of the business faculty of Gadjamada University (UGM). At least four research projects related to Islamic Financial Criminology have been identified for possible collaboration between UGM and the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) from Universiti Teknologi MARA. Premised on this preliminary research collaboration, the two universities could hopefully sign a memorandum of understanding in 2012. After our UGM visit, we proceeded to UII to meet another group of our research collaborators. Professor Dr Normah Omar, ARI Director gave a short overview on the establishment of ARI.
As a higher institution centre of excellence (HICoE), ARI plays an important role in promoting research in Islamic finance & muamalat and financial criminology. As such, research collaborations with its Indonesian counterparts would constitute ARI's initiative towards regionalization. In November 2011, ARI and UII will be hosting a joint international conference in Islamic Accounting & MUamalat.

Indonesia Visit - Day 1

The first day of our Indonesia visit was spent at the Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII). First, we made a courtesy visit to the rector office. There, we met both the rector Prof. Dr. Drs. Edy Suandi Hamid, M.Ec. and his deputy Dra. Neni Meidawati, M.Si.,Ak. Since a memorandum of understanding has already been signed last year between Universiti Teknologi MARA and UII, the research visit constitutes part of the agreed collaboration between the two universities. After meeting the rector, we were taken to the faculty of economic and accountancy to meet up with our research collaborators. Our UII collaborators are involved in at least three research projects in Islamic Financial Criminology with the Accounting Research Institute (ARI). Professor Dr Normah Omar (ARI Director) and Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi (ARI Deputy Director - post graduate & innovation) were also invited to give two general lectures on "Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology" to UII's final year accountancy students. In essence, UII is interested to promote the forensic accounting & financial criminology program to its undergraduate students. As an upcoming profession, Forensic Accountants would be well sought after by prospective employers - banks, regulators, enforcement agencies and the industry as a whole. Today, corporations are also hiring anti-fraud specialists as part of their fraud prevention mechanism. The general lectures were very well received by the students and they were asking lots of questions and addressed several interesting issues related to financial criminology. Some of the students were also keen to pursue their post graduate program in the area of forensic accounting and to one day become forensic accountants themselves....

Research Visits to Indonesia

Several researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)have been invited by their respective research collaborators to visit three universities in Indonesia on 27 - 29 February 2012. The researchers: Prof Dr Normah Omar, Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi, Associate Professor Dr Nawal Kasim, Dr Amrizah Kamaluddin and Dr Zuraedah Ibrahim will be visiting three Indonesian universities namely Universiti Islam Indonesia (UII)and University of Gadjamada (UGM), both in Yogyakarta and University Islam Sultan Agung, (UNISSULA) Samarang, which is about 2.5 hours drive from Yogyakarta. Whilst the visits to UII and Samarang constitute part of the data collection process of two Islamic Finance research projects involving Malaysia and Indonesia, the one to UGM is exploratory in nature. It is part of ARI's regionalization initiative to form research collaboration with Indonesian universities. The visits will also include interviews with several shariah scholars and practioners in Yogyakarta; lectures in Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology for students and staff at UII and research workshops with potential Indonesian researchers for ARI HICoE's 2012 projects.

AREC 2012 - Day Two

The second day of the Accounting Research and Education Conference (AREC 2011) continued with more parallel sessions in the morning. A wide range of conference papers from different areas of financial reporting, management accounting, corporate governance, forensic accounting, public sector accounting and Islamic accounting were presented. At the same time, judges were finalizing their evaluation of the products at the accounting innovation exhibition. There were a fairly good number of useful research products that could be potentially commercialized to the industry and the practitioners. After the lunch break, the final Panel Discussion was held. With the title “ETP: Roles, Expectations and Challenges of Accounting Graduates”, three panelists – Prof Datin Dr Hasnah Haron from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM); Mr Stanley Teo , council member of MICPA and Mr Abraham from Ernst & Young and a council member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) were invited to speak at the forum. The director of Accounting Research Institute (ARI) moderated the panel discussion. Professor Hasnah highlighted the changing and challenging roles of today’s accountants. Not only should they be good in technical-related matters, they are also expected to acquire soft skills which include oral & written communication, leadership and the ability to work in teams. Next, Mr Abraham discussed the role of accounting firms and MIA in Malaysia. He further elaborated on the characteristics of accounting graduates that practitioners like to hire. The third speaker, Mr Stanley discussed the current challenges faced by the
profession which include frequent “job-hopping” among new accounting graduates and the increasing interest among graduates to secure job appointment overseas. Finally, the final slot was allocated to the “Closing Ceremony and Award presentations for “Best written paper”, “Best paper presenter” and “most innovative product”. Congratulations to Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman for being re-elected as president of the Malaysian Accounting Academic Association (MyAA).

AREC 2012 - Day One

After a successful doctoral colloquium yesterday, the two-day 2nd Accounting Research & Education Conference (AREC 2012) took off today with more than 200 participants registering for the event. In addition of the two-day conference, AREC 2012 introduces the Accounting Innovation Competition. AREC 2012 attracted more than seventy papers to be presented in four parallele sessions. whereby researchers showcase their research products. More than 20 research products were exhibited at the university's innovation gallery in Shah Alam. Themed "Economic Transformation Program: The Role of Accounting Education and Profession", Invited guests who attended the opening ceremony included the Chairman of the Malaysian Accounting, Research & Education Foundation (MAREF), Tan Sri Datuk Dr Abdul Samad Alias; Dato' Nasir, President of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA),UiTM Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Internationalization) Professor Dr Azni Zain Ahmed and Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman, president of the Malaysian Accounting Academic Association (MyAA).
After a welcome speech by Prof Azni, Tan Sri Datuk Dr Abdul Samad officiated the event. The first four parallell sessions started immediately after the morning break and continued with another four sessions after the lunch break. In the meantime, judges evaluated the research products at the innovation gallery. All in all, the first day of AREC 2012 went very well...

AREC 2012 - Doctoral Colloquium

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)together with three other entities - Malaysian Accounting Academic Association (MyAA - the main organizer), The Malaysian Accounting Research and Education Foundation (MAREF) and the Faculty of Accountancy Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) co-organized the 2nd Accounting Research & Education Conference (AREC 2012). Basically AREC is organized once every two years and the first one was held in 2010. Preceding the the two-day event was a Doctoral Colloquium which was held today. The Doctoral Colloquium is a forum in which Ph.D. students meet and discuss their work with each other and with a panel of experienced researchers and practitioners. More than seventy participants, comprising mostly PhD students and recent PhD graduates took part in the colloquium. At the colloquium, Professor Dr Normah Omar, ARI Director presented a keynote paper titled "PhD is Like a Marathon, You Need to Finish the Race".

Conference Tour

Though the 2012 ICGA has officially ended yesterday, the organizers have arranged for a conference tour for interested participants. Visits to the orang utan rehabilitation centre in Semenggok, some 30 kilometers from the Kuching city; cottage industry (layered cakes and other souvenirs) and the cultural village, located about an hour drive from the city were organized. Twenty six participants took part in the expedition. We were taken to these places by the university bus, complete with a competent tour guide, Rose. Our first stop was the Botanical Research Centre in Semenggok, where orang utans are being rehabilitated. At the centre, orang utans are kept in the wild, and we were lucky as six of them came out to "greet" us. Our next stop was a visit to several cottage industry: layered cakes, Sarawak delicacies and souvenirs shops in a nearby Malay village. The products are not just sold locally, some are being exported to other countries within the region. After a short lunch, we proceeded to visit the cultural village, which was developed in the 1980s upon the recommendation by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed. The village is one of Sarawak's top tourism spots. In the village, one would find model houses of different major tribes in Sarawak: Bidayuh, Iban, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Penan, Malay and Chinese. Interestingly, longhouses of some of these native tribes have been reconstructed at the village so as to allow visitors to have a "peep" of their culture and "way of life". Actual longhouses are mainly available in the inner part of Sarawak and that makes it difficult for outsiders to have an exposure of their culture.
The development of the cultural village is indeed a brilliant idea. Within the village itself, there is an exhibition theather hall where cultural shows to showcase the culture of these different types are often arranged for the visitors. The participants were also taken for a tour of the Kuching city and to see various parts of the beautiful Sarawak.

2012 ICGA - Day Two

The second day of the 2nd International Conference on Corporate Governance and Accountability (2012 ICGA)proceeded with six parallell sessions in the mornings. After the lunch break, the conference continued with a forum titled "Getting Published in Academic Journals" Four panel members namely Professor Lee Parker (University of South Australia), Professor David Crowther (DeMonfort University, United Kingdom), Professor Klaus Tochterman (ZBW-German National Library of Economics) and Professor Normah Omar (Universiti Teknologi MARA)discussed publication strategies that could be adopted by researchers. Prof Parker, who is the chief editor of the renowned international journal, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ)explained about the do's and dont's when one submits a paper for publication. He further elaborated that the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal is dedicated to the advancement of accounting knowledge.
The journal provides a forum for the publication of high quality manuscripts concerning the interaction between accounting/auditing and their socio-economic and political environments. It therefore encourages critical analysis of policy and practice in these areas. Analysis could explore policy alternatives and provide new perspectives for the accounting discipline. Professor David Crowther introduced the Social Responsibility Research Network (SRRNet) that he had founded. The Network was formed in 2003 after the success of the first International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility was held. Since then, SRRNet have continued to grow and there are currently around 600 members based all over the world. Prof Crowther further introduced the Social Responsibility Journal (SRJ)that his network helped to establish many years ago. Today, SRJ is published four times per year by the Emerald Publishing Group. Next, Professor Normah introduced three journals: Malaysian Accounting Review (MAR), Journal of Financial Reporting & Accounting (JFRA - the journal has been acquired by Emerald since June 2010) and the Asia Pacific Management Accounting Journal (APMAJ) that were founded by the Accounting Research Institutes a few years ago. Unlike AAAJ and SRJ, MAR, JFRA and APMAJ are relatively new and efforts are underway to promote the journals to greater height. . Researchers were therefore encouraged to submit their papers to these journals. They were also reminded to use a conference such as 2012 ICGA as a platform to obtain feedback for their papers prior to journal publication Finally, Professor Klause Tochtermann introduced his centre ZBW which runs the subject-based repository for archiving economics online collections. ZBW produces the publication service ECONSTOR and the subject portal EconBiz. His centre hosts the Open Access Journal, which includes a two-stage peer-review process. He further stressed that these efforts contribute towards global visibility of research. Later in the afternoon, Professor Crowther presented the conference's third key note address with the title "Governance, Sustainability and Crisis Management". Prior to the closing ceremony by Professor Normah Omar, she presented awards to the best overall papers and best presenters. The passing of the baton to the Turkish team who will be hosting the 3rd ICGA cenference in 2014 marked the ending of the 2012 conference.

2012 ICGA- Day One

The 2nd International Conference on Governance and Accountability 2012 started with the opening ceremony by Dato' Sri Wong Soon Koh, Minister of Finance (II) and Minister of Local Government & Community Development,Sarawak. In attendance are other VIPs who included Professor Dr Noorsaadah Ismail (representing the vice chancellor), UiTM Sarawak's Rector, Professor Dato' Dr Jamil Hamali and Professor Dr Rozainun Abdul Aziz, Dean of the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA. Themed Ethics, Accountability and Governance: Towards Sustaining Value Creation, the opening ceremony was followed by two keynote speeches. The first speaker, Ms Rikke Netterstrom from CSR Asia delivered a paper titled "Governance, Accountability and Sustainability - Leveraging Opportunities and Minimising Risks". This was followed by the second paper, "Structuring Social and Environmental Management Control and Accountability: Behind the Hotel Doors" which focuses on a case study of a hotel chain in Singapore. After the lunch break, paper presenters delivered their conference papers through parallell sessions. All in all, after going through stringent review process, ICGA 2012 have selected about sixty papers to be presented at the conference. In the evening, ICGA 2012 and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)Sarawak hosted a Gala Dinner for all participants. Themed "ethnics", guests were encouraged to wear traditional attires. Some of our international guests wore colourful and beautiful traditional dresses from their own countries. International participants include guests who came all the way from Germany, Australia, UK, Yemen, South Africa, Nigeria, India and Saudi Arabia. Beside dinner, participants were entertained by talented students and staff of UiTM Sarawak. There were also lucky draws, karaoke sessions, cultural shows by UiTM students as well as by the Sarawak Tourism Board dancers. Awards for "best dress" male and female attendees were also given. It was indeed an interesting first day for all participants....

ICGA 2012: PhD Colloquium

The UiTM-ACCA Asia-Pacific Centre for Sustainability, one of the eight research centres at the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)is co-organizing the 2nd International Conference on Governance and Accountability with several international agencies such as CSR Asia, Curtin University, DeMonfort University, SRRNet, iGonGGFESR and SEBELAS MARET University, Indonesia. The two-day conference to be held on 16 & 17 February in Kuching, Sarawak is supported by four Sarawak state entities namely Sarawak State Government, Sarawak Convention Bureau, Dewan Bandaraya Kuching and Sarawak Tourism Board. The conference is preceeded with a one-day PhD colloquium which was held today, on 15th February 2012. Beside paper presentations by PhD candidates, two internationl professors presented keynote speeches. Professor Dr David Crowther from DeMonfort University, United Kingdom spoke on "Doctoral Research in CSR" and Professor Dr Klaus Tochtermann, from ZBW German National Library of Economics presented a paper titled "Digital Library Support for Doctoral Research in Economics".

ARI-Rangsit University International Collaboration

Several researchers from Rangsit University (RSU), Thailand visited the university today. Basically, the main aims of the visit were (i) To forge research collaboration with the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and (ii) To initiate staff/student exchange program as well joint academic program with the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). The RSU team comprised Dr Kanitsorn Terdpaopong, Director of International Affairs; Prof Nimnual Visedsun, dean of the faculty of accountancy and three other researchers. Meanwhile, UiTM was represented by Prof Rozainun, dean of the faculty of accountancy and Prof Normah, director of ARI. Also presence were several academic administrators and research fellows. Rangsit University is located some thirty kilometers from Bangkok city. As far as collaborative research with ARI is concerned, researchers agreed on the research areas of management accounting, financial reporting, capital market and forensic accounting. Though forensic accounting is a relatively new research area at RSU, researchers there are very keen to explore its potential. For 2012, RSU and ARI will participate in an international research which is spearheaded by the Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA). Both parties have agreed to work on the drafting of a memorandum of Understanding which hopefully will be signed by the vice chancellors of both universities by the second quarter of this year.

ARI-CCM Research Project on Non Profit Organizations

Today, several ARI researchers comprising Professor Dr Normah Omar, Associate Professor Dr Roshayani and Associate Professor Noorbijan Abu Bakar participated in a meeting with officers from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM)- Mr Sufyan Mokhtar, Mr Iskandar, Ms Jojina and Ms Azura. The meeting which was held in CCM office in Kuala Lumpur discussed in principle a joint research project between ARI and CCM to evaluate the governance of non profit organizations (NPOs) that are registered with CCM. Currently there are about 1,600 NPOs listed by CCM either under the category of foundations or companies limited by guarantee. The meeting also agreed on the development and signing of a memorandum of understanding between UiTM and CCM by the top leaders of both entities. The research project is scheduled to be completed by December 2012.

Visit by MICG Advisor

Collaboration between the Accounting Research Institute (ARI), UiTM and the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) has been long standing. On 10 February 2012 (Friday) we were honored to have En Sahab Hj Din (Advisor to MICG) at ARI to discuss possible research collaboration in the area of Governance in Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology. En Sahab was also kind enough to give his feedbacks on our questionnaire for the project Executive Directors Performance Assessment, a collaborative effort between ARI and Institute Bank Bank Malaysia (IBBM). Professor Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman (Deputy Director) and En Wan Mohammad Taufik Wan Abdullah (PhD candidate) were grateful to En Sahab for his valuable input on the questionnaire. At the end of the meeting, En Sahab has tentatively agreed to work with ARI on a few of the research projects that will take off in 2012.

International Convention on Boards

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) from Universiti Teknologi MARA jointly organized an International Convention on Boards with two other international partners namely
(1) The Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE)India and the Institute for Business Research, Waikato University, New Zealand. The convention which was held at the Le Meridien Hotel in New Delhi was jointly sponsored by NMDC Ltd and Oil India Limited. Three UiTM researchers: Prof Dr Normah Omar (ARI Director), Associate Professor Dr Noraini Mohamed and Dr Hilwani Hariri (Head of the Corporate Governance research cluster)participated in the event. The convention has successfully attracted the participation of about 100 international board members from both public and the private sectors.
Among the topics covered include (i) Issues in Selection, Appointment and Tenure of Boards; (ii) Government Policy on Corporate Boards; (iii) Board Structure, Regulation and Challenges; (iv) Board Performance: Strategies and Innovation; (v) New Knowledge Frontiers and Boards; (vi) Performance Management in Government and (vii) Corporate Board and International Experiences.

ARI-IPE Strategic Alliance

In its effort to forge regional and international collaborations, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) from Universiti Teknologi MARA UiTM and its counterpart, the Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE - India)signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) recently. Just like ARI HICoE, IPE is India's national centre of excellence with its specific research focus on the governance of public enterprise. The MOU signing was jointly carried out by UiTM's vice chancellor, Dato' Prof Ir. Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar and IPE Director, Professor K.Mishra during an international Convention of Boards in New Delhi India. In essence, the MOU focuses on five collaborations namely (i) Conducting academic programmes in corporate governance in Malaysia and India, especially those related to government-linked companies (GLCs) and public enterprises;
(ii) Joint research, case development and consulting assignments related to GLCs and public enterprise of both countries; (iii) Staff/student Exchange programme; (iv) Exchange of Academic Materials, journals and other research-related information and (v) Other future collaborations

Thank you Sir

Yesterday, members of the Faculty of Accountancy and the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) paid tribute to the former dean, Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman who finished his term on 31st December 2011. Professor Ibrahim Kamal served as Dean of the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA since January 2000. As a dean, he has led the faculty into greater heights. Among the initiatives that he has successfully carried out during his tenureship as a dean was the establishment of ARI; Professional accreditations from CIMA, ACCA, CPA Australia, ICAEW and MICPA; Establishment of Post Graduate programs; Introduction of new programs; Publication of three indexed journals; International linkages; ISO certification of accountancy programs and many others.....

AML Research with TESS International

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)and TESS International Group of Companies, (also known as TESS International)have agreed in principle to work collaboratively on research projects related to Anti Money Laundering (AML). Whilst ARI is a Centre of Excellence that drives its niche research area in Islamic Financial Criminology, TESS International is one of the leading regional financial software application providers, with specific specialisation in AML practice solution. In a meeting between officers from TESS International and ARI researchers which was held this morning, an understanding was reached that TESS International would allow ARI researchers, including post graduate students to undergo research internship programs at TESS. In tandem with its expertise, TESS International will facilitate ARI to develop suitable practice solutions for AML research projects. ARI on the other hand will assist TESS in conducting market and customer-based research, the findings of which would provide useful feedback to both parties. In today's meeting, TESS International was represented by its officers Mr Satish, Mr Peter and Mr Yap. Meanwhile, ARI was represented by Prof Normah, Prof Rashidah, Associate Prof Dr Zuraidah, Associate Professor Dr Roshayani and Associate Professor Dr Wee. Also present was Mr Aaron Lau from ACAMS (Malaysia).

Rasch Model Workshop 2012

In its effort to enhance researchers' competency and knowledge in data analysis, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)organizes a two-day Rasch Model Data Analysis. The facilitator, Mr Saidfuddin is a visiting research fellow at the institute. Whislt the first day focuses on the understanding of the conceptual underpinnings of the Rasch Model, the second day deals with participants' own research pojects. Researchers will apply the Rasch Model analysis to their own research projects. Basically, the two-day workshop will provide basic understanding on how the Rasch model could be used to interpret research findings. An advanced Rasch Model analysis will be conducted by Professor Bond during the forthcoming ICIMTR2012 conference in May 2012. Themed “Challenging vision of the future through innovation, management and technology research”, the Accounting Research Institute will be co-organizing an International Conference on Innovation, Management and Technology Research on 21-22 May 2012 at the Equatorial Hotel, Malacca.