Congratulations to ALL AKNC Finalists

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) congratulates all finalists of the Vice Chancellor Quality Awards (Anugerah Kualiti Naib Cancelor or fondly known as AKNC) of Universiti Teknologi MARA.  Basically, AKNC is the award for the attainment of performance excellence among the Responsibility Centres (PTJ) in UiTM highlighting their best practices. 

ARI Director, Professor Dr Normah Omar is one of the six jury panels for AKNC 2016 which is headed by UiTM Vice Chancellor, Professor Emeritus Dato'  Dr Hassan Said.  Other jury panels are namely Prof Dr Abdul Rahman Omar, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation); Professor Dr Zaini Abdullah, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Industry, Community and Alumni); Professor Dr Roziah Janor, Assistant Vice Chancellor (InQKA) and Datin Rosmawati.  The AKNC award finalists are grouped into three classifications: Faculties, State Campuses and departments. The competition is coordinated and organised by The Institute of Quality and Knowledge Advancement, or InQKA.

  

Representing the faculties are Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Electrical Engineering.  The departments are represented by the Reistrar Office, the Treasury Department and the Students Affairs Department.  Meanwhile, finalists from state campuses are from Perak, Pahang and Melaka. 

Two More Q1 Publications for ARI, Congratulations

Congratulations are in order for two senior research fellows at the Accounting Research Institute (ARI): Professor Dr Nafsiah Mohammed and Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi for getting their research papers accepted for publication in Q1 journals.  
Professor Dr Nafsiah with two other authors from UiTM Sarawak (Dr Corina Joseph and Mariam Midin) wrote a paper titled "Promoting Societal Governance: Stakeholders'Engagement Disclosure in Malaysian Local Authorities'Websites" in the Q1 journal Journal of Cleaner Production.  Meanwhile, Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi article titled "Effects of Goal Orientation, Self-Efficacy and Task Complexity on the  Audit Judgement Performance of Malaysian Auditors" has been accepted to be published in a Q1 journal - Accounting. Auditing and Accountability Journal.

Three other co-authors of the paper are namely Professor Gary Monroe of New South Wales (UNSW) university, Australia, Professor Dr Norman Salleh from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Professor Dr Takiah Mohd Iskandar from the Accounting Research Institute.  Well done to both of you.  Both papers will be counted as part of ARI's publications in Q1 journals for our niche research agenda in Islamic Financial Criminology

Congratulations and Well Done Prof Dr Nafsiah Muhammad

The Accounting research Institute (ARI) acknowledges and thank Professor Dr Nafsiah Muhammad for a very successful recent networking visits to Indonesia.  There were three very important agendas during her visit:  First was the co-organisation of the first Comparative Asia-Africa Governmental Accounting

Conference (CAAGA) in Jakarta.  Themed "Comparison of Good Government Governance Between Asian and African Countries", Prof Dr Nafsiah was one of the keynote speakers.  At ARI, Prof Dr Nafsiah is currently heading the Public Sector Accounting Research Centre.

Second was the meeting with the Supervisory and Financial Development Board  or the Badan Pengawasan Keuangan dan Pembangunan (BPKP) to discuss BPKP-UiTM/ARI Training & research programs.  To date, BPKP has sent three cohorts of its STAR students and staff for on the job training in various government agencies in Malaysia. STAR, which stands for State Accountability Revitalization is an activity initiated by the government of the Republic of Indonesia to strengthen the financial accountability of the state.

 The STAR program aims towards improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the financial management function of the public sector through the strengthening of institutions or government institutions through the implementation of staff scholarships program for formal education at S1 (Bachelor) and S2 (Master) levels.   The discussions include among others the proposed plans for 2017.  Third was a site visit to BPKP training centre at Bogor. Professor Dr Nafsiah also discuss the possibility of organising a research and publication training workshops in Bogor for other STAR participants in Indonesia. The Accounting Research Institute and Universiti Teknologi MARA thank BPKP for a great hospitality provided for Professor Dr Nafsiah and her team during the visit.  Both agencies are now working towards the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement for future international collaborations. 

Congratulations Professor Emeritus Dr Takiah

Members and staff of the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) congratulate our distinguished research scientist Dr Takiah Iskandar for recently being conferred her Emeritus (or Emerita) Professor status by the Faculty of Economy and Management of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).  Professor Takiah has served UKM both as a lecturer and as dean of the faculty of economy and management.  Her expertise and research interests are in the areas of auditing and corporate governance. At ARI, Professor Takiah is heading one of ARI's research clusters within the Islamic Financial Criminology research niche.  Professor Takiah is a prolific researcher and writer.  She has authored more than one hundred journal papers.  To date her accumulated citations stand at 748 with a personal "H-Index"of 14. This is certainly a commendable standing, Congratulations and well done Professor Emerita Dr Takiah Iskandar.  We are very proud of you. 

Empowering Middle Class Financial Freedom

Professor Dr Normah Omar was today invited to give a professional talk entitled "Empowering Middle Class To Achieve Financial Freedom" to officers from the Retirement Advisory Services (RAS) unit of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) at  EPF Learning Centre in Bangi.  RAS is part of EPF's long-term plans to enhance service delivery that aims to help members achieve a sustainable retirement, for those nearing retirement or the newly retired.  Members will be given guidelines and options to help them manage and grow their EPF savings.  

RAS also has awareness and education programmes on basic financial and retirement planning.  Participants were exposed to important concepts such as active and passive income.  Budget 2016 defines Malaysia’s middle class (also known as M40) as those 40% Malaysian whose household monthly income ranges between  RM3.860 to RM8,319.   Passive income is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it. The American Internal Revenue Service categorizes income into three broad types, active income, passive income, and portfolio income.  Examples include book royalties and dividend-paying stocks. Investopedia defines passive income as "earnings an individual derives from a rental property, limited partnership or other enterprise in which he or she is not actively involved."

Promoting Research with Impact

Research impact is, in general, the effect research has beyond academia. Research Councils UK (RCUK) for example, defines research impact as 'the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy'. This can involve academic impact, economic and societal impact or both:

(i) Academic impact is the demonstrable contribution that excellent social and economic research makes in shifting understanding and advancing scientific, method, theory and application across and within disciplines; (ii) Economic and societal impact is the demonstrable contribution that excellent social and economic research makes to society and the economy, and its benefits to individuals, organisations and/or nations.  The impact of research, be it academic, economic and social can include:

1. Instrumental: influencing the development of policy, practice or service provision, shaping legislation, altering behaviour; 2. Conceptual: contributing to the understanding of policy issues, reframing debates and 3. Capacity building: through technical and personal skill development.  At the Accounting Research Institute, research impact relates to its ability to make a difference - to the society, the policy makers and human kind.  The New Straits Times newspaper in its Learning Curve column provides a good illustration of what research impacts constitute.  Included in the write ups is ARI's research niche agenda in Islamic Financial Criminology under the heading "Advancing Knowledge for the Common Good". Congratulations all ARIANs.