Indonesia Visit - Day 3

On our last day visit in Indonesia, we met up with researchers whose research interest is in the area of forensic accounting. Dr Hendi who is the Head of the forensic accounting research group graduated with PhD in Forensic Accounting from the University of Wollongong, Australia. We agreed in principle to collaborate in two research projects related to (i)cost of corruption and anti-corruption mechanism and (ii) Behavioural perspective of financial criminology. The projects will involve comparative analysis between Malaysia and Indonesia. Besides research, the researchers have also agreed to jointly publish a forensic accounting bulletin - a professional journal/magezine. All in all, our Indonesian visits have been successful...

Indonesia Visit - Day 2

Whislt most of us were in Jogjakarta, two of our researchers - Associate Professor Dr Nawal & Dr Amrizah had gone to Samarang to meet up with their research collaborators. Since both Dr Nawal and Dr Amrizah are involved in researches related to Islamic finance and shariah audit, they made use of their visit to interview shariah scholars in Indonesia. From our observations and readings, Indonesia is fairly advanced in Shariah-related practices. In fact, Universitas Islam Indonesia itself is a private university which has been successfully established through the wakaf management system. Our second day in Indonesia is equally busy. In the morning, we met up with researchers and two vice deans of the business faculty of Gadjamada University (UGM). At least four research projects related to Islamic Financial Criminology have been identified for possible collaboration between UGM and the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) from Universiti Teknologi MARA. Premised on this preliminary research collaboration, the two universities could hopefully sign a memorandum of understanding in 2012. After our UGM visit, we proceeded to UII to meet another group of our research collaborators. Professor Dr Normah Omar, ARI Director gave a short overview on the establishment of ARI.
As a higher institution centre of excellence (HICoE), ARI plays an important role in promoting research in Islamic finance & muamalat and financial criminology. As such, research collaborations with its Indonesian counterparts would constitute ARI's initiative towards regionalization. In November 2011, ARI and UII will be hosting a joint international conference in Islamic Accounting & MUamalat.

Indonesia Visit - Day 1

The first day of our Indonesia visit was spent at the Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII). First, we made a courtesy visit to the rector office. There, we met both the rector Prof. Dr. Drs. Edy Suandi Hamid, M.Ec. and his deputy Dra. Neni Meidawati, M.Si.,Ak. Since a memorandum of understanding has already been signed last year between Universiti Teknologi MARA and UII, the research visit constitutes part of the agreed collaboration between the two universities. After meeting the rector, we were taken to the faculty of economic and accountancy to meet up with our research collaborators. Our UII collaborators are involved in at least three research projects in Islamic Financial Criminology with the Accounting Research Institute (ARI). Professor Dr Normah Omar (ARI Director) and Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi (ARI Deputy Director - post graduate & innovation) were also invited to give two general lectures on "Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology" to UII's final year accountancy students. In essence, UII is interested to promote the forensic accounting & financial criminology program to its undergraduate students. As an upcoming profession, Forensic Accountants would be well sought after by prospective employers - banks, regulators, enforcement agencies and the industry as a whole. Today, corporations are also hiring anti-fraud specialists as part of their fraud prevention mechanism. The general lectures were very well received by the students and they were asking lots of questions and addressed several interesting issues related to financial criminology. Some of the students were also keen to pursue their post graduate program in the area of forensic accounting and to one day become forensic accountants themselves....

Research Visits to Indonesia

Several researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI)have been invited by their respective research collaborators to visit three universities in Indonesia on 27 - 29 February 2012. The researchers: Prof Dr Normah Omar, Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi, Associate Professor Dr Nawal Kasim, Dr Amrizah Kamaluddin and Dr Zuraedah Ibrahim will be visiting three Indonesian universities namely Universiti Islam Indonesia (UII)and University of Gadjamada (UGM), both in Yogyakarta and University Islam Sultan Agung, (UNISSULA) Samarang, which is about 2.5 hours drive from Yogyakarta. Whilst the visits to UII and Samarang constitute part of the data collection process of two Islamic Finance research projects involving Malaysia and Indonesia, the one to UGM is exploratory in nature. It is part of ARI's regionalization initiative to form research collaboration with Indonesian universities. The visits will also include interviews with several shariah scholars and practioners in Yogyakarta; lectures in Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology for students and staff at UII and research workshops with potential Indonesian researchers for ARI HICoE's 2012 projects.

AREC 2012 - Day Two

The second day of the Accounting Research and Education Conference (AREC 2011) continued with more parallel sessions in the morning. A wide range of conference papers from different areas of financial reporting, management accounting, corporate governance, forensic accounting, public sector accounting and Islamic accounting were presented. At the same time, judges were finalizing their evaluation of the products at the accounting innovation exhibition. There were a fairly good number of useful research products that could be potentially commercialized to the industry and the practitioners. After the lunch break, the final Panel Discussion was held. With the title “ETP: Roles, Expectations and Challenges of Accounting Graduates”, three panelists – Prof Datin Dr Hasnah Haron from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM); Mr Stanley Teo , council member of MICPA and Mr Abraham from Ernst & Young and a council member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) were invited to speak at the forum. The director of Accounting Research Institute (ARI) moderated the panel discussion. Professor Hasnah highlighted the changing and challenging roles of today’s accountants. Not only should they be good in technical-related matters, they are also expected to acquire soft skills which include oral & written communication, leadership and the ability to work in teams. Next, Mr Abraham discussed the role of accounting firms and MIA in Malaysia. He further elaborated on the characteristics of accounting graduates that practitioners like to hire. The third speaker, Mr Stanley discussed the current challenges faced by the
profession which include frequent “job-hopping” among new accounting graduates and the increasing interest among graduates to secure job appointment overseas. Finally, the final slot was allocated to the “Closing Ceremony and Award presentations for “Best written paper”, “Best paper presenter” and “most innovative product”. Congratulations to Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman for being re-elected as president of the Malaysian Accounting Academic Association (MyAA).

AREC 2012 - Day One

After a successful doctoral colloquium yesterday, the two-day 2nd Accounting Research & Education Conference (AREC 2012) took off today with more than 200 participants registering for the event. In addition of the two-day conference, AREC 2012 introduces the Accounting Innovation Competition. AREC 2012 attracted more than seventy papers to be presented in four parallele sessions. whereby researchers showcase their research products. More than 20 research products were exhibited at the university's innovation gallery in Shah Alam. Themed "Economic Transformation Program: The Role of Accounting Education and Profession", Invited guests who attended the opening ceremony included the Chairman of the Malaysian Accounting, Research & Education Foundation (MAREF), Tan Sri Datuk Dr Abdul Samad Alias; Dato' Nasir, President of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA),UiTM Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Internationalization) Professor Dr Azni Zain Ahmed and Professor Dr Ibrahim Kamal Abdul Rahman, president of the Malaysian Accounting Academic Association (MyAA).
After a welcome speech by Prof Azni, Tan Sri Datuk Dr Abdul Samad officiated the event. The first four parallell sessions started immediately after the morning break and continued with another four sessions after the lunch break. In the meantime, judges evaluated the research products at the innovation gallery. All in all, the first day of AREC 2012 went very well...

AREC 2012 - Doctoral Colloquium

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI)together with three other entities - Malaysian Accounting Academic Association (MyAA - the main organizer), The Malaysian Accounting Research and Education Foundation (MAREF) and the Faculty of Accountancy Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) co-organized the 2nd Accounting Research & Education Conference (AREC 2012). Basically AREC is organized once every two years and the first one was held in 2010. Preceding the the two-day event was a Doctoral Colloquium which was held today. The Doctoral Colloquium is a forum in which Ph.D. students meet and discuss their work with each other and with a panel of experienced researchers and practitioners. More than seventy participants, comprising mostly PhD students and recent PhD graduates took part in the colloquium. At the colloquium, Professor Dr Normah Omar, ARI Director presented a keynote paper titled "PhD is Like a Marathon, You Need to Finish the Race".

Conference Tour

Though the 2012 ICGA has officially ended yesterday, the organizers have arranged for a conference tour for interested participants. Visits to the orang utan rehabilitation centre in Semenggok, some 30 kilometers from the Kuching city; cottage industry (layered cakes and other souvenirs) and the cultural village, located about an hour drive from the city were organized. Twenty six participants took part in the expedition. We were taken to these places by the university bus, complete with a competent tour guide, Rose. Our first stop was the Botanical Research Centre in Semenggok, where orang utans are being rehabilitated. At the centre, orang utans are kept in the wild, and we were lucky as six of them came out to "greet" us. Our next stop was a visit to several cottage industry: layered cakes, Sarawak delicacies and souvenirs shops in a nearby Malay village. The products are not just sold locally, some are being exported to other countries within the region. After a short lunch, we proceeded to visit the cultural village, which was developed in the 1980s upon the recommendation by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed. The village is one of Sarawak's top tourism spots. In the village, one would find model houses of different major tribes in Sarawak: Bidayuh, Iban, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Penan, Malay and Chinese. Interestingly, longhouses of some of these native tribes have been reconstructed at the village so as to allow visitors to have a "peep" of their culture and "way of life". Actual longhouses are mainly available in the inner part of Sarawak and that makes it difficult for outsiders to have an exposure of their culture.
The development of the cultural village is indeed a brilliant idea. Within the village itself, there is an exhibition theather hall where cultural shows to showcase the culture of these different types are often arranged for the visitors. The participants were also taken for a tour of the Kuching city and to see various parts of the beautiful Sarawak.

2012 ICGA - Day Two

The second day of the 2nd International Conference on Corporate Governance and Accountability (2012 ICGA)proceeded with six parallell sessions in the mornings. After the lunch break, the conference continued with a forum titled "Getting Published in Academic Journals" Four panel members namely Professor Lee Parker (University of South Australia), Professor David Crowther (DeMonfort University, United Kingdom), Professor Klaus Tochterman (ZBW-German National Library of Economics) and Professor Normah Omar (Universiti Teknologi MARA)discussed publication strategies that could be adopted by researchers. Prof Parker, who is the chief editor of the renowned international journal, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ)explained about the do's and dont's when one submits a paper for publication. He further elaborated that the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal is dedicated to the advancement of accounting knowledge.
The journal provides a forum for the publication of high quality manuscripts concerning the interaction between accounting/auditing and their socio-economic and political environments. It therefore encourages critical analysis of policy and practice in these areas. Analysis could explore policy alternatives and provide new perspectives for the accounting discipline. Professor David Crowther introduced the Social Responsibility Research Network (SRRNet) that he had founded. The Network was formed in 2003 after the success of the first International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility was held. Since then, SRRNet have continued to grow and there are currently around 600 members based all over the world. Prof Crowther further introduced the Social Responsibility Journal (SRJ)that his network helped to establish many years ago. Today, SRJ is published four times per year by the Emerald Publishing Group. Next, Professor Normah introduced three journals: Malaysian Accounting Review (MAR), Journal of Financial Reporting & Accounting (JFRA - the journal has been acquired by Emerald since June 2010) and the Asia Pacific Management Accounting Journal (APMAJ) that were founded by the Accounting Research Institutes a few years ago. Unlike AAAJ and SRJ, MAR, JFRA and APMAJ are relatively new and efforts are underway to promote the journals to greater height. . Researchers were therefore encouraged to submit their papers to these journals. They were also reminded to use a conference such as 2012 ICGA as a platform to obtain feedback for their papers prior to journal publication Finally, Professor Klause Tochtermann introduced his centre ZBW which runs the subject-based repository for archiving economics online collections. ZBW produces the publication service ECONSTOR and the subject portal EconBiz. His centre hosts the Open Access Journal, which includes a two-stage peer-review process. He further stressed that these efforts contribute towards global visibility of research. Later in the afternoon, Professor Crowther presented the conference's third key note address with the title "Governance, Sustainability and Crisis Management". Prior to the closing ceremony by Professor Normah Omar, she presented awards to the best overall papers and best presenters. The passing of the baton to the Turkish team who will be hosting the 3rd ICGA cenference in 2014 marked the ending of the 2012 conference.

2012 ICGA- Day One

The 2nd International Conference on Governance and Accountability 2012 started with the opening ceremony by Dato' Sri Wong Soon Koh, Minister of Finance (II) and Minister of Local Government & Community Development,Sarawak. In attendance are other VIPs who included Professor Dr Noorsaadah Ismail (representing the vice chancellor), UiTM Sarawak's Rector, Professor Dato' Dr Jamil Hamali and Professor Dr Rozainun Abdul Aziz, Dean of the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA. Themed Ethics, Accountability and Governance: Towards Sustaining Value Creation, the opening ceremony was followed by two keynote speeches. The first speaker, Ms Rikke Netterstrom from CSR Asia delivered a paper titled "Governance, Accountability and Sustainability - Leveraging Opportunities and Minimising Risks". This was followed by the second paper, "Structuring Social and Environmental Management Control and Accountability: Behind the Hotel Doors" which focuses on a case study of a hotel chain in Singapore. After the lunch break, paper presenters delivered their conference papers through parallell sessions. All in all, after going through stringent review process, ICGA 2012 have selected about sixty papers to be presented at the conference. In the evening, ICGA 2012 and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)Sarawak hosted a Gala Dinner for all participants. Themed "ethnics", guests were encouraged to wear traditional attires. Some of our international guests wore colourful and beautiful traditional dresses from their own countries. International participants include guests who came all the way from Germany, Australia, UK, Yemen, South Africa, Nigeria, India and Saudi Arabia. Beside dinner, participants were entertained by talented students and staff of UiTM Sarawak. There were also lucky draws, karaoke sessions, cultural shows by UiTM students as well as by the Sarawak Tourism Board dancers. Awards for "best dress" male and female attendees were also given. It was indeed an interesting first day for all participants....