Congratulations Dr Farah and Dr Nizam

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) congratulates two of its associates who recently achieved significant milestones in their career. Firstly, congratulations to Dr Farah Aida Ahmad Nazri who completed her PhD in Islamic Finance from the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA.  Dr Farah untertook her PhD program under the university's Young Researcher Scheme (YRS) and will be attached with ARI as a researcher and lecturer.

Recently Dr Farah Aida also sat and successfully completed her professional examination in Enterprise Risk Management with the global body, Enterprise Risk Management Academy and received the ERMCP professional designation.  

Secondly, congratulations to Dr Md Nizam Ali, Senior Director and Chief Coordinator of Centre for Knowledge and Consultancy on Integrity at the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM), who successfully completed his PhD program at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.  

Dr Nizam is instrumental in the establishment of the Corporate Integrity System for IIM.  Through him, ARI was involved in the development of the Corporate Integrity Questionnaire - an instrument used to measure corporate integrity at workplaces.  This collaborative project between the industry and academia was very engaging.  We had at least two laboratory-style meetings at the

Securities Commission office to discuss the fundamentals of corporate integrity; several round-table discussions at IIM, presentation of the preliminary instrument to the Federation of Public Listed Companies and meetings with corporate CEOs at Bursa Malaysia, pilot testing the instrument and actual evaluation of corporate integrity at various organisations such as Celcom, TNB, KPJ, MARA, UDA and many others.  Today, the instrument has been used widely by corporations in Malaysia.

ARI Globalisation Agenda 2017

Time waits for no one.  As we are finishing the year 2016, we are also celebrating the coming of 2017.  For ARIANS,  2017's main agenda is "Globalising ARI HICoE and Advocating Research & Development in Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology". Strategic actions outlined for 2017 globalisation agenda includes: (i) Sourcing for international research grants through smart partnerships and research collaborations with agencies in OIC countries and European Erasmus program; (ii) Professional certification of ARI fellows in the strategic areas of Enterprise Risk Management from ERMA, Islamic Finance from IBFIM & IRTI, Financial Criminology from ACFE and Anti Money-Laundering specialisation from ACAMS.  Professional certifications will enable ARIANS to become specialists in Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology.  

International research collaborations and specialised trainings will certainly enhance ARI's presence globally and strengthen its financial standings in the long run; (iii) Academic publications of ARI's niche  research in Islamic Financial Criminology in Q1 & Q2

journals through international co-authorship program with reputable authors; (iv) Indexing of ARI two journals - Malaysian Accounting Review and Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Journal with SCOPUS, Thomson Reuters &  Islamic World Science Citation Database (ISC); (v) ASEAN research, training and conference organisations with universities in Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, in tandem with the spirit of the ASEAN Economic Community; (vi)

Internationalisation of ARI's four postgraduate programs - Master in Islamic Finance & Muamalat, Master in Financial Criminology, PhD in Islamic Finance & Muamalat and PhD in Finanacial Criminology to potential students of OIC countries. (vii)  Offering of Master-Class Professional certification program with global professional partners.  Inshaallah, God willing, ARIANS will bring ARI HICoE

and UiTM to greater heights.  The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will come into full force in 2017.  The Accounting Research Institute will take advantage of this governmental initiative to promote Islamic Financial Criminology as a new knowledge corpus to be reckoned with.

2016 in Memory

The year 2016 has been a great year for the Accounting Research Institute (ARI).  In tandem with ARI's aspiration to become global Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE) by 2018, a lot of efforts have been put into place by all ARIANs.  Thanks to all members - Research Fellows, Research Associates and Research Partners. Associate Prof Dr Jamaliah as ARI deputy director for research and networking was busy promoting ARI globally through networking collaborations with various agencies - Centre of Risk Management Academy (Indonesia); Institute of Public Enterprise (India); University of Bolton (UK); The Islamic Research and Training Institute &  King Abdul Aziz University (Saudi Arabia) and Universitas Indonesia.  She also makes sure that all research projects are progressing as scheduled and are producing the promised research output and outcomes.  

PM Dr Roshayani Arshad and PM Dr Zuraidah are both responsible in promoting ARI's postgraduate programs.  Today, ARI is offering four post-graduate programs by research - Master in Islamic Finance & Muamalat ; Master in Financial Criminology; PhD in Islamic Finance & Muamalat and PhD in Financial Criminology. Postgraduate program modules have been developed so as to ensure that students will graduate on time.  International students from Indonesia. Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh have indicated interests to embark on ARI postgraduate programs in 2017. Professor Dr Nafsiah is ARI's "ambassador" to Indonesia.  She has initiated a lot of training programs and collaborative efforts for research & development internationally.  STAR-BPKP research & training; University of Gadjahmada, Trisakti University and many others.  Prof Faizah obtained an ERASMUS grant in 2016 for three scholars with Burgas Free University.  Three more slots have been offered for 2017.  Dr Intan Salwani and Dr Shuhaida are ARI's IT experts.  They have put into placed the Online Journal System (OJS) for two ARI journals - Malaysian Accounting Review and Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Journal. Both journals are indexed and we hope to submit both journals for SCOPUS and Thomson Reuters indexing by the end of 2017. Associate Professor

Dr Nawal and Associate Professor Dr Abdul Halim are research leaders for ARI's research in Islamic Finance. They have embarked international research collaborations with Islamic Finance Scholars in the Philippines, Indonesia, Morocco, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.  Formal collaborations will be forged through Memorandum of Understanding and Memorandum of Agreement. Dr Balkish, Dr Azmi and Dr Farah Aida will soon be our experts in Enterprise Risk Management as they are undertaking professional certifications with the global's Enterprise Risk Management Academy (ERMA).

Dr Norazida is now on a 15-month sabbatical attachment with the Inland Revenue Board Malaysia (IRBM).  She will further strengthen our professional collaboration with that agency.  Dr Yang Chik, our law expert has been involved with many law-related initiatives including getting involved with the exposure drafts of the upcoming Companies Act amendments and other corporate governance-related proposals.  ARI welcomes our newly appointed research fellows - Associate Professor Dr Ayub Md Som (Chemical engineering), Professor Dato'Mustaffa Md Zain and Associate Professor Dr Erlane who will be tasked with spearheading the transdiciplinary aspects of ARI research projects.  Whilst Dr Ayub's specialisation is in Decision Support System, Prof Mustafa is a leading researcher in Corporate Social Responsibility.  Dr Erlane is an expert in the "Internet of Things".

 Our post-doctoral scholars Dr Shamimul Hassan and Dr Soheil Kaziman have been ARI's great assets in 2016 and beyond.  They have published in many indexed journals with ARI fellows as co-authors.  They have also initiated potential research and publication collaborations in Bangladesh and Iran respectively.

As a result of these hardworks and smart collaborations, ARI has received many research recognitions and accolades in 2016: Six gold awards from ITEX 2016; Global Islamic Finance Awards for "Best Research & Development in Islamic Finance 2016"; ACQ's "Islamic Financial Criminology Research Body of the Year for Second Consecutive Year 2016"; Gamechanger Online Magazine UK award for "Gamechanger Award 2016" and "ASEAN Risk Awards 2016" from the Enterprise Risk Management Academy (ERMA).  Almost all ARIANS have achieved the stipulated KPIs for 2016.  Congratulations and great job everyone.

ASEAN Risk Awards 2016 for ARI

Congratulations Accounting Research Institute (ARI) for being accorded the ASEAN Risk  Awards 2016 under the category "Risk Educator" during a recent event held at the Sofitel Hotel in Bali Indonesia, in conjunction with the BALIERM 2016 international conference.

The ASEAN Risk Awards 2016 is held to appreciate ASEAN’s achievements, innovation, and leadership in Risk Management through the risk leaders. With this event, Risk Management success stories from those risk leaders will be spread throughout ASEAN to regional audiences. There is no boundary on how big the company size is, what kind of industry they are in, and from which country they are from.  Companies and universities from ten ASEAN countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar are eligible to participate.   Entry Eligibility for the ASEAN Risk Awards are as follows:

• The ASEAN Risk Awards is open to all organizations with a formal and legal presence in South East Asia.
• There is no limit to the number of nomination entries or the number of categories you may submit and enter.
• The organizer assumes that all entries are original and have been granted an official permission from the nominated organization. In the event that a nomination is entered without such rights, the entrant will not be eligible for the awards evaluation.
• The ASEAN Risk Awards is not liable for any copyright infringement on the part of the entrant.
• The work and credentials that are submitted to the Awards must have been in place for at least part of the 2016 calendar year.
• The nomination form and the supporting information will be the sole basis for the nomination.
• Nomination entries are only accepted through the available online nomination form. All nominations received through any other form will not be considered.

Risk leaders from various countries in ASEAN have been working hard to improve Risk Management field through their works. All this time, their achievements are proofs that ASEAN risk leaders are always pursuing to a higher level for the sake of their companies as well as for the region. The main organiser for this event is the Enterprise Risk Management Academy (ERMA).  ERMA is a global learning center for professionals and practitioners in the field of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), and was established to facilitate collaboration efforts of ERM professionals and practitioners around the world, promoting and practicing ERM at their workplace.  ARI has been recognised for its research and training in the area of financial risks due to financial leakages, fraud, corruption in money laundering,

Successful International Visits to Dubai and Iran

The Accounting Research Institute thanks Professor Dato' Dr Mustaffa Zain and his team for their successful recent international visits to Dubai and Iran.  In Dubai, they attended the Global Academy of Training & Research (GATR) in collaboration with various National and International Universities and Publishers.  Themed "Contemporary Issues in Business And Social Sciences Research: A Dubai Initiative", ARI team managed to get their papers accepted for publication in several SCOPUS and ERA-indexed journals.  In Iran, the team visited two universities, namely Payam Noor University and Imam Reza University.  They were also invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Malaysian Embassy in Tehran.  The Education attache of the Iran Embassy in Malaysia will be organising memorandum of understanding between Universiti Teknologi MARA and Top 10 universities in Iran sometime in April 2017. Dato' Dr Mustaffa was heading the delegation comprising ARI fellows and associates and officers from several statutory bodies who are members of the Association of Malaysian Statutory Bodies (Persatuan Badan-Badan Berkanun Malaysia, PBBM).  The visit has received a  lot of attention from many Iran universities and other government agencies and there were reports of the visits that appeared in Iran's mainstream newspapers and television stations.  ARI also thank Dr Soheil Kaziman, our post-doctoral scholar who is from Iran.  He was responsible for arranging the logistics including places to visit and meetings with the right people in Iran.  Dr Soheil was a PhD student at the Faculty of Accountancy and stayed back to do his post-doctoral training at ARI.  Iran is also home to the Islamic Citation Centre (ISC).  In 2008, the 57 member countries of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have approved the creation of an Islamic Citation Centre (ISC) to be based in Iran.  

Basically, the ISC will manage a Science Citation Index similar to that of Thomson Reuters Scientific, which will analyse research performance in Islamic countries with the aim of improving research output and impact. The index will rank Islamic countries' scientific publications, introduce quantitative and qualitative measures for journals, and produce analytical reports on the status of universities, research institutions and technology centres by looking at their research productivity, impact and excellence.  It is our aspiration that some of UiTM journals will be indexed with ISC.  Well done team, you have done us proud. 

UiTM in Top 300 listing of BRICS and Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017.

Congratulations Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) for making its maiden entrants to the top 300 listing of BRICS and Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017. 

This is exceprt from the Malaymailonline dated 1st December 2016:

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — Three local universities broke into the top 100 of the Times Higher Education (THE) BRICS and Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017, signalling further progress since seven such institutions placed in the World University Rankings 2016. According to the new survey,  Universiti Putra Malaysia was 89th, a 14-place from climb from its previous ranking, in the assessment involving 300 universities from 50 countries from developing countries as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that from the BRICS.

Other Malaysian universities that made the top 100 are Universiti Teknologi Petronas (91) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (100). Universiti Sains Malaysia was 114th and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia was 136th while Universiti Utara Malaysia made it within the 201-250 band and Universiti Teknologi MARA,  the 251-300 band. UTP, UUM and UiTM are maiden entrants to the list.

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/three-malaysian-universities-make-the-top-100-brics-list#sthash.DoaJtjk0.dpuf