Saturday, June 30, 2012
Fraud Considerations in the Audit of Financial Statements
The Accounting Research Institute thanks Mr Ken Pushpanathan, President of the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA)who presented a lecture for the students of the Master in Forensic Accounting and financial criminology program.
The lecture topic was related to Fraud Considerations in the Audit of Financial Statements. Essentially, an auditor is responsible for planning and performing the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements taken as a whole are free of material misstatement, whether caused by error or by fraud. Nevertheless it was further stressed that the fact that an audit is carried out may act as a deterrent, but the auditor is not and cannot be held responsible for the prevention of fraud and error. The International Auditing Standard 240 (IAS 240)specifically stipulates that an auditor in an audit of financial statements must ensure that he or she
(i) gathers information from management and others within the organization to identify and assess risks of fraud, (ii) develops specific audit procedures to address these identified risks and (iii) performs mandatory procedures to address the risk of management override of controls. Mr Ken Puspanathan further shared his experiences as an auditor and elaborated how in reality, financial frauds are committed in various forms. As such, auditors must be creative and proactive in their audit planning so as to maximise the probability of "catching the pepetrators"
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Up and Close with Prof Ferid Murad
This has been a very interesting week for Universiti Teknologi MARA as we receive the presence of one notable Nobel Laurette Prize Winner as our guest. 
The visit is part of the university's initiative under the Vice Chancellor Special Project (VCSP). Professor Ferid Murad, is an Albanian-American physician and phamacologist, a co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or medicine for the discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. According to his available biography, ...
Prof Murad's key work was in showing that nitroglycerin and related drugs worked by releasing nitric oxide into the body, with the gas somehow acting as a signaling molecule, making blood vessels dilate. The biography asserts further that the missing steps in the signaling process were filled in by Furchgott and Ignarro, for which the three shared the 1998 Nobel Prize. 
The past one week has been filled with various activities which included among others a public lecture of "Sharing the Noble Laurette Journey" with university community and the public; meeting various scientific fraternities; television and other media appearance; Intellectual discourse with the medical research community and post graduate students. 
Today, Prof Murad has been awarded with the Asia Pacific Brand Laurette at a special function organized by the Faculty of Medicine, Selayang Campus. Two researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)- Prof Dr Normah and Associate Prof Dr Roshayani - have been invited to the meeting. The opportunity to meet up and close with Professor Ferid Murad has been a memorable event for all of us. When asked "how he did it?", one "take home" message from Prof Murad is the need to have a team who can share and effectively work on the project. For him, his teams are his research fellows and co-researchers....
The visit is part of the university's initiative under the Vice Chancellor Special Project (VCSP). Professor Ferid Murad, is an Albanian-American physician and phamacologist, a co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or medicine for the discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. According to his available biography, ...
Prof Murad's key work was in showing that nitroglycerin and related drugs worked by releasing nitric oxide into the body, with the gas somehow acting as a signaling molecule, making blood vessels dilate. The biography asserts further that the missing steps in the signaling process were filled in by Furchgott and Ignarro, for which the three shared the 1998 Nobel Prize. 
The past one week has been filled with various activities which included among others a public lecture of "Sharing the Noble Laurette Journey" with university community and the public; meeting various scientific fraternities; television and other media appearance; Intellectual discourse with the medical research community and post graduate students. 
Today, Prof Murad has been awarded with the Asia Pacific Brand Laurette at a special function organized by the Faculty of Medicine, Selayang Campus. Two researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)- Prof Dr Normah and Associate Prof Dr Roshayani - have been invited to the meeting. The opportunity to meet up and close with Professor Ferid Murad has been a memorable event for all of us. When asked "how he did it?", one "take home" message from Prof Murad is the need to have a team who can share and effectively work on the project. For him, his teams are his research fellows and co-researchers....
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Understanding AMLATFA 2001
Today, post graduate students of AFC 713 (a course on money laundering and financial criminology) 
who are undertaking the Master in Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology presented their case studies involving money laundering offences. Selected cases presented by the groups today included those that have been committed in countries such as Canada, United States of America, Australia, Malaysia and Columbia. In Malaysia, the jurisdiction covering money laundering offences is covered by the Anti Money Laundering and Anti Terrorism Financing Act (AMLATFA) 2001. 
Money Laundering is a process to disguise illegal proceeds from their criminal origin so as to avoid suspicion of law so as to avoid suspicion of law enforcement and to prevent leaving a trail of incriminating evidence. It is a process to make dirty money to appear ´clean´. The three stages of money laundering are namely Placement (i.e. the placement of money into financial institution); Layering (creating complex layers of financial transactions designed to disguise illegal 
proceeds from their original source) and Integration (turning of illegal proceeds into legitimate economy and to make them appear as ordinary and legitimate earnings). Among the issues highlighted in the presentations included the multi-layering of illegal proceeds that makes the whole process looks very complex and complicated. Further, the involvement of transnational and cross-border crimes also necessitate our anti money laundering investigators to involve their global counterparts into the investigation process.
who are undertaking the Master in Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology presented their case studies involving money laundering offences. Selected cases presented by the groups today included those that have been committed in countries such as Canada, United States of America, Australia, Malaysia and Columbia. In Malaysia, the jurisdiction covering money laundering offences is covered by the Anti Money Laundering and Anti Terrorism Financing Act (AMLATFA) 2001. 
Money Laundering is a process to disguise illegal proceeds from their criminal origin so as to avoid suspicion of law so as to avoid suspicion of law enforcement and to prevent leaving a trail of incriminating evidence. It is a process to make dirty money to appear ´clean´. The three stages of money laundering are namely Placement (i.e. the placement of money into financial institution); Layering (creating complex layers of financial transactions designed to disguise illegal 
proceeds from their original source) and Integration (turning of illegal proceeds into legitimate economy and to make them appear as ordinary and legitimate earnings). Among the issues highlighted in the presentations included the multi-layering of illegal proceeds that makes the whole process looks very complex and complicated. Further, the involvement of transnational and cross-border crimes also necessitate our anti money laundering investigators to involve their global counterparts into the investigation process.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Meeting with Malaysia Automotive Institute
The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) thanks Mr M. Madani, CEO of the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI)and his two officers, Mr Asrulnizam Addrus (Head of Strategic Research Division) 
and Mr Armey Jefri (Researcher, Supply Chain Division) for recently hosting ARI researchers at MAI office in Cyberjaya. Professor Dr Normah Omar and her PhD student Mr Hussein had an initial discussion with MAI officers for a possible UiTM-MAI research collaboration in the area of Target Costing Implementation Decision and Organizational Capabilities by Malaysian Automotive Manufacturing Companies. From the meeting, it was basically agreed that the proposed research collaboration will embark very soon. 
MAI was incorporated on 16 April 2010, to function as an independent non-profit organization under the custodian of MITI and was officially launched on 10 June 2010. It acts as a focal point and a coordination centre for the development of the local automotive industry in all matters related to automotive industry including the formulating of the national automotive policy, managing manpower development programme, formulating and coordinating automotive related research and development.
and Mr Armey Jefri (Researcher, Supply Chain Division) for recently hosting ARI researchers at MAI office in Cyberjaya. Professor Dr Normah Omar and her PhD student Mr Hussein had an initial discussion with MAI officers for a possible UiTM-MAI research collaboration in the area of Target Costing Implementation Decision and Organizational Capabilities by Malaysian Automotive Manufacturing Companies. From the meeting, it was basically agreed that the proposed research collaboration will embark very soon. 
MAI was incorporated on 16 April 2010, to function as an independent non-profit organization under the custodian of MITI and was officially launched on 10 June 2010. It acts as a focal point and a coordination centre for the development of the local automotive industry in all matters related to automotive industry including the formulating of the national automotive policy, managing manpower development programme, formulating and coordinating automotive related research and development.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Operation Review Panel Member of MACC from UiTM
The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)congratulates Prof Dr Syed Noh Syed Ahmad, a senior professor from the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)who is lending his expertise in the area of forensic accounting to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. 
. Currently Professor Dr yed Noh is a member of MACC Operation Review Panel (ORP). At a recent press conference the MACC Academy in Kuala Lumpur, the committee members of the ORP (Prof Syed Noh from UiTM is seated in the middle)made a recommendation for MACC to initiate investigation on a few high profile corruption cases. Prof Syed Noh's expertise is in analysing financial statement fraud.
. Currently Professor Dr yed Noh is a member of MACC Operation Review Panel (ORP). At a recent press conference the MACC Academy in Kuala Lumpur, the committee members of the ORP (Prof Syed Noh from UiTM is seated in the middle)made a recommendation for MACC to initiate investigation on a few high profile corruption cases. Prof Syed Noh's expertise is in analysing financial statement fraud.
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