ACCOUNTING RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ARI)

ARI-Rangsit University International Collaboration

2012-02-14T18:32:00.001+08:00

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 nd 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

2012-02-13T18:14:00.000+08:00

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.

Thank you Sir

2012-02-03T14:05:00.005+08:00

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

2012-02-02T22:49:00.006+08:00

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

2012-02-02T18:45:00.007+08:00

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.

ARI-IKAZ Research Collaboration

2012-01-26T14:47:00.004+08:00

Researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and the Institute of Zakat Research (IKAZ)met up today to discuss possible research collaboration in the area of Zakat and Waqaf. Ikaz was represented by its director, associate professor Dr Hasan Baharom, his deputy, associate professor Dr Halim and two researchers, Dr Afandi and Associate Professor Dr Noraini.
ARI on the other hand was represented by Professor Dr Normah Omar (ARI Director), Professor Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman (Deputy Director), Dr Nawal Kassim, head of the Islamic Accounting and Muamalat research centre and Hj Ismail (ARI Senior fellow). The meeting agreed in principle to undertake several collaborative research projects related to Zakat and Waqaf. With the aim of obliterating poverty among the Muslim ummah, two projects, "Waqaf Investment as a tool to elevate institutionals' economic performance" and "Supply-Backed Islamic Microfinancing of Zakat's Asnaf recepients" will be carried out immediately in February 2012.

ARI-Al Wafiq Network Collaboration

2012-01-26T11:50:00.000+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute welcomes Mr Roslan Abdul Razak, Managing Director of Al Wafiq Network, who met up with researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) this morning. Mr Roslan's prior experiences include being(1)Director, Training & Professionals Development di Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM), (2) Director, Shariah Investments di Prudential Fund Management Berhad, Kuala Lumpur and (3)Director, Shariah Business Advisory at the Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM). ARI was represented by Prof Dr Normah Omar, Prof Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman, Dr Nawal Kasim and Hj Ismail. In tandem with ARI's niche research agenda in Islamic Financial Criminology, the meeting was held to specifically discuss possible collaborations between ARI and Al Wafiq Network. In fact, Al Wafiq Network was established with the specific purpose of enhancing the Islamic Finance industry in Malaysia and globally. At the end of the meeting, five possible collaborations were identified: (1) Lecture series in Islamic Finance for ARI researchers and students; (2) Post graduate specialization course in "Shariah Audit"; (3) Collaborative research related to issues and challenges faced by Islamic financial institutions; (4)the establishment of a "mini" consultancy entity and (5) the development of an Islamic finance portal.

ARI's February Conferences

2012-01-21T11:17:00.003+08:00

Apart from the two-day International Convention on Boards to be held in New Delhi India on 9-10 February 2012, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) will also be co-organzing two other conferences in February 2012. The first conference 2012 International Conference on Governance and Accountability (ICGA 2012) will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Kuching, Sarawak on 15-18 February 2012. Themed "Ethics, Accountability and Governance: Towards Sustaining Value Creation", the ICGA 2012 will be co-organized with the Sebelas Maret Universit, Indonesia; SRRNet & De Monfort University, UK; University of South Australia; Curtin University Australia; CSR Asia; APCeS-ACCA and IGonGFERS. The Kuching Conference is supported by the Sarawak State Government, Sarawak Convention Bureau, Kuching City Council and the Sarawak Tourism Board. Another conference, The 2nd Accounting Research & Education Conference (AREC 2012) will be held at Universiti Teknologi MARA on 21-23 February 2012. This conference, with the theme "Economic Transformation Programme:The Role of Accounting Education and Profession" is co-organized with the Malaysian Association of Accounting Academic (MyAA); Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA; The Malaysian Accounting Research & Education Foundation (MAREF)and supported by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).

International Convention on Boards

2012-01-20T09:50:00.001+08:00

As part of its internationalization initiatives, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) will be co-organizing an International Convention on Boards in New Delhi, India. The international convention will be co-organized with five other organizations namely (1) Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), India (2)Institute of Business Research, University of Waikato, New Zealand (3)ONCG, India (4)Oil India Limited and (5)NMDC Limited, India. At the upcoming event in New Delhi on 9-10 February 2012, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be signed between Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and the Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE). UiTM Vice Chancellor Dato' Professor Ir Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar and Professor Dr Mishra will be signing the MOU on behalf of UiTM and IPE respectively on 9th February 2012. Themed “Meeting the challenges of the Boards through sharing experiences and deliberations”, the international convention is expected to attract a lot of corporate leaders to the event.

ARI-IIM Collaboration

2012-01-18T22:14:00.000+08:00

Collaboration between the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) of Universiti Teknologi MARA and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM)has been long standing. Recently, several researchers from ARI were involved and participated in the Corporate Integrity System Roundtable at IIM. Today, two IIM Officers: Ms Nurul and Mr Roszaidi from the Private Sector Division of IIM came to discuss with ARI researchers on other possible future collaborations. ARI researchers could possibly contribute in terms of collaborative research and joint-publications. The two entities (UiTM and IIM)will hopefully be signing an MOU soon to formalize their collaboration.

Research Collaboration and Competency Training

2012-01-16T19:50:00.001+08:00

Late last year, researchers from the Accounting Research Institutes (ARI) completed two research collaboration projects with the Accountants General Department (AGD). The two projects were namely (i) Financial Reporting Analysis of Malaysian Local Authorities and (ii) Forensic Accounting Skills of Government Accountant. Following those successful research projects, the AGD has recently asked ARI researchers to conduct another research project related to Accrual Accounting in the Public Sector. In addition, ARI researchers, comprising Associate Professor Dr Nafsiah Mohammed, Associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad and Associate Professor Dr Ruhaya Atan have been asked to conduct several training programs on Accrual Accounting for government accountants. A meeting to discuss the collaborative project was held today at ARI Office.

UiTM Futuristic Workshop in Malacca

2012-01-15T19:07:00.003+08:00

Day 3
On the third day of the workshop, participants were briefed on other important aspects of the university by the other Deputy Vice Chancellors. Prof Dr Azni Zain Ahmed (Deputy VC Academic & Internationalization) spoke of new futuristic programs, state campus autonomy, international collaboration, Vice Chancellor Special Projects (VCSPs). Prof Dato' Dr Abdullah Said (Deputy VC Students Affairs) deliberated on students' extra-cullicular activities, Soft Skill, Finishing Schools, Community Services, graduate placement and Graduate Accountability. Prof Dr Norsaadah Ismail (Deputy VC ICAN) explained her networking plans with the Industry, Community and Alumni. All in all, UiTM Futuristic aims to place the university on the world map through its research collaboration, academic programs, student placements & internship, Industry & Community engagements and Alumni Network. To summarize it all, the Vice Chancellor, Dato' Prof Ir Dr Sahol Hamid addressed the workshop participants and emphasized his vision for the university. As a member of this large "family", everyone has a role to play. Together, we can achieve...

UiTM Futuristic Workshop in Malacca

2012-01-14T22:15:00.004+08:00

Day Two
The second day of the workshop deliberates on organizational as well as operational strategies of the research entities.
Included in the "research entities" category are (i) Centres of Excellence (CoE), (ii) Research Interest Groups (RIG) and (iii) Research segment or division of faculties and state campuses. The workshop started with a briefing by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation)on research aspiration of the university. Participants of this workshop comprise Deans of faculties, Rectors of state campuses, Directors of CoEs, Heads of Research Management Institute (RMI) and Heads of the University's Strategic Planning Unit. Discussions include strategies and milestones towards the enhancement of the MyRA scores for each research entity. As incentives, the university has allocated special "seed research funding" for qualified research entities. It's heartfelt to know that the university (UiTM)has the highest number research collaborations from among Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia...

UiTM Futuristic Workshop in Malacca

2012-01-13T18:04:00.001+08:00

Day 1
In its effort to enhance research output within the university, the Research Management Institute (RMI)organizes a three day workshop (13-15 January 2012)in Malacca.
Themed UiTM Futuristic, the three-day workshop is divided into three different segments: (i) Workshop on Research Entities and Centres of Excellence (ii)UiTM Research Initiatives 2012-2013 and (iii) UiTM Futuristic Briefings by Deputy Vice Chancellors (Academics & Internationalisation, Students Affairs and Industry, Community & Alumni linkages). On the first day of the workshop, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation), Prof Dr Abdul Rahman Omar met up with the directors of centres of excellence (CoE). Discussions were basically focused on the newly launched Research Policy of the university. One of the most important aspects of the policy is the move to appoint research fellows on a secondment basis (rather than a dual-appointment as previously practiced)to the centre of excellence. This will allow researchers to focus on their research activities during their tenureship as research fellows. Centres of Excellence are also advised to identify and to focus on a specific niche research area.

ARI-RMCD Collaboration

2012-01-12T18:47:00.003+08:00

In its effort to champion research in financial criminology, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)has initiated preliminary discussions with the Royal Malaysia Custom Department (RMCD)in Putrajaya on possible research collaboration. Today, ARI director, Prof Dr Normah Omar and another taxation researcher, Associate Professor Dr Rohaya Mohd Nor visited the RMCD Office and met up with Dato' Shaharuddin Ibrahim, Deputy Director General RMCD. Initial discussions include a collaborative research project to develop risk profiles of indirect tax payers in Malaysia. The development of such profiles would facilitate RMCD in handling the issue of tax evasion among prospective tax payers. In addition, the collaborative research also aspires to develop fraud risk indicators for indirect taxation. Future collaborations will include training in forensic accounting and joint-publications.

Post Doctoral Lecture

2012-01-12T13:07:00.002+08:00

In his first post-doctoral lecture series at the Accounting Research Institute (ARI), Dr Ghani Majidi discussed a topic on "Poverty Eradication through Zakat and Islamic Microfinancing Vehicle". This research topic is part of ARI HICoE's fundamental research in Islamic Accounting & Finance. Dr Ghani is an economist by training and it is interesting to see how he blends economics, finance, accounting and theology in his research. Premised on a "Karamma model", the concept integrates Islamic microfinancing with supply-based business venture.
Dr Ghani is currently a post-doctoral scholar at ARI. He will be attached with the institute for a period of one year. Whilst here, he will embark on a few research projects with ARI researchers in the area of Islamic Microfinancing. Prior to joining ARI, Dr Ghani who obtained his PhD in Economics from Essex Universty, UK had several teaching experience in Sweden and England.

ARI-MPC Partnership

2012-01-11T21:55:00.001+08:00

Today, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) received three visitors from Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC).
Our guests, Mr Ab Rahim Yusoff (Senior Director), Mr Omar Othman (Manager) and Mr Zaki Jaafar (Senior Consultants) are all from the Business Excellence Department, MPC. In essence the meeting discussed several potential collaborations: Research, Training, Consulting and Publication between ARI and MPC. MPC, whose core competency is in the areas of productivity and total quality management is the secretariate of several quality-based national awards. ARI on the other hand, is a national Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE), whose niche research agenda is in the area of Islamic Financial Criminology (IFC). In addition to IFC, ARI's core competency includes management accounting, financial reporting, corporate governance and public sector accounting. The win-win smart collaboration between the two entities will certainly benefit the country. ARI researchers who took part in the ARI-MPC discussions were namely Prof Dr Normah Omar (ARI Director), Prof Datin Dr Suzana (Head of CIMA-UiTM Asian Management Accounting Research Centre), Associate Professor Dr Wee Shu Hui (Research Fellow) and Madam Sharifah Fadzlon (ARI Associate).

New Office Bearers

2012-01-08T00:02:00.000+08:00

The new year saw new appointments for the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA. Prof Dr Rozainun Abdul Aziz is the new Dean for the faculty. Associate Professor Dr Arun and Professor Dr Norazam are respectively Deputy Deans for Academic & Internationalization and Research & Industry Linkages. Meanwhile, Professor Dr Rohana Othman is Head of the Asia Pacific Forensic Accounting Research Centre (AFARe), a research cluster under the governance of the Accounting Research Institute. Congratulations all and may 2012 be a great year.

Welcome Aboard ARI New Members

2012-01-06T05:54:00.000+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) welcomes our two new research fellows: Associate Professor Dr Haryani Haron from the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FSKM) and Dr Siti Arpah Nordin from the Faculty of Information Management who have just joined the institute this month. Both Dr Haryani and Dr Siti Arpah will be embarking on an international research on "Knowledge and Information Needs of Engineers and Managers". The research which is coordinated by the Socio-Technical Centre, Leeds University Business School will involve twelve other countries: Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and United Kingdom. For ARI, this international project will be placed under the Vice-Chancellor Special Projects (VCSP)under the category of "Strategic Alliance with Top Notch Research Centre". Seen in this photo are Dr Haryani (red scarf), Dr Siti Arpah (white scarf)and Razimah (floral scarf), a PhD student from Edith Cowan University, Australia

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T22:55:00.001+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) wishes a Happy New Year to all researchers, asssociate members and our stakeholders. The year 2011 has been a great year for ARI. Its first year activities as a Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE) have seen major results in its niche research in the area Islamic Financial Criminology (IFC). The results include among others: sixty articles in indexed journals, thirty publications in indexed proceedings, forty seven national and international research collaboration, the organizing of two conferences in Islamic Financial Criminology, the signing of several MOUs and letters of intent, the enrolment of fifteen new post graduate students, international benchmarking visits to Taiwan, Singapore, United Kingdom and Australia and the publication of several special issue journal in IFC. 2011 ended on a good footing with the research proposal Retreat 2011 where six research cluster projects have been identified. May 2012 be another great year for all of us... Happy New Year to all.

Thank You Prof Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman

2011-12-31T16:19:00.010+08:00

Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman is a very much respected personality in Universiti Teknologi MARA and particularly within the accounting fraternity in Malaysia. Today is his last official day as the Dean of the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA and this entry is especially dedicated to this great man. Throughout his tenureship as a dean, Professor Ibrahim Kamal has successfully brought the Faculty of Accountancy to greater heights. Indeed, the establishment of the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) in 2003 was his own "brainchild". As a dean to one of the largest faculties in the university, he wanted to give equal emphasis to both academic programs and research activities. Hence, ARI was established so that keen researchers could embark on research projects and to focus on publications and academic writings. Facilities and resources were specifically given to ARI so as to allow the newly formed research institute to grow in tandem with the faculty's progress. ARI has since evolved from "special-interest group SIG" to "research centre" and to research institute. Today, it is one of the six national Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE). This successful evolution is in itself a tribute to the vision of this great man: Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal. We will certainly miss your leadership as a dean. Today, the faculty has grown many folds and has produced many "first". Thank you sir, may you continue to be a great mentor and an inspiration to all of us....

ARI's Phase 2 Proposal Retreat

2011-12-29T18:33:00.001+08:00

Day 3
The proposal presentations continued on the third day of the Retreat. Useful feedback from the panels would be effectively incorporated in the research proposals. Cluster heads and their members made plans on interim reviews so as to ensure that research projects progress as planned. To support its global aspiration to become a regional centre of excellence in the niche research area of Islamic Financial Criminology, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)has recently established its own strategic initiatives known as "C-Cure". ARI's current C-Cure initiaves are namely: C-Cure International Grant, C-Cure Training, C-Cure Post Graduates, C-Cure PI, C-Cure Collaboration, C-Cure Publication and C-Cure Innovation.
The focus of 2012 research projects is to forge regional and international collaboration with renowned researchers and research centres. In a nutshell, the Retreat has achieved its objectives. In addition to the successful completion of its 2012 research proposals, Retreat 2011 at Port Dickson has been a great platform for team building for ARI researchers. May 2012 be another great year for all of us...

ARI's Phase 2 Proposal Retreat

2011-12-28T15:02:00.002+08:00

Day 2
The second day is dedicated to the preparation of research proposals. All cluster heads gathered their respective researcher groups and syscronize their research objectives, data collection instrumentation, data analysis and deliverables. The groups also needed to discuss and select the best regional and international collaborators who could add value to their research projects. In tandem with Malaysia's aspiration to become an effective global hub for the Islamic Finance Industry, ARI's research thrust in Islamic Financial Criminology has two-prong long term objectives. Firstly, through its Islamic Finance research cluster, the Accounting Research Institute hopes to develop new potential products for the industry. In view of ARI's own expertise, there's certainly prospects in Islamic Microfinancing, Shariah Audit, Zakat and Waqaf. Secondly, through the Financial Criminology cluster, ARI hopes to mitigate financial crime and to develop fraud prevention mechanism in order to protect the Islamic Finance industry. Researchers were accordingly grouped to prepare their respective research proposals. All proposals were presented to the selected panel of experts...

ARI's Phase 2 Proposal Retreat

2011-12-27T01:47:00.003+08:00

Day 1:
Researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) will be participating in a three-day research proposal retreat in Port Dickson on 27-29 December 2011. The Retreat is to specifically discuss, deliberate and finalise ARI's Phase 2 research proposals in Islamic Financial Criminology for 2012. The 2012 research proposals are cluster-based: three clusters under the Islamic Finance research thrust and another three clusters under the Financial Criminology group. For the Islamic Finance thrust, the three research clusters are namely "Islamic Microfinancing", "Shari'ah and Islamic Governance" and "Zakat & Waqaf". On the same token, the three research clusters for the Financial Criminology are namely "Financial Reporting & Governance of Non-Profit Organizations", Anti-Money laundering & Counter Financing of Terrorism" and "Anti-Fraud Methodologies & Fraud Risk Indicators". In view of the HICoE aspiration to go regional, all research clusters are expected to invite and to include regional and international collaborative partners in their research projects. On day one, ARI Director, Professor Dr Normah Omar gave a briefing on the aspiration and expectation of the Retreat. As cluster-based research projects, researchers need to syncronize their own research objectives with the cluster's overall objective. Participants were also advised to match their research timeline with expected deliverables. The 2012 research projects on Islamic Financial Criminology are more focused with deliverables in the forms of new products, new policies and innovation.

ARI-IBS Collaborative Research

2011-12-10T12:34:00.000+08:00

Two Malaysian Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE): Accounting Research Institute (ARI)and Institute of Bioscience (IBS)are collaborating in a research project titled "Economic and Social Impact of Establishing a Microcomposite Algae Industry for Malaysia". Four ARI researchers, Associate Professor Dr Faizah Darus, Associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad, Associate Professor Dr Haslinda Yusuf and Dr Azizah Abdullah are involved in the collaborative project. IBS researchers include Prof Dr Mohamad Sharif, Prof Dr Abdul Rahman, Prof Dr Maznah, Prof Dr Rozita and Dr Sanjoy. As a result of new demand for renewable energy as well as potential in the wellness sector, Algae is a possible new industry for Malaysia. Among the social and economic impacts expected from this new industry is the development of new industrialization location for algae, new jobs for the community and finding alternative commercial usage of the algae composites.

CISM and Corporate Participations

2011-12-09T18:43:00.000+08:00

The Private Sector Division of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) held its 2nd Corporate Integrity System Malaysia (CISM)Roundtable Session at the IIM office in Kuala Lumpur. Today's Roundtable Session was chaired by Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob (Chairman of The Malaysian Industrial Development Authority - MIDA and was IIM's first President). The half-day event discussed among others, initiatives to move the CISM forward. This includes the publications of two books on CISM in 2012: the first book on "CISM Framework" is to be written by the Academia Group who helped to develop the self-assessment CISM questionnaire and the second book on "CISM Ecosystem" would be "commissioned" to the Malaysian Council of Professors. In addition to the two books, future initiatives would include participation by the corporate sectors to utilize the CISM questionnaire and to conduct self evaluation of their own Corporate Integrity System.
Several corporations have indicated their interest to participate in the self-evaluation exercise. Today's event was attended by several corporate and public sector participants such as Celcom, Telecom Malaysia Berhad, Amanahraya Berhad, Al-Rajhi Bank, Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group (MSWG), the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP),Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC), MIMOS, MAICSA, CIDB, INCEIF and Universiti Teknologi MARA.

Financial Management for NPOs

2011-12-07T23:46:00.004+08:00

In our effort to enhance our international collaboration, two Accounting Research Institute (ARI)researchers met up with CPA Australia Senior Policy Adviser Dr Mark Shying at the CPA Australia office in Kuala Lumpur. The meeting was essentially to discuss the possibility of adapting or benchmarking Dr Shying's framework on "Financial Planning & Management for Non Profit Organizations" for emerging economies in this region. Dr Shying developed the financial planning framework for CPA Australia and it was adopted successfully by the state of Victoria. As the two ARI researchers: Prof Dr Normah Omar and Associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad are currently undertaking a research project involving NPOs in Malaysia, Dr Shying's framework would certainly be handy to be adapted by the group.

Launching of New Annual Reporting Format for Societies

2011-12-06T23:51:00.003+08:00

As part of a pilot project, the Selangor's Registrar of Societies (ROS) launched a new annual reporting format that societies registered in the state would need to comply to. ROS introduced a "B9" form which incorporates the requirements of three important legislations and recommendations: The Societies Act 1966; The Asia-Pacific Group of anti-money laundering (APG Mutual Evaluation 2007) and APG Non Profit Organization Typologies 2011. Five Accounting Research Institute (ARI)researchers: Associate Professor Dr Roshayani, Prof Dr Normah, Prof Dr Rashidah, Associate Prof Dr Jamaliah and Dr Intan Salwani participated in the development of this initiative. ROS is planning to introduce the online report submission within the next few years. Today, the launching of the new format was graced by the deputy minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, Dato' Lee Chee Leong at a special event held at Stadium Chin Woo, Kuala Lumpur. A total of three hundred participants who represented various societies in Selangor attended the launching ceremony. Congratulations ROS.

Welcome Prof Omar Masood

2011-12-05T12:27:00.002+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)welcomes Visiting Professor Dr Omar Masood from the University of East London (UEL)to Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Prof Omar is also the Director of a newly launched Centre of Islamic Banking and Finance at UEL. Today, he visited ARI to discuss forthcoming 2012 collaborations: joint post-graduate supervision; post graduate exchange program; joint research; joint publication, training & consultancy and co-organization of future international conferences in Islamic Finance & Muamalat.

HICoE Audit 2011

2011-12-02T22:33:00.006+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)welcomes two HICoE auditors or assessors Prof Dr Muhammad bin Jantan (MJ) and Associate Professor Dr Stephanie Pillai. The duo came to Universiti Teknologi MARA to conduct a site visit on ARI's 2010 performance as a Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence. The audit basically focuses on five main agendas: (i)to evaluate ARI HICoE's first year fundamental research projects in the area of Islamic Financial Criminology, (ii)to verify ARI's HICoE budget utilization, (iii)to discuss any matters or issues arising from ARI HICoE's implementation, (iv)to evaluate ARI's institutional profiles and to determine ARI's readiness to become a regional player and (v)for ARI to showcase its second year's research projects in the niche area of Islamic Financial Criminology. The one day event was attended by ARI's research fellows, Heads of Research Centres, research associates and research assistants. In their exit report, the auditors indicated their overall satisfaction with ARI's progress and development. Two very important suggestions proposed were (i) In view of its research focus in Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology, ARI should set up its own Research Ethic Committee (REC)to oversee ethics-related matters with respect data confidentiality and disclosures; and (ii)In showcasing its potential as a regional HICoE, ARI should develop measurable characteristics of its researchers so that they could be benchmarked by others. In a nutshell, ARI members appreciate the professionalism shown by the two auditors througout the audit session. Thank you..

Accountability Against Financial Fraud

2011-11-30T20:11:00.001+08:00

"Pay Up or be Axed"....That's the headline that appeared on the main page of The Star newspaper dated 26th November 2011. Basically, the headline was refering to the Malaysian government recent proposal in mitigating the issue of occupational or management fraud within the public sector. It was further stated that "Officers who cause the government to lose money due to their negligence will be made to repay a portion of the lost revenue and they may even be sacked. If there are cases of embezzlement, ministry and department heads have to take the responsibility to report the matter to the police so that an investigation can be carried out". The Public Service Department (PSD)introduced these measures to ensure that civil servants are held accountable for the losses highlighted by the Auditor General in the 2010 Report. PSD recently issued a set of comprehensive guidelines to all ministries and state authorities on procedures in managing financial fraud at workplaces...

Book Publication on CISM

2011-11-29T20:38:00.000+08:00

The Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) is embarking on the publication of a new book titled "Corporate Integrity System Malaysia" (CISM). The Accounting Research Institute, which is represented by its director, Professor Dr Normah Omar has been invited to chair the "Book Publication" meeting held today at IIM. Premised on the New Economic Model (NEM) the CISM solicits feedback from various stakeholders: Professional Bodies, Trade chambers, Academia Experts, Regulatory Authorities, Enforcement Agencies, Multinational Corporations, Government-Linked Companies,
Public Listed Companies, Small Medium Industries, Retailers and Consumer Markets. In soliciting feedback from stakeholders, the Private Sector Group of IIM had organized many Roundtable sessions and seminars. The academia Expert group has successfully produced a "Consultative Document on Corporate Integrity System Assessment Questionnaire" that can be used by corporations to self-assess their corporate integrity system.

New Tools and Research Projects in Financial Fraud investigation

2011-11-27T20:19:00.000+08:00

Towards the end of the semester, the students who are currently undertaking the Anti Money Laundering and Financial Criminology course are busy finalising their final research project. The project requires the students to work in group and to choose real financial fraud cases and to simulate the cases with latest analytical techniques in fraud investigation. The simulation project requires them to come up with fresh documentary evidences by conducting face to face interviews with different groups of employees affected by the fraud or to discuss with enforcement agencies and regulators.. Throughout the semester, the students have been exposed to various real-life financial fraud cases. They had to present two prior cases where they had to (i) identify possible weaknesses in the internal control system; (ii) understand the theories underpinning fraudulent behaviours and (iii) learn to use new tools that can be handy and useful in financial fraud investigation. Three guest speakers comprising a police officer, a merchant banker and a deputy public prosecutor were also invited to give talks on financial criminology.

Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology Association

2011-11-26T20:01:00.000+08:00

The Protem Committee and graduates of our Master in Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology Program met up today to discuss the formation of the Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology Association and the registration of the association with the Registrar of Societies (ROS). Members of the association will comprise graduates of the program whose number is now reaching two hundred. The Master program was first introduced in July 2006 and the first graduate cohort was produced in August 2008. In addition to normal membership, the association will also admit students and practioners as associate members. Currently, the top three protem committee members comprise President, Mohd Rashid Tan Sri Musa; Haswadi (Deputy President) and Hesri Faizal (Secretary). The formation of the association will path the way towards developing more qualified professionals in the area of forensic accounting and financial criminology. As a HICoE driving a niche research area of Islamic Financial Criminology, the formation of this new association will certainly adds value to the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)and the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). More collaborative works in the area of research, training program and publications will be initiated with the upcoming association.

Discussions on Islamic Microfinancing

2011-11-25T12:38:00.005+08:00

The Islamic Accounting and Muamalat research group had a fruitful discussion with one of the guest speakers of the World Universities 1st Zakat Conference which was just recently held in Kuala Lumpur.
The speaker, Dr Malik Al Asmar (in brown suit)from Belgium visited the Accounting Research Institute this morning to discuss on possible international collaboration in zakat research and Islamic microfinancing. Both topics are in line with ARI's 2012 research program in Islamic Accounting and Muamalat. Dr Malik has agreed in principle to participate with ARI for both projects. A phd student from Iran, Mr Syed (in brown shirt)has recently enrolled with ARI to embark on a study related to Islamic Microfinancing.

ARI Exhibition at a "211 Hours Non-Stop Debate"

2011-11-24T09:39:00.009+08:00

In an effort to list this activity in the Malaysia Book of Records, the organizers comprising Universiti Teknologi MARA, Utusan Malaysia and Majlis Belia Malaysia (MBM) organize a "211 hours non-stop debate". Themed "Transformation and National Integration", the debate's participants include students from public universities, private universities, community colleges, Teachers colleges, polytechnics and secondary schools in Malaysia. At the end of the event, the organizers expect to produce useful resolutions as proposed by the Generation Y. Yang Berhormat Dato' Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Higher Education graced open to officiate the event today at Universiti Teknologi MARA. In conjunction with the historic eight-day event, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) participates in the exhibition activity by showcasing ARI's research products and expertise. As a Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE), ARI's expertise cover varied range of accounting-related matters. This include financial criminology, forensic accounting, Islamic accounting & finance, public sector accounting, corporate governance, CSR reporting & sustainability, Financial Reporting, accounting standards, government-link companies research and management accounting. All the best to all. The time clicks on, time to beat... 211 hours

Preparing for PhD Research Proposal

2011-11-23T21:16:00.002+08:00

This week, aspiring PhD candidates of the university are attending an intensive research proposal workshop which is organized by the Institute of Leadership and Quality Managemenet (IlQAM). As one of the facilitators for the workshop, Prof Dr Normah Omar, Director of the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) delivered her talk today on a topic "Preparing a PhD Research Proposal". It was stressed in her talk that one of the most important elements of a research prosal is the identification of the right "PROBLEM STATEMENT". It is important in a proposal that the problem stand out so that the reader can easily recognize it. Sometimes, obscure and poorly formulated problems are masked in an extended discussion. In such cases, reviewers and/or committee members will have difficulty recognizing the problem. A problem statement should be presented within a context, and that context should be provided and briefly explained, including a discussion of the conceptual or theoretical framework in which it is embedded. Clearly and succinctly identify and explain the problem within the framework of the theory or line of inquiry that undergirds the study. This is of major importance in nearly all proposals and requires careful attention. It is a key element that associations such as AERA and APA look for in proposals. It is essential in all quantitative research and much qualitative research. State the problem in terms intelligible to someone who is generally sophisticated but who is relatively uninformed in the area of your investigation. Effective problem statements answer the question “Why does this research need to be conducted.” If a researcher is unable to answer this question clearly and succinctly, and without resorting to hyperspeaking (i.e., focusing on problems of macro or global proportions that certainly will not be informed or alleviated by the study), then the statement of the problem will come off as ambiguous and diffuse. Once the problem is clearly identified, pay attention to other important components of a proposal:
1. Title (Working Title)
2. Preamble/Introduction
3. Short Statement of the Problem
4. Research Objectives
5. Research Questions/Hypothesis
6. Review of Research Literature
7. The Design - Methods and Procedures
8. Tentative Time Table
9. References
10.Attachments/Appendixes

NPO Governance & Reporting

2011-11-23T12:06:00.004+08:00

The Selangor Registrar of Societies (ROS)is embarking on a pilot project to enhance the
governance and reporting of societies and non profit organisations (NPO) who are currently registered with ROS. The pilot project is initiated jointly by ROS and the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) of Universiti Teknologi MARA. Premised on the requirements of the Societies Act 1966, the Asia Pacific Group on anti Money Laudering (APG Mutual Evaluation 2007) Report and the APG Typologies of NPO (2011), the pilot project develops an assessment instrument and evaluates the governance and financial reporting practices of 100 NPOs. The results of the pilot project will be ready by the end of November 2011. Today, Prof Dr Normah Omar (ARI Director), associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad (Head of the project) met up with ROS directors from Selangor (MR Noreffendy) and Kuala Lumpuar (Ms Zuliana) to discuss research progress. Currently ROS Selangor and ROS Kuala Lumpur have respectively more 9,000 and 8,000 societies and NPOs registered under them. Efforts are continuously undertaken by ROS to improve the governance and financial reporting of NPOs in Malaysia.

Financial Fraud Investigation Analysis

2011-11-21T11:33:00.009+08:00

Master students from the Anti Money Laundering and Financial Criminology course presented their respective local financial fraud cases and showcased different analytical techniques which include Beniesh M-Score Model, Horizontal & Analytical Analysis, Ratio Analaysia. Fraud Risk Indicator Typology, Risk Management Model, Financial Integrity model, Accounting Anamolies Analysis. Some of the local cases presented include Transmile Berhad, Megan Media Berhad, Nasioncom, Tat Sang Berhad, Jasatera Bhd, Wimems Corporation Bhd, Welli Multi Corporation and Inix Group. One of the groups was presenting two cases of cheque fraud and how the use of the VSC6000 document analyzer machine was able to detect the fraud. The focus of the presentation was to highlight financial fraud investigation framework as well as analysis of the data collected. Most of the companies who were involved with financial reporting-related issues have since either been suspended or delisted from the local bourse.

APMAA Conference 2011 - Day Three

2011-11-19T21:39:00.000+08:00

Day three started with three parallel sessions which were grouped under Finance, Audit & Financial Reporting and Management Accounting- Budget & Reward System. A total of nine papers were presented in the early morning sessions. After the morning break, another twelve papers were elaborated and discussed in three sub-groups of "performance evaluation", "Balanced Scorecard" and "intellectual Capital & Information Technology". The final session of the conference was the Plenary Discussions. The Plenary segment was moderated by Professor Akira Nishimura, the founder and first president of the Asia Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA). Two speakers namely Prof Paul Scarborough from Brock University, Canada and Prof Kenji Yasukata from Kinki University Japan presented their papers which looked at the role of management accounting information in value creation in international companies. Prior to the closing of the conference, APMAA President Professor Susumo Ueno made his closing speech and remark. In a nutshell APMAA Conference 2011 has achieved its objectives. In the afternoon, private meetings were held by members of the steering committee
and the Asia Pacific Management Accounting Journal APMAJ. Discussions were also made on forging international research collaboration among APMAA member countries and for members to secure international grants for the projects. The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) from Malaysia is initiating a one year research project on "Target Costing Implementation and Practices in Asia Pacific Region". To date, members from several countries have indicated interest to participate: Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UAE, Indonesia and Bangladesh. The group hopes to present their survey findings during the next APMAA Conference. Another collaborative project is a managemenmt accounting book with the proposed title of "Management Accounting Practices in the Asia Pacific Region" which is also targeted to be completed within a year. Professor Roger Willet and Professor Nishimura will be joint editors for this book. Till we meet again next year at the 8th APMAA Conference in Xiamen, China.

APMAA Conference 2011: Day Two

2011-11-18T12:17:00.010+08:00

The second day of the conference started with another keynote paper on the theme "Management Accounting: A Value Creation Tool for Sustainability" by Mr Jeremy Nasrulhaq. Jeremy is an Independent, Non-Executive Director of the Malaysia Airport Holding Berhad (MAHB). Being in the industry for the past 29 years, he has held various key positions at international multi national companies. Based on his own experiences, management accounting has always been used strategically by the companies he worked with. When he served Unilever Malaysia as a Commercial Director, he has created a lot of management accounting-related positions so that accountants are not just focussing on preparing reports, but more importantly act as business partners to the organization. Following the keynote address were three Parallel sessions broken into three sub-themes:Management Accounting & Strategic Management Accounting, Governance & auditing and Financial Accounting & management. A total of twenty papers were presented concurrently by participants. After the lunch break, participants were taken to Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative capital city for a tour. Then in the evening, participants were invited to the 7th APMAA dinner, which was sponsored by DRB HICOM Berhad. Forthcoming hosts of the 8th (Xiamen University, China) and 9th (Nagoya University) APMAA conferences were also invited to give short previews of the event that will be held in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

APMAA Conference 2011 - Day One

2011-11-17T17:27:00.000+08:00

The International Conference of the Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA) 2011 started
on a high note with opening speeches by the President Prof Dr Susumo Ueno, Vice President Prof Dr Normah Omar and a keynote address by Datuk Bazlan Osman, CFO of Telekom Malaysia Berhad. Datuk Bazlan's paper titled "Management Accounting - A Value Creation Tool for Sustainability" discusses the various management accounting tools used and implemented by the telecommunication company. At TM Berhad, management accounting tools are used for profit planning, cost management, performance evaluation, developing strategic maps for Strategic Business Units (SBUs)and in deciding the quantum of stakeholders reward. In gauging and cascading the understanding of corporate vision, strategic objectives, actual implementation and business performance, TM Berhad uses the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) tool. After the morning break, the plenary session showcased two speakers: Prof Roger Willett from the University of Tasmania spoke on "Quantitative and Qualitative Methods and Trend in Management Research" and Prof Tae-Sik Ahn from Seoul National University, Korea discussed on "Social Responsibilities of Business School". A Discussion panel discussed a topic on "direction of Management Accounting Research in the Asia Pacific Region" saw five professors critically analyzing research directions in Japan (Prof Ueno from Konan University), Korea (prof Tae Young Paik, from Sungkyunkwan University), Indonesia (Prof Grahita from University of Merdeka, Malang), Thailand (Prof Wila-sini from Chulalongkorn University) and China (Prof Gu Liang Tang from International Business and Economics University).
After the lunch break, the conference continued with a FORUM where four practitioners and one professor participated in the discussion. The session was moderated by Mr Venkkat Ramanan, Head of CIMA Malaysia. he four practitioners were namely Mr Nor Haimee Zakaria from Bank Rakyat Malaysia; Mr Mohd Shukrie from Pos Malaysia Berhad; Mr Peer Mohamad from Bank Muamalat and Mr Terence Soo from Hicom Teck See. Prof Jimmy Tsay represented the academic researcher group. Wow, there's indeed so many things to learn. The day's event ended with a Summit meeting where invited heads of accounting association discussed of ways to move forward in promoting management accounting as a competitive tool. Mr Yeoh from MIA/CIMA presented a snapshot of Malaysia's National Awards for Management Accounting (NAfMA).

Signing Letters of Intent

2011-11-17T16:29:00.001+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)signed two letters of intent to signify interests of respective parties to forge potential collaboration in the areas of research, post graduate supervision, staff and students exchanges. The two institutions, namely University of Tasmania Australia and University of Merdeka, Malang Indonesia signed the letters of intent at a special segment during the APMAA 2011 conference at the Shah Alam Convention Centre (SACC) today. Once the paper works are ready, a more formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be signed by the vice chancellors of the universities in the near future. For ARI, the MOU signing will add more impetus to the internationalisation drive for its HICoE status.

PhD Colloquium

2011-11-16T23:56:00.007+08:00

In conjunction with the 7th International Conference of the Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA)which is hosted jointly by APMAA and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), a PhD Colloquium is held today. Professor Dr Paul Scarborough from Brock University, Canada gave an interesting keynote speech which implicates the fact that good publications arise from well thought-off research projects. Hence, phd candidates should plan and strategize their research projects in a manner that would result in publication spin-offs. A total of ten papers were presented by ten PhD candidates comprising those from first to final year students. The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) thanks all discussants who took time to review the papers. All in all, the discussants had given some very good feedback for all the papers presented. In fact, the PhD Colloquium 2011 is APMAA's latest initiative for its annual conference activity. More than fifty PhD students attended the one day colloquium held at the Wawasan Room, Universiti Teknologi MARA's beautiful green campus in Shah Alam. Well done all and thank you

NPO Online Reporting for ROS

2011-11-15T06:13:00.000+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and the Registrar of Societies (ROS) have been discussing on a collaborative project in developing an online reporting mechanism for all non-profit organisations and societies who have registered with the ROS.
Today, a group of ARI researchers, headed by Prof Dr Normah Omar made their proposal presentation to ROS Committee. The proposed project is an initiative by ROS and ARI to enpower societies and NPO to submit relevant information through an online mode. The Asia-Pacific Group (APG)on anti-money laundering and anti financing of terrorism in its recent typology report on NPOs has proposed that"Material Information" be made available by NPOs. Such information include (i) Sources of revenue (fees, donations, gifts and fund raising), (ii) Activities of NPOs, (iii) Expenditures and their distribution, (iv) Personnel (members, committee and management),
(v)List and Value of assets and liabilities, (vi) Governance structure and (vii)anti-money laundering and anti financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) policy. ARI's proposed project includes the development of a financial reporting guideline for NPOs, an online financial reporting system, governance structure and training of ROS staff. The pilot version of the system is expected to be ready by early December 2011. An outreach program to explain the proposed system to NPOs in the country will be organized by ROS in due time.

Learning More About AML/CFT

2011-11-13T12:20:00.001+08:00

In pursuing research in financial criminology, one must understand the laws governing financial fraud. One such law is Malaysia's Anti Money Laundering and Anti Terrorism Financing Act (AMLATFA 2001)which was introduced in 2001. Today we invited a Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) who was handling the AMLA and financial crime cases at the Attorney General Chamber office prior to his recent appoinment with the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC). DPP Mohd Saifuddin shared his experiences with the Master of Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology students on issues and challenges in implementing the Act. In his lecture, the DPP shared a lot of real case studies with the students. In gathering evidences for financial fraud cases, investigators must have the ability to "read in between the lines" and gather as much information from witnesses as they possibly could...

ARI Welcomes Mr Ismail Mahayudin

2011-11-05T08:10:00.001+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) welcomes Mr Ismail Mahayudin as our newly appointed Senior Research Fellow. His appointment is to train ARI researchers and to facilitate ARI in it's fundamental research in the area of Islamic Accounting and Muamalat. Mr Ismail has wide experience in this topic. He joined Bank Islam Berhad as General Manager of Trade Finance and Treasury Division in 1983. He was promoted to Senior General Manager, Retail Banking in 1994. He was a director of Al-Wakalah Nominees Sdn Berhad and BIMB Institute of Research and Training Sdn Berhad. As a professional trainer, he lectures and trains professionals in Trade Finance and banking Operations. His book titled "International Trade Operations", which was published by the BIMB Institute of Research and Training Sdn Bhd (BIRT) remains a source of reference for the Islamic banking industry.

ICAPMAA 2011

2011-11-04T09:01:00.010+08:00

The 7th International Conference of the Asia Pacific Management Accounting Association (ICAPMAA 2011) will be held on 17-19 November 2011 at the Shah Alam Convention Centre (SACC).
Preceeding the conference will be a PhD Colloqium to be held on 16th November 2011 in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). The Accounting Research Institute (ARI), through its associate research centre, CIMA-UiTM Asian Management Accounting Research Centre and the Faculty of Accountancy will be joint hosts for the event. Ten papers will be presented at the one day PhD colloqium. Meanwhile, forty papers will be presented at the conference. The UiTM organiser is expecting some ninety international participants. ARI thanks conglamorate DRB HICOM for sponsoring the conference dinner. The upcoming ICAPMAA 2011 will be an interesting one. In addition to the normal paper presentations, we have also included other events for ICAPMAA 2011: Business Meeting with various accounting fraternities, Founding members meeting, dinner & cultural show, Signing ceremony of Letter of Intent and a visit to Putrajaya. ICAPMAA is an annual event and past conferences have been hosted by different countries in the Asia-Pacific region. ICAPMAA 2010 was hosted by the National Taiwan University in Taipei and the ICAPMAA 2012 will be hosted by University of Xiamen, China. The Asia-Pacific Management Accounting Association (APMAA) has also decided on forthcoming hosts for future conferences: ICAPMAA 2013 (University of Nagoya, Japan), ICAPMAA 2014 (Seoul National University, Korea), ICAPMAA 2015 (University of Chullalongkorn, Thailand). ARI thanks our conference organizers: Prof Ibrahim Kamal (Conference Chair), Prof Suzana & Associate Prof Dr Wee Shu Hui (Joint chairmen of conference organizing committee) and their team members for putting together a splenlid job. The Elseiver International has also agreed in principle to to index ICAPMAA proceedings into Elsevier PROCEDIA.

Financial Reporting Framework for NPOs

2011-11-02T10:15:00.000+08:00

The collaboration between Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and the Registrar of Societies (ROS) will proceed with both parties working on formulating the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). ARI teams will comprise three different but integrated groups, working on developing the financial reporting framework for non-profit organisations (NPOs) who are currently registered with ROS.
In developing the framework, ARI teams will examine current profile of NPOs/societies who are regsitered with ROS. Then the development of (i) NPO governance guideline, (ii) financial reporting guideline and (iii) financial reporting system, an online submission system by NPOs/societies. In preparing the framework, ARI undertakes into consideration all comments and recommendations proposed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Asia Pacific Group on anti money laundering. Both ROS and ARI hope to launch the online financial reporting regime by the end of December 2011.

Data Analysis Techniques for Fraud Detection

2011-11-01T22:55:00.003+08:00

Excerpts from WIKIPEDIA the free Encylopedia:
Techniques used for fraud detection fall into two primary classes: statistical techniques and artificial intelligence (Palshikar 2002).

Examples of statistical data analysis techniques are:
•Data preprocessing techniques for detection, validation, error correction, and filling up of missing or incorrect data.
•Calculation of various statistical parameters such as averages, quantiles, performance metrics, probability distributions, and so on. For example, the averages may include average length of call, average number of calls per month and average delays in bill payment.
•Models and probability distributions of various business activities either in terms of various parameters or probability distributions.
•Computing user profiles.
•Time-series analysis of time-dependent data.
•Clustering and classification to find patterns and associations among groups of data.
•Matching algorithms to detect anomalies in the behavior of transactions or users as compared to previously known models and profiles. Techniques are also needed to eliminate false alarms, estimate risks, and predict future of current transactions or users.

The main Artificial Intelligence techniques used for fraud management include:
•Data mining to classify, cluster, and segment the data and automatically find associations and rules in the data that may signify interesting patterns, including those related to fraud.
•Expert systems to encode expertise for detecting fraud in the form of rules.
•Pattern recognition to detect approximate classes, clusters, or patterns of suspicious behavior either automatically (unsupervised) or to match given inputs.
•Machine learning techniques to automatically identify characteristics of fraud.
•Neural networks that can learn suspicious patterns from samples and used later to detect them.
Other techniques such as link analysis, Bayesian networks, decision theory, land sequence matching are also used for fraud detection (Palshikar 2002).

Tools to Detect Financial Fraud

2011-10-30T17:57:00.002+08:00

Students from the Master in Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology program who are currently taking the course on Money Laundering and Financial Criminology made their group presentations today. The students presented their selected tools which included among others: Financial Ratios (FR), Financial Statement Analysis (FSA), Beneish Model, Altman Z-Scores, Benford Model, Networth Analysis, Social Network Analysis (SNA), Neural Network Analysis (NNA), Document Analyzer and Data Mining Model. In their presentations, they had to demonstrate how each tool is being used in their financial fraud investigation cases. Some techniques such as FR and FSA are conventional analytical tools and they are still relevant and widely used today.
Meanwhile, tools such as Benford Model and Data Mining could be easily integrated with available spreadsheets like microsoft excel and access. The utilization of graphic interfaces to estimate frauds is widely used in tools such as Social Network Analysis, wavelet and Neural Network Analysis. For cases involving tax fraud, the networth analysis is still useful, as the "burden of proof" remains with the suspected fraudsters.

Happy Deepavali Message

2011-10-26T07:44:00.004+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute sends a Happy Deepavali wish to all our Hindu friends who are celebrating their big day today. Special best wishes to our members: Associate Professor Dr Nagaretram Thirumanickam, Associate Professor Dr Indra Devi Manoharan, Dr Ganisen, Ms Usha Rani and Ms Chantradevi.

New Researchable Topics

2011-10-25T19:29:00.000+08:00

It was interesting to review some of the new researchable topics being presented by some of our researchers who are pursuing their higher degree programs. These topics are in line with the current needs of the industry, profession and academia:
(1) Carbon Accounting and Green Taxation
(2) Fair Value Accounting of Financial Statements
(3) Valuation Issue of Fair Value Accounting
(4) The cost of anti-money laundering to financial institutions
(5) The Role and Effectiveness of financial intelligence units in promoting AML/CFT measures
(6) The role and function of the Auditor General Office of the Government (AOG) in mitigating financial shenanigans
(7) The use of non-profit organizations as conduit to money laundering and terrorism financing
(8) Developing code of governance and financial reporting framework for charity organisations

Thank You Prof Malcolm Smith

2011-10-24T15:38:00.008+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and the Faculty of Accountancy wish to thank Prof Malcolm Smith, a visiting professor to Universiti Teknologi MARA for his recent visit. Professor Smith is currently attached with the School of Accounting, Finance and Economics of Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. His current research interests include management control system, corporate governance, whistleblowing and financial criminology. Prof Smith-Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)collaboration started as far back as 2003 when UiTM and University of South Australia (Prof Smith was then with UniSA) offered a joint Master in Accounting Information System for our young lecturers. Prof Smith has written and published a lot of articles on these topics in international refereed journals. He has also agreed to participate in ARI's forthcoming collaborative research projects on AML/CFT and NPO Governance Framework. Thank you Prof Smith for sharing with us your new book Research Methods in Accounting. Your gift will certainly be shared with other ARI researchers.

Financial Reporting Framework for NPOs

2011-10-22T08:47:00.005+08:00

Researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and senior officers from the Registrar of Societies (ROS)met yesterday to discuss on the development of a suitable financial reporting framework for non profit organisations that are registered with the ROS. ROS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman, who was heading the delegation from ROS indicated in the meeting that the pilot project using the new reporting framework will be launched by its Selangor branch in March 2012. Currently, there are more than 90000 NPOs who are registered with ROS. In general, the main classifications of ROS's NPOs are in the category of namely: Religous, Education, Health, Culture, IT, Youth and politic. In Selangor alone, there's more than 9000 registered members. The new financial reporting framework will be digital and system-based. NPOs can submit online, relevant information that are required under the Society Act and ROS, in turn can produce customised NPO reports for different stakeholders. The ARI team comprised of researchers from different research clusters namely: Financial Reporting Research Centre (FRRC), Corporate Governance Research Centre (CGRC) and the Accounting Information System research group.

FRS for Public Universities

2011-10-21T19:09:00.002+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute has been appointed as consultant and trainer by the Bursary Secretariat of public universities to train staff on Financial Reporting Standards (FRS).
Effective 1st January 2012, all public universities will start using the FRS for their financial reports. The convergence from cash to accrual basis is part of the government trasformation plan in driving efficiency and productivity in the public sector. Today, ARI director, Prof Dr Normah Omar and ARI's Head of the Financial Reporting Research Centre (FRRC)Associate Professor Dr Roshayani Arshad made a presentation to the secretariat on the proposed FRS training module which has been scheduled to be held in December 2011.

Potential Collaboration with UTAS

2011-10-20T18:53:00.002+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and the Faculty of Accountancy welcome Professor Gary O'Donovan, Dean Faculty of Business, University of Tasmania, Australia (UTAS) to Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Prof O'Donovan who was stopping by Kuala Lumpur, paid us a brief visit at the Shah Alam Campus. In our discussions it was concluded that there's a lot of areas for possible collaboration between UiTM and UTAS. For ARI in particular, there's room for joint research collaboration in the areas of management accounting and financial criminology. In addition, there's also prospects for joint PhD supervision and joint publication. A letter of Intent may be signed in November 2011.

Professor Extraordinaire

2011-10-19T13:30:00.005+08:00

The Research Institute of Natural Products for Drug Discovery(RIND)from Universiti Teknologi MARA organised a half-day Inaugural Lecture by Professor Dr Atta-Ur-Rahman. Professor Atta-Ur-Rahman from the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Pakistan is indeed an amazingly extraordinary person.He obtained his PhD in organic chemistry from Cambridge University. To date, he has 844 publications on various fields of organic chemistry, including 664 research publications, 18 patents, 103 books and 59 chapters in books published largely by major US and European presses. Professionally, Prof Atta-ur-Rahman is the first scientist from the Muslim world to have won the prestigous UNISCO Science Prize in 1999. He was also elected as Fellow of Royal Society (London). In his lecture today, Prof Atta-Ur-Rahman shared his recent research findings related to issues relevant to socio-economic development of the OIC nations through higher education and science & technology. He is a real role model for the generations of young Muslim scholars, a scientist par excellence and a leader of unparallel commitment and vision...

A Farewell Do...

2011-10-14T18:32:00.002+08:00

Researcher couple Dr Rashid Ameer and Dr Radiah Othman will be migrating to New Zealand in November 2011.
As a team player and research fellows at the Accounting Research Institute (ARI), they both have contributed tremendously in research, publications and other administrative duties. Today, ARI together with other fellow members and staff organized a farewell do for both of them. Despite them being away, they will continue to serve ARI as visiting research fellows and we hope to enhance international collaboration with universities and research centres in New Zealand. We wish you all the best in future endevours. ...

Research on Islamic Home Financing

2011-10-11T22:35:00.001+08:00

Congratulations Prof Dr Rohana and her team for successfully organizing a research discussion session with several industry players. The event which was held at the Hilton Hotel, Petaling Jaya was attended by researchers, bankers and lawyers. Four panelists who participated in the discussions were namely (i) Mr Rahizam Ibrahim (BNM)with the topic "Overview on BNM Shariah Governance Framework and its Application Among IFIs", (ii) Mr Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman (EONCAP Islamic Bank) "House Financing Practice - Bithaman Ajil (BBA)", (iii) Mr Mohd Nazri (BIMB), "Risk Management of the Islamic Finance" and (iv) Dr Hj Zaharuddin Abd Rahman (UIAM), "The Relevance of Fiqh Muamalat in Islamic Banking Operation".

Budget 2012 - Promoting Seven Focus Areas

2011-10-07T18:48:00.002+08:00

Based on the Malaysian Budget 2012 tabled by the finance minister Dato' Seri Najib Razak in parliament today, the government will have seven focus areas in 2012, two of which are a more targeted subsidy programme for low- and middle-income groups and more incentives for new investments. Successful implementation of these seven focus areas is expected to yield an expansion of 5 to 6 per cent growth to the Malaysian economy in 2012. In its economic report for 2011/2012, the seven focus areas are namely (i) measures to reduce the impact of inflation; (ii) enhance the well-being of the rak-yat; (iii) accelerate rural transformation; (iv) reinvigorate investment activities, (v) innovate Malaysia; (vi) develop human capital and (vii)improve public services delivery. For research institute such as ARI, Budget 2012 provides a lot of fresh opportunity for us to embark on new research and training projects with our collaborative partners.

Integrity Profiling Instrument - MIMOS & IIM

2011-09-30T08:51:00.009+08:00

Following a successful launching of its Corporate Integrity System recently, the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) introduced another landmark integrity instrument, which was developed by one of its strategic partners. Premised on the principle of Psychometrics, the Integrity Profiling Instrument is a research product of MIMOS (Malaysian Institute of Microelectronics Systems)which is focussing on measuring the integrity of individuals. What is interesting about the instrument is the inclusion of two new variables, making it a Malaysian-Based integrity instrument. The product was introduced by Dr Haniza Yon, Lead Researcher and Director of the Psychometrics Centre at MIMOS at a half-day function yesterday, organized by the Private Sector Division of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity. As a Psychometrician herself, Dr Haniza has wide experience in the development of latent variables. Prior to joining MIMOS, Dr Haniza was a lead researcher in one of a leading evaluation companies in the United States of America. The event was well attended by researchers and industry players. The Private Sector Director, Mr Mohd Nizam Mohd Ali has initiated numerous private sector initiatives with different strategic partners involving academia and the industry. The Accounting Research Institute is indeed happy to be one of IIM's strategic partners.

Discussions on NPO Financial Reporting with ROS

2011-09-29T20:22:00.000+08:00

One of the spinoffs of ARI's paper titled "Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) as a Medium for ML/TF - Red Flags for Identification" which was presented at the recent IFCTF 2011 conference was an interest shown by the Registrar of Societies (ROS)to develop a code of governance for NPOs. Currently, there are more than 90000 NPOs that are registered with the ROS. A formal development of a code of governance on NPOs is indeed timely. Today, two officers from ROS visited ARI for a preliminary discussion on how ARI and ROS can work collaboratively to develop such code. In addition to the code, it is also necessary for ROS to develop a suitable financial reporting system. The Accounting Research Institute has enough expertise to facilitate the development of such system. The policy development on the governance of non profit organizations in Malaysia is actually one of the major fundamental research projects to be undertaken collaboratively by the Accounting Research Institute with its many strategic research partners: ROS, CCM, FIU and several research institutions dealing with NPOs in Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. ARI is targeting to complete the project by the end of 2012.

Launching of Financial Guide Book for SMEs

2011-09-28T12:39:00.004+08:00

Two researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) - Prof Dr Normah Omar and Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Sanusi were invited to witness the launching of a new publication Financial Guide for SME. The book is the result of a smart collaboration between SME Corp Malaysia and CPA Australia. Basically, the Guide has been adopted from the Australian version entitled "Achieving Financial Success" prepared by Jan Barned (CPA, FFTP) with assistance of CPA Australia and Small Business, Victoria. Both SME Corp and CPA Australia have been granted to copyright to reproduce the Guide and to modify the content to suit the Malaysian context. A group of ARI researchers, headed by associate professor Dr Zuraidah were among the privilege few who were invited by CPA Australia to review the Guide for its suitability to be adopted in Malaysia. Yang Berhormat Dato' Mukhriz Tun mahathir, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry was the honorable guest of honour of the event to launch the Guide book. Also present at the event were CPA Australia President and Chairman of the Board, Mr Low Weng Keong and Y. Bhg. datuk Ir Dr Mohamed Al-Amin Hj Abdul Majid, Chairman of SME Corp Malaysia.

ICGA 2012 Meeting in Sarawak

2011-09-23T09:24:00.007+08:00

The UiTM-ACCA Asia-Pacific Centre for Sustainability (APCeS), one of the eight research centres at the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) will be organizing the 2012 International Conference on Governance and Accountability (ICGA 2012) on 15-18 February 2012 in Kuching, Sarawak.
The 2012 ICGA conference will be jointly organized with several other organizations namely (i) The Indonesian Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research Centre and Development (ICSEARD), (ii) Social Responsibility Research Centre Network (SRRNet - UK), (iii)DeMonfort University's Centre for Research into Organisation and Governance (CROG-UK); (iv)Centre for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability (CAGS), University of South Australia; (v) CSR Asia and (vi) The International Group on Governance, Fraud, ethics and Social Responsibility (IGonGFERS). Themed "Ethics, Accountability and Governance: Towards Sustaining Value Creation", ICGA 2011 attracts many renowned speakers which include Professor Lee Parker, Professor Roger Burri (both are from the University of South Australia) and Ms Rikke Netterstrom from CSR Asia. Today, Associate Prof Dr Faizah Darus (Head of APCeS, Dr Corina Joseph (Coordinator of APCes Sarawak Chapter) and their team members organized a meeting to discuss progress of ICGA 2012.

ARI Visit to UiTM Sarawak

2011-09-22T22:18:00.001+08:00

As part of its "membership drive" initiative, several researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI),
visited UiTM Sarawak Campus to meet new members and to set up a state chapter for the Asia-Pacific Centre for Sustainability (APCeS) - one of ARI's research clusters. Whilst in Sarawak, Professor Dr Normah Omar (ARI Director), Associate Professor Dr Faizah Darus and Dr Haslinda Yusof (Head and Deputy Head of APCeS respectively) handed over the appointment letter for new members as well as to meet the ICGA 2012 conference committee.
APCeS Sarawak chapter will be the host of the forthcoming conference in February 2012. The team also met up with the marketing manager of Hilton Hotel in Kuching (the venue for ICGA 2012) to discuss detailed requirements and special needs for the conference.

Meeting Prof Schneider

2011-09-18T22:04:00.002+08:00

It is such a privilege for ARI members to have the opportunity to meet Professor Friedrich Schneider who is one of the guest speakers at the IFCTF 2011. We were invited to the IFCTF 2011 welcome dinner at JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Professor Schneider (in grey shirt) is a Full Professor of Economics at Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria. He was President of the Austrian Economic Association (1997-1999) and President of the German Economic Association (2005-2008 ). He has also been consultant to numerous organisations including the Brussels EU Commission, IMF and the World Bank. He has published extensively in leading Economics journals including The American Economic Review, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, The Economic Journal and the Journal of Economic Literature. He has also published numerous book chapters and books including The Shadow Economy (with Dominik H. Enste, Cambridge Uni. Press, 2002), The Encyclopaedia of Public Choice Vol. I and II (with Charles K. Rowley, Kluwer, 2004), Changing Institutions in the European Union (Edward Elgar, 2004), Readings in Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy (together with Charles K. Rowley, Springer Publishing Company 2008), and The Economics of the Hidden Economy (editor of 2 volumes, in: Mark Blaug (ed.). In addition to his wide publication in economics, Prof Schneider has also written numerous discussion and journal papers in the areas of economic crime and terrorism financing.

Day 3: PECIPTA 2011

2011-09-15T12:38:00.009+08:00

Unlike previous events where the competition results were usually known by the end of the second day, PECIPTA 2011 will only announce the results on the third day. The Director General of the Higher Education of the Ministry of Higher Education will make the announcement of the results before the event is officially closed at 5 pm today. Whilst the exhibitions continue with participoants receiving larger crowd of visitors, the judges and the Judging Committee of PECIPTA 2011 met and deliberated on the results of the competition. The Research Management Institute (RMI) of Universiti Teknologi MARA, as secretariat of PECIPTA 2011 had successfully developed a data management system that makes the judging marks and data easily captured and efficiently managed.
Prof Dr Normah Omar, the Director of Accounting Research Institute (ARI) is part of the judging committee of PECIPTA 2011. PECIPTA 2011 will end today and ARI congratulates Universiti Teknologi MARA for making the event a memorable one. Certainly, PECIPTA 2011 is a good benchmark to forthcoming PECIPTA and we wish the next organizer of PECIPTA 2013 will bring the event to much greater height....

Day 2: PECIPTA 2011

2011-09-14T09:25:00.003+08:00

PECIPTA 2011 went on smoothly on the second day. There's a lot of visitors, including foreigners who are interested to know more about the event and the products.
There's a number of bussiness owners who are keen to collaborate with researchers and research institutes in developing innovative products or new instrumentation that could improve productivity or efficiency of organizations. Interestingly, the junior inventor category showcases a lot of products that have great potential for commercialization. The Accounting Research Institute receives a few visitors who are keen to work collaboratively with ARI to develop new training programs such as forensic accounting, wasiat management and wqaf administration. Unfortunately, whilst some participants and inventors are very enthusiastic to showcase their products, others are only interested with the judging aspect of the event and had "close shop" and left their booth empty on the second day itself. It is unfortunate that they might have to miss great opportunity when interested parties who came to their booth were not able to see their products at all (there's a number of such occasions...)

ARI Booth at PECIPTA 2011

2011-09-13T12:15:00.008+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute welcomes all guests to visit our exhibition booth at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The exhibition is part of the international exhibition PECIPTA 2011 to be held on 13-15 September 2011. PECIPTA 2011 was officially opened this morning by the honorary minister Dato' Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin, Minister of higher education Malaysia this morning. With a theme "Invigorating Innovation in the New Economic Model", a total of 463 products are exhibited and judged for the competition. What is interesting about this year's competition is the introduction of the "Juniour inventors" competition where young participants from various secondary schools in the country will be showcasing their invention. The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) is competing in one Islamic Innovation product titled "The Awqaf Islamic System Administration (Daiyan)" through our two researchers, Ms Dalila Daud and Prof Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman.

PECIPTA 2011: Judges Meeting

2011-09-13T08:39:00.002+08:00

In making sure that PECIPTA 2011 runs smoothly, it is very important that all products showcased for the competition are professionally judged.
PECIPTA 2011 has a large pool of judges comprisng experts from academia and the industry. For PECIPTA 2011, almost fifty percent of the judges are from the industry. The judges briefing session was chaired and presented by Prof Dr AzniZain Ahmed, Uitm's Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Internationaliztion). Prof Azni has a wide experience in handling and managing event such as PECIPTA as she was the assistant vice chancellor (Research & Innovation) for Universiti Teknologi MARA for many good years.
A total of 463 products will be judged in different categories: New invention, Newly marketed products, Junior invention, Young inventor (for schools) and a few other categories. The judging process will run over two days on 13-14 September. Whilst products are mostly judged on the 13th, judging for the best booth will be carried out on 14th September. Good luck everyone. May PECIPTA 2011 be a memorable event for all researchers....

Awaqaf Islamic System Administration

2011-09-13T08:24:00.002+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute showcases one Islamic Accounting Innovative Product called "The Awaqaf Islamic System Administration" at the PECIPTA 2011 competition. The Awaqaf Islamic System Administration (Daiyan) is a useful tool to enhance internal management planning and decision making of waqf properties by the Islamic Religous Councils in Malaysia. As the first innovative waqf system, daiyan has high potential to be commercialized in Malaysia and other Islamic countries world-wide. It can be used as an instrument/guide on waqf properties management in a more structured way, plus appropriate disclosure of waqf reporting.

Congratulations UiTM

2011-09-06T23:12:00.006+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)congratulates Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) for being listed in the THES Ranking 2011. Though listed for the first time within the "601+" category, it is a commendable achievement for the university.
As a large comprehensive university, Universiti Teknologi MARA has been making huge progress in spearheading research and publication activities to all its academic staff and post graduate students. The Shah Alam campus is specifically dedicated to research-related activities.

Happy Independence Day

2011-08-31T23:30:00.002+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) wishes all fellow Malaysians a Happy Independence Day. Malaysia celebrates its 54th year of independence on 31st August 2011.

Happy Eid Mubarak

2011-08-30T13:40:00.002+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) wishes all our Muslim friends a very Happy Eid Mubarak 1432.

Congratulations Prof Dr Rohana Othman

2011-08-26T06:40:00.007+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) congratulates its Research Fellow Dr Rohana Othman who has just been promoted to a professor in public sector accounting. Professor Dr Rohana Othman is currently heading ARI's "C-Cure Training and Gifts" strategic initiative. Her research interests are basically in the areas of public sector accounting and forensic accounting. Recently, Prof Rohana conducted a national level forensic accounting course for the "Naziran" at the Accountants General Office. Currently she has been tasked by the Accounting Research Institute to develop a training module in financial criminology for the enforcement agencies in Malaysia. Congratulations Professor Dr Rohana Othman.....

Financial Crime and Fight Against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing

2011-08-25T08:15:00.008+08:00

In recognition of our niche research in the area of financial criminology, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) has been invited by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Malaysia to co-organize the International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing 2011 (IFCTF 2011). With the theme "Raising the Bar in Compliance and Enforcement", the conference will be held on 19-20 September at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. This is the 3rd edition of the IFCTF Conference following the hugely successful event in 2010 and 2009. The two main organizers of the conference are the Institut Bank-Bank Malaysia (IBBM)and the Compliance Officers Networking Group (CONG). Meanwhile, the other co-organizers include the Asian Institute of Finance (AIF), Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM), the Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII), Security Industry Development Corporation (SIDC). The event is supported by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). ARI from Universiti Teknologi MARA is deeply honored for FIU's invitation to co-organise the event. Prof Dr Normah Omar from ARI will be delivering a paper on "Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) as a Medium for ML/TF – Red Flags for Identification" at the conference.

Congratulations Nazlinda

2011-08-24T07:03:00.002+08:00

The Accounting Research institute congratulates Ms Nazlinda Abdullah from the Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) for the Best Student Paper Award in the recent Pacific Rim Objective Measurement Symposium (PROMS 2011) held in Singapore. The PROMS 2011 award was for her paper titled "Parallel Resistive Circuit: Instrument Construct" which was submitted for the symposium. Ms Nazlinda is currently pursuing her PhD program at UiTM and is at her final stage of her study. As a proponent of the Rasch Model, Ms Nazlinda has demonstrated an important and meaningful application of the Rasch Model for the detection and correction of students' misconceptions of basic concepts on the topic of "electricity" in physics, specifically on the sub-topic of "Parallel Resistors". Congratulations....(Note: Ms Nazlinda is the one on the left with grey scarf)

Rasch Model for Accounting Research?

2011-08-23T07:29:00.004+08:00

In our effort to enhance the quality of our research, research fellows and post graduate students at the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) have always been looking for options for their data analysis. Just as in many other social science research, we often deal with perceptional studies that use ordinal data. The use of the Rasch Model in accounting research provides another rich dimension for our data analysis. Premised on the concept of probability, the model transforms ordinal data to logit data. According to Wikipedia, Rasch models allow researchers to use data from assessments to measure variables such as abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. For example, they may be used to estimate a student's reading ability from answers to questions on a reading assessment, or the extremity of a person's attitude to capital punishment from responses on a questionnaire. Application of the models can also provide information about how well items or questions on assessments work to measure the ability or trait. The two-day Rasch Model workshop organized by the Post Graduate Students Association ended on a high note. One should look at his or her research data beyond "what is obvious"....

Construct Development With Rasch Model

2011-08-22T23:35:00.011+08:00

The university's Post Graduate Students Association organized another round of Rasch Model workshop with Mr Saidfuddin, a Rasch Model consultant and facilitator. Some of ARI's post graduate students and research fellows attended the two-day event, which is held at the Tun Abdul Razak Library's IT laboratory. Rasch Model is particularly useful when developing a questionnaire survey which relies a lot on "ordinal" data sources. Through Rasch Model analysis, a pilot study can be analyzed more effectively as it is possible to determine if the "content" items have been sufficiently supported by relevant theoretical underpinnings. In addition, it is also possible to analyse if the respondents have been appropriately selected for the study. Hence, it is still possible to reconstruct the questionnaire by improving the items content, recategorize the dimension, collapsing the scales or to specify better target sample for the final questionnaire.

Talk on Shariah Governance

2011-08-18T15:41:00.005+08:00

In support of its HICoE niche area of Islamic Financial Criminology, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)organized monthly lecture series, where industry experts and academics in the areas of Islamic Accounting & Finance and Financial Criminology are invited to give talks. Today, ARI invited Dr Ahcene Lahsasna, a researcher from INCEIF to present a topic on "Shariah Governance in Islamic Financial Institutions". Dr Lahsasna recently wrote a book titled "Introduction to Fatwa, Shariah Supervision & Governance in Islamic Finance. Prior to his engagement with INCEIF, Dr Lahsasna was attached with the industry and worked for several years at Manufacturer and Exporter group of companies in Malaysia as an International Marketing Manager. Currently, he is a Shariah Board member at Maybank Islamic and Etiqa Takaful in Malaysia and Shariah Advisory member for the Malaysian Financial Planning Council (MFPC Malaysia)

Visitor From IIU

2011-08-16T18:48:00.002+08:00

A researcher, Dr Achmad Tohirin from the Center of Islamic Economics Development and Studies, Indonesia Islamic University (IIU) paid us (Accounting Research Institute) a visit to discuss possible joint research initiatives and collaboration in the area of Islamic Accounting and Muamalat. Also being discussed was the prospect of the two universities (IIU & UiTM) offering joint post graduate programs in the same area of research. The two universities have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)to signify future collaboration. Thus the visit is just a step forward to realize the MOU...

ARI-PDRM Training Program

2011-08-15T23:39:00.006+08:00

As the Accounting Research Institute (ARI HICoE) embarks on its niche research area of Financial Criminology, one of our very important aspirations is to increase awareness and competency of those involved with the investigation of financial fraud cases.
In investigating financial fraud cases, investigators must be at ease with the financial numbers. More importantly, they must acquire the skills and competency of how to interpret financial numbers; understanding "financial number game" and to know how the game is played. Today, ARI training team met up with some officers from the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) to discuss possible financial criminology on-the-job training program that could be offered to RMP investigation officers. Such university-RMP collaboration should be encouraged.

Congratulations New PhD Qualifiers

2011-08-15T23:09:00.007+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute congratulates five of our colleagues who have recently completed their PhD program: Dr Zuraedah (University of Glasgow,UK), Dr Raja Azrin (Curtin University, Australia), Dr Shahrul, Dr Rahimah and Dr Sharifah (Edith Cowan University, Australia). Congratulations and well done all....

ARI Exhibition at PECIPTA 2011

2011-08-12T16:14:00.004+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) will be taking up a booth to showcase our activities and research products at the forthcoming PECIPTA 2011 to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) on 13-15 September 2011. Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) will be hosting the event. ARI will be showcasing some of its research publications in the area of Islamic Financial Criminology. Some ARI members will also be taking part in the PECIPTA 2011 product exhibition and competition.

ARI's Two Newly Qualified Polygraph Examiners

2011-08-10T14:36:00.012+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) congratulates two researchers: Associate Professor Dr Rohana Othman (ARI Research Fellow) and Ms Munirah Morad (ARI Research Officer)for successfully completing a six week plygraph training at Malaysia's only Polygraph Science Academy. Both of them are now Qualified Polygraph Examiners. Since ARI is in the final stage of establishing its own polygraph laboratory, their certification is just timely. More researchers will be trained this year and we hope that through our polygraph lab, we will be able to train more forensic accountants to be competent with the polygraph machines. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, a polygraph machine(popularly referred to as a lie detector measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions. The belief is that deceptive answers will produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with non-deceptive answers. ) ARI Polygraph laboratory is a contribution from the HICoE funding and will be fully operational by early 2012. Through our own Polygraph laboratory, we hope to be able to train as many people (especially forensic accountants and financial fraud investigators) as possible in the usage of polygraph machines as an investigative tool. Surely we will offer the study polygraph science as a possible elective for our Masters students. Research experiements can also be conducted to examine the incidents of lying by perpetrators and witnesses...

2011 IFCTF

2011-08-08T20:20:00.002+08:00

In its effort to drive research programs in the area of financial criminology, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) will be collaborating with the industry to organize an International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing. 2011IFCTF will be held on 19-20 September in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Themed "Raising the Bar in Compliance and Enforcement", the organizers anticipate the number of participants to exceed five hundred. Several renowned speakers have indicated their agreement to participate. 2011 IFCTF showcases interesting current issues in the areas of financial crime and terrorism financing and highlights practical solutions...

External Appointments

2011-08-05T06:00:00.003+08:00

As part of the university's effort to encourage participation of external experts (both at national and international levels) with the university's own scholars, a committee has been set up to come up with criteria, proposed activities and deliverables.
The committee headed by the deputy vice chancellor (academic and internationalisation) Prof Dr Azni Zain Ahmed is assisted by professors and selected senate members. ARI director, Prof Dr Normah Omar is a member of this committee. Following through a draft working paper prepared at Frasers Hill early this year, the committee met today to finalize the proposed criteria, activities, expected outcome and quantum of honorarium payment for these experts. Within the ambit of these external appointments are positions for visiting noble laurettes, distinguished visiting professors, distinguished visiting scholars, distinguished visiting scientists, distinguished creative artists, industry panel experts, visiting fellows, external examiners, academic advisors, visiting research fellows, adjunct professors and many others. The finalized draft will be deliberated at the senate meeting for subsequent approval.

JFRA Special Issue

2011-08-04T06:30:00.001+08:00

The Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting (JFRA), which is indexed with the UK-based Emerald Publishing International will have a special issue publication in 2012 with the theme "Islamic Financial Criminology". Specifically, the guest editor invites both conceptual and/or empirical papers in the areas of Islamic Accounting & Finance and Financial Criminology. Papers could incorporate contemporary issues such as counter human trafficing, counter financing of terrorism,sukuk, Islamic microfinancing, zakat invesment, waqaf and many other related areas. All papers can be submitted to normah645@salam.uitm.edu.my for initial review.

Research Talk on Strategic Management Accounting

2011-08-03T20:20:00.002+08:00

The Asian Management Accounting Research Centre (AMARC), one of ARI's research cluster group organized a research talk for students and staff today. The speaker, a renowned researcher and author, Emeritus Professor Dr Michael E. Tayles from Hull University Business School. Prof Tayles's talk titled "Strategic Management Accounting Practices: Sharing of Empirical Evidences" compares practices in the UK, USA and Australia. Effectively, there is implication showing: (i)a significant shift on the role of management accounting from operational focus to strategic focus and
(ii) the increasing use of management accounting principles to evaluate intangible items rather than just focusing on tangibles. Today, the role of management accounting has shifted from the traditional "providing financial information to management for control and decision making purposes" to that of a business partner and helping the organizations towards value creation.

External Research Grants for ARI

2011-08-01T11:56:00.006+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute congratulates the following researchers for securing new research grants from external sources: (1) Prof Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman and her PhD student Wan Mohammad Taufik Wan Abdullah obtained research funding from the Institut Bank-Bank Malaysia (IBBM) for a project titled "Social Networks, Performance and Directors Remuneration Determination: Malaysian Evidence"; (2)Two research projects received grants from CIMA (UK) - (i) PhD student Norlaila Md Zin with her supervisor, Prof Dr Suzana Sulaiman for project "Role of Management Accountants in Enhancing Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Implementation" and (ii) Dr Sharifah Norzehan Syed Yusuf for project titled "Information System and Decision Making in Non Profit Organisation"; (3) Associate Professor Dr Wee Shu Hui and her team members obtained a research grant from INFORMM, USM for their project titled "Cost Effeciency Model in Harm Reduction Methadone Treatment". Congratulations all for job well done...

Meeting with Research Delegates from Iran

2011-07-30T08:03:00.001+08:00

In its effort to increase research collaboration with various international universities, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)held a research meeting with delegates from universities in Iran. The Iranian delegates were headed by the Iranian ambassador himself. Meanwhile ARI was represented by its deputy director, Prof Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman and two research fellows, Associate Prof Dr Mohd Azam and Associate Prof Dr Ezani. The discussions mainly focused on collaborative research related to Islamic Accounting & Finance as well as shariah auditing. Both Associate Prof Dr Azam and Dr Ezani have recently participated in an international conference related to Tadlis in Home Financing in Iran.

Visiting Professor Dr Sakthi Mahenthiran

2011-07-29T05:35:00.001+08:00

ARI wishes to welcome and thank visiting professor Dr Sakthi Mahenthiran for spending two weeks at the university. Whilst here, he visited few state campuses which included Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang. He also gave talk on publishing in high impact journals, organized a research seminar, evaluated phd students' progress presentations, gave a one-on-one consultation to PhD students and attended research meetings with his co-researchers. Prof Sakthi who specializes in corporate governance and operation management is from Butler University, Indianapolis, USA. His initial contact with Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)dated way back in 2001/2002 when as a Fullbright scholar, he spent several months here at the university. To date he has successfully supervised three PhD students from UiTM. Today, on his last day at the university, he gave his exit report. Many thanks Prof Sakthi...

Strategic Planning Interim Review

2011-07-28T23:38:00.004+08:00

Today, heads of research centres and SIGs presented their actual achievements - in terms of research grants, research publications, number of post graduate students (enrolled, supervised and graduated), number of paper presentations, innovations as well as number of linkages. Seven strategic planning initiatives, code-named as "C-Cure" : C-Cure Publication, C-Cure Principal investigators, C-Cure Post Grad, C-Cure Grant, C-Cure Training & Gifts, C-Cure Innovation and C-Cure Collaboration were also presented by respective project managers and further discussed and deliberated by all participants. All in all, the retreat was very fruitful and effective in delivering the intended objectives. By the 10th of August 2011, a total of 37 papers would be submitted by ARI HICoE researchers as part of their year 1 deliverables. Congratulations

ARI Research Progress Presentation

2011-07-27T18:52:00.005+08:00

ARI publication workshop which was facilitated by Dr Rashid continued this morning. In view of new information needed for journal submission, participants have been given until 10th August 2011 (two weeks) to submit their edited articles to indexed journals. Nevertheless, by the end of the workshop this afternoon, several researchers have successfully submitted their papers online. The second day of the retreat was also used to evaluate research progress. Since most research projects cover a period of two years to complete, some have progressed very well. Many have produced good journal publications from their study. Three new research proposals were also presented by ARI's newly appointed research fellows.

ARI Publication Workshop

2011-07-26T23:00:00.005+08:00

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) organizes a three-day publication workshop cum research progress presentation and strategic planning review. The event is attended by ARI fellows, heads of ARI's research centres & SIGs and ARI associate members. Whilst the publication workshop focuses on converting ARI HICoE research findings in Islamic Financial Criminology into indexed journal publication, the event is also used to monitor ARI HICoE research progress and strategic planning implementation. ARI's research fellow, Dr Rashid Amir, an upcoming author of indexed journal publications facilitates the publication workshop. Prof Rashidah, ARI's deputy director, monitors research progress. Meanwhile heads of ARI's research centres & SIGs and "C-Cure Initiative" Project Managers present the status of their strategic planning implementation. ARI has drawn a five-year 2011-2015 Strategic Planning which coincides with the university's Tenth Malaysia Plan (RMK). For the publication workshop, participants bring their draft journal articles. By the end of the workshop, corresponding authors will make online journal submission of their papers...

UiTM-IIU MOU Signing Ceremony

2011-07-25T18:53:00.007+08:00

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and the Indonesian Islamic University (IIU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today. The MOU was to signify future collaboration between the two universities in terms of research, conferences, post-graduate program, staff & student exchanges. Specifically, ARI-IIU researchers have been involved with research collaboration in the area of Islamic Accounting & Finance since 2010. The latest collaboration being a joint international conference in Islamic Finance & Shariah in July 2011 organized by both entities. Hence the MOU further strengthens this existing relationship to greater heights.

ARI-INFORMM Collaborative Research

2011-07-23T18:44:00.004+08:00

ARI participated in a two-day research workshop with the Institute of Molecular Medicine (INFORMM)to discuss research proposals. The workshop held at the Residence Hotel was attended by forty researchers. The event which was organized by INFORMM's research cluster on "Drug Use Disorder, HIV/AIDS & Tuberculosis: Towards a Personalised Medicine Approach. ARI's research proposal titled "Cost Efficiency Model of Drug Use Disorder of Methadone Treatment in Malaysia" looks as both quantitative and qualitative data to come up with cost effectiveness of harm reduction treatment per client ARI researchers comprised Associate Prof Dr Wee, Prof Normah, Prof Suzana and Ms Sharifah Fadzlon. ARI's research project is part of a bigger project headed by Dr Nasir from INFORMM. . The first day of the workshop was dedicated to discussions on research proposals. This was followed on the second day, a presentation by a project management consultant, who will be appointed by INFORMM to monitor the progress of its research projects. ARI's research proposal was presented by Associate Professor Dr Wee Shu Hui, a research fellow and a member of ARI's Asian Management Accounting Research Centre...

Consortium-Based Centre of Excellence

2011-07-22T07:04:00.004+08:00

Premised on the existence of many smaller centres of excellence (COE) in both public and private universities in Malaysia, there has been requests from the COEs that the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) set up a consortium-based COE at the national level. Hence a group of selected people - directors of HICoE, panels of assessors of COEs, industry players as well as MOHE officers were invited to a workshop to discuss concepts, objectives, criteria, measurements and weightage. A recent research finding of a MOHE study on Malaysian Centres of Excellence was presented and deliberated. Whilst the concepts of collaboration and consortium where teams from different entities working cohesively towards a common purpose is noble, the implementation and monitoring processes could be challenging. The first day at the workshop was spent to discuss and to clarify concepts, objectives and mechanisms....

Malaysian Centres of Excellence: Research Findings

2011-07-21T07:52:00.007+08:00

A group of researchers, Professor Dr Zakaria Abas (UUM), Dr Angelina (UNMC), Ms Chin (UTAR) and Mr Chong (UCSI) presented their research titled "Centres of Excellence in Malaysia: Comparative Strategic Management Practices, Models and Governance" in a workshop organised by the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia.
The research abstract stipulates that " There is a rising need for Malaysian CoEs to have multiple and diversified sources of funding, apart from reliance on funding from parent institution. Diminishing in government grants increases the need to collaborate with industry for funding and commercialisation of R&D products. Arguably, it is difficult for an organisation or institution to encompass all resources.
Thus, CoEs need to collaborate strategically with multiple universities and companies on consortium platforms to enable effective and efficient use of resources, transfer of technology and sharing of knowledge. Furthermore, there is a need to have a structured governance system, periodic monitoring process, good leadership skills and succession planning. Directors of CoEs are also challenged to manage various stakeholders' expectations and relationships". A Consortium-Based CoE.....