Congratulations Prof Dr Zainab - IR

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) congratulates Prof Dr Zainab Abu Bakar for her successful professorial lecture this morning.  Titled "Exploring the Challenging Information Retrieval Terrain", Prof Zainab posits that to be at the frontier of information retrieval (IR)knowledge, her research explores various information need of a fairly diversed scopes.  Her research covers the terrain of Malay text, "songket" motifs, students term papers and many others.  Retreiving information requires specific algorithms to search and match the information stored as indexed objects.  She further added that for each query that is often expressed in "natural language", the retreival methods have to be effective and efficient.  Her professorial lecture book is first and foremost a book of ideas, models, algorithims and data collections of the Malay language and heritage.  Congratulations for contributing greatly to the ICT-based knowledge.....

Groom Big PSB Furniture

PSB Furniture Sdn Bhd is a Johor-based "Class A" contractor company, that has been specifically identified by the Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) and Ministry of International Trade (MITI) in the later's "Groom Big" program.  The Groom Big initiative nurtures potential small and medium enterprises for the export and global market.  The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) participated in the 2012 Groom Big program by providing three accounting-based training modules for the enterpreneurs.  Yesterday ARI researchers conducted site visit to PSB's Furniture Factory in Johor Bharu.  PSB's Director/Owner, Mr Awang and his team made a presentation of both financial and management accounting data of the company.  As accounting is the "language" of business, it can be used as a strategic tool to control and monitor manufacturing costs as well as to make strategic decisions on pricing and profitability.  As a Class A contractor company, PSB has invested in "state of the art" manufacturing facilities.  Naturally, the company is on its way to penetrate the international markets.  Mr Awang shared with the researchers, his plans and vision for the company.  Congratulations Mr Awang and PSB...

"Happy Birthday.." to a Great Statesman

In conjuction with the two-day seminar organised by the Malaysian Professorial Council (MPN), a "Gala dinner" was arranged for a special guest of honour, at the Merdeka Hall, Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur .  The guest of honour was none other than the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed.  It was Tun's 87th birthday, but his health and leadership are simply exemplary.  In conjunction with the event, MPN launched the inaugural Mahathir Research Fellowship Award. The fellowship allows interested researchers to study Mahathir as an exemplary statesman.  As the prime minister of Malaysia for twenty two great years, he has done many great things:  the establishment of Putrajaya as the government Administrative city; The setting up of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for the country and the introduction of many policies - Look East, Malaysian Incorporated, Vision 2020 and even the belief that "Malaysia Boleh" (Malaysia's "can do") spirit.  Also present at the gala dinner was the Minister at the PM Department, Tan Sri Nor Yaakob.  Throughout the two day seminar, participants discussed many great ideas as promoted by the great statesman.  Happy birthday to you Sir....(note: photo from the Star online). 

Sharing Session with UTM

The Accounting Research Institute thanks Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for inviting ARI and Professor Dr Normah, its director to share ARI's own journey and experiences as a Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE).  In a two-day program to "enhance and encourage" its current centres of excellence to achieve the HICoE stature within the next three years, the university has invited several speakers from among research institutions to share their experiences.  Two current HICoEs - UMPEDAC and ARI have been particularly "tasked" to share their HICoE journey.  Throughout ARI's two-hour session, it has indeed been very interative moments with participants asking both general and specific questions about HICoE.  UTM's Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Prof. Ir Dr Mohd Azraai Kassim was also present to lend his support.  Some forty participants, comprising directors and heads of centres of excellence attended the session.  According to its strategic educational plan, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) aspires to recognise twenty HICoEs with international stature by the year 2020.  For ARI, the HICoE journey has indeed been the most rewarding and fulfilling to all its members at the institute.  The biggest paradign shift that ARI members have to undergo was to change their research focus from being a "generalist" to a "specialist" in the niche area of Islamic Financial Criminology.

International Linkages with Japanese Universities

In view of its internationalisation agenda, researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) have recently initiated collaborations with several universities in Japan.  ARI researchers have participated in the International Accounting Conference organized by the Asian Accounting Academic Association (AAAA) held at Kyoto, Japan.  In conjunction with the conference, ARI research fellows and associate fellows - Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi, Associate Professor Dr Lai Ming Ling, Associate Professor Dr Amrizah Kamaluddin and Ms Yusarina met up and discussed possible research and publication collaborations with several professors from Tokyo University, Kyoto University and Rikkyo University.  As a start, several letters of intents have been signed between ARI and these universities.  Once a specific collaborative program is agreed upon, a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed to signify formal collaborations.  Tentatively, possible research collaborations will include topics in auditing, financial reporting and corporate governance

Anti Money Laundering Course

The new cohort of the Financial Criminology Money Laundering course is fairly large with twenty one students attending the full time mode and another thirty three students taking the part time mode. Majority of the students are from the industry - both from the public and private sectors, hence implicating increased interest in the area of forensic accounting and financial criminology among students and practitioners.  From the public sector, there are students from the Auditor General office; Accountant General Office; Royal Custom & Excise; Inland Revenue Board; MACC and the Royal Malaysian Police.  From the private sector, there are students from  financial institutions, audit firms, Public Listed Companies (PLCs), Consultancy firms and private corporations.  Only a handful of them are fresh graduates. Both the Faculty of Accountancy and the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) welcome the students to this course...

Hyderabad Conference 2012

The second day of the 4th International Corporate Governance Conference in Emerging Economies saw the presentation of papers in four different technical sessions.  Three ARI researchers - Associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad, Dr Siti Khadijah Abd Manan and Professor Dr Normah Omar presented their respective papers.  A discussion meeting between the Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE, India), Institute of Business Research (IBR, Waikato, New Zealand) and the Accounting Research Institute (ARI, UiTM Malaysia) proposed the 5th International  Conference (2013) to be hosted by ARI in Kuala Lumpur.  Other possible Malaysian partners will include the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group (MSWG) and the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG).  Dr Hilwani Hariri, Head of the Corporate Governance Research Centre at ARI will lead the Malaysian team in organising the 2013 conference.  The Hyderabad conference 2012 has been successful in showcasing corporate governance issues within the emerging economies of countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Langka, Bangladesh, Ghana, Malaysia and China.  Some of the issues being addressed include:

• The Governance of non-profit organisations
• Board Composition and Directors' Independence
• The Governance of Financial Shenanigans
• Governance and Performance of Public Enterprises
• Governance and Political Intervention in Public Enterprises

ARI-IPE International Collaborations

In February 2012, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed by two research entities - Accounting Research Institute (ARI) of Universiti Teknologi MARA and the Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) of Osmania University, India.  Among the collaborative programs planned and agreed to be carried out within the next three years include: (i) collaborative research projects (ii) joint publication (iii) joint conference organisations and staff exchanges.  Following that MOU, IPE and ARI are jointly co-organising the 4th International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Economies with the theme "Innovation, Sustainability and Challenges".  The two day conference is held on 10-11 December 2012 in Hydrabad.  The other joint co-organiser of the event is the Institute of Business Research, University of Waikato, New Zealand.  Five ARI researchers - Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi, Associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad, Dr Hilwani Hariri, Associate Professor Dr Siti Khadijah Abd Manan and Professor Dr Normah Omar participate in the conferences.  In conjunction with the joint conference, two books of readings were launched: (1) Corporate Governance in Emerging Economies by IPE and (2) Issues in Audit Quality - Behavioural and Market Perspective by ARI.  On the first day of the conference today (following the Plenary Session), fifteen papers were presented in three technical sessions: (1) Corporate Governance in Emerging Economies; (2) Corporate Governance & Sustainability and (3) Ethics and Business.

Groom Big Visit to Mitti Group of Companies

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) thanks the management and staff of Mitti Cable Sdn Bhd, one of the eight "Groom Big" companies, an initiative driven by both the Ministry of International Trade (MITI) and the Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC). Groom Big Program identifies potential and aspiring small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be nutured by both MITI and MPC through training programs, mentor-mentee consulting services and site visits. Mitti Cable Sdn Bhd manufactures and supplies cables and electronic gadgets to some major utility and communication companies in Malaysia. Several ARI researchers have been selected by MPC to conduct accounting-related training programs, which include among others: Financial statement analysia, financial management, overhead management, costing and other management accounting courses. ARI has also been entrusted by MPC to write case studies of eight Groom Big companies. During their recent site visit to Mitti Cable Sdn Bhd, the researchers met up with the Group Managing Director  Dato’ Mohd Saffian Azizul  Rahman and his management team.  The researchers were then taken to visit Mitti's three main factories namely "Electronics Cables", "Power Cables" and "Telephone Cables".  In a nutshell, Mitti's infrastructures and new export market potentials are very promising indeed.  Congratulations..

 

Collaborative Research on Islamic Microfinance

One of the research projects undertaken by the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) in driving its HICoE research niche in Islamic Financial Criminology is "Islamic Microfinance".  The project is collaboratively carried out between ARI UiTM, MydinMohamad Holding Berhad and Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM).  The pilot phase will be carried out in collaboration with the Selangor Zakat Centre.  A Memoradum of Understanding (MOU) was recently signed between the different entitites involved to signify the research collaboration.  Mydin Mohamed Holding Berhad is a renowned supply chain and hyper market owner in Malaysia and its contribution as a research team is to fill the gap, where microcredit receipients are being directly linked to the market place through Mydin's various hypermarkets, emporiums and mini markets.  The research collaboration has received a fair  media attention... Thanks Berita Harian for covering this research initiative.