ARI Participation at HELP University Colloquium

In a spirit of comradeship, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI HICoE) sent six papers and provided a keynote speaker for the 3rd Colloquium on Advances and Sustainability in Globalization Wave organised and held at the HELP University in its Jalan Semantan, Damansara campus.  Paper presentations were headed by Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi and her team from ARI. Meanwhile, Professor Dr Normah Omar, ARI Director gave a keynote speech titled "Grabbing the Opportunities and Enhancing Professional Readiness of the ASEAN Economic Community - AEC". The one-day colloquium was officially graced by HELP University Deputy Vice Chancellor, Dr  Khong Kim Hoong and attended by staff, students and presenters from various institutions of higher learning in Malaysia.  A total of thirty papers were presented. ARI researchers mostly presented their papers related to financial criminology, governance and forensic accounting.  Well done and congratulations for the smart-partnership between ARI and HELP University.

Corporate Governance Symposium

Congratulations are in order for the successful joint-organization of a recent Corporate Governance Symposium by the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) and Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). 

 The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) was also invited to co-organize the one-day event held at the Nexus Connection Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur.  Themed "Driving Public-Private Governance Forward", the symposium showcased three forums, two keynote speeches and a special presentation.  YB Senator Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan officially graced open the symposium.  For the purpose of building strong links between the public and private sectors, a robust public-private collaboration is imperative given the crucial roles that these two sectors play in upholding good governance practices for Malaysia.

Importantly, this symposium also aimed to leverage on public-private partnerships to augment scarce resources and talent, while building capacity and competency in governance-related areas, e.g. accounting education and research.  Participants would gain awareness of current developments in the governance of public and private sectors, and benefit from developing wide networks with other governance specialists and thought leaders.  Given the current global emphasis on good governance, the symposium was especially timely in providing a common platform for practitioners, academia, policy makers and implementers to engage in intellectual discourse with the primary goal of enhancing understanding on the subject of governance.  ARI from Universiti Teknologi MARA was represented by 10 fellows and post graduate students at the symposium.  

Journal Indexing with ACI and SCOPUS

Yesterday, the Malaysian Citation Index (MyCite) Centre, a department within the Ministry of Higher Education organised a 1-day meeting and workshop with representatives from two international indexing bodies: Asean Citation Index (ACI) and SCOPUS from the Elsevier Publication Group. Basically the aim of the meeting cum workshop was to provide exposures to Malaysian journal editors on options available for their journals.  About 100 Malaysian journal editors attended the meeting.  The ACI is a central regional database which was designed and set up to index all the bibliographic records and the citations of all quality ASEAN research outputs appeared in the ASEAN scholarly journals. The member countries of the ACI are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.  Currently, ACI is head-quartered in Thailand.  The Thai's Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC) has provided initial financial support for the development and implementation of the ACI database system in 2 phases since 2011. The first phase (2011-2013) ended in 2013 and the second phase will cover 2014-2016.  

The ACI has the ACI Steering Board, which comprises 2 representatives nominated by the Ministry of Education from each member country, to set up policy and monitor the ACI performance and development. The Board will meet twice a year in each member country to share experiences, monitor the performance, and discuss further development of the ACI.  Meanwhile, Elsevier's SCOPUS is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Delivering a comprehensive overview of the world's research output in   the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts   and humanities, Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and   visualize research.  

ARI's Forum on GST After One Year of Its Implementation

On 31st March 2016, Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation "celebrated" its first anniversary in Malaysia.  There were a lot of write ups on GST implementations.  Wong and Partners, a Member Firm of Baker & McKenzie International, for example highlighted some key facts and figures which it had "gleaned" from recent press statements by the Royal Malaysian Customs and Ministry of Finance:

(i) 406,000 companies have registered for GST as at March 2016 , (ii) GST collection for 2015 is said to have exceeded the initial target of RM 27 billion (total amount not finalised yet due to expected refunds); (iii) RM800 million GST refunds are still pending or being processed; (iv) Customs expects to raise RM39 billion from GST for 2016; and (v) 1,190 GST-related cases are being investigated by Customs as at 31 January 2016.  In view of these interesting findings, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) organizes a half day GST forum with the Royal Malaysian Customs (RMC), SME Corp and thirty representatives from the industries who were directly affected by the GST system.  The main objectives of the forum was firstly to provide a useful platform for both regulators and practitioners to exchange ideas about GST implementation and to propose ideas for improvements.  Since today's group has mainly involved SME companies, the forum also hopes to obtain first-hand feedback from manufacturing and service firms on prospects, challenges and issues related to GST Implementation by the SME industry.  ARI plans to organise similar forums in all the states in Malaysia within the next three months.  ARI thanks speakers Ms Annie Thomas from RMC and Mr Nik Mohd Zainul Kamarun from SME Corp.

MIA Symposium with BOD

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) were extremely honoured to be invited to participate at a recent Corporate Board Leadership Symposium 2015 organised by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). Themed "Powering the Board to the Next Level”, the symposium focuses on understanding the challenges and opportunities facing boardrooms today. ARI director, Professor Dr Normah Omar, has been invited to talk and moderate a plenary session on "Recognising Red Flags in Financial Statements".  One of the most important skills the boards may lack is the ability to read complex financial statements and identify red flags and suspicious transactions. This session zeroes in on the most common red flags and vulnerable areas in financial statements and suggests strategies that the boards can cultivate and apply professional scepticism to defend their organisations against financial and reputational risks.  For the session on "Recognising Red Flags in Financial Statements", the MIA has invited two very prominent professionals as plenary speakers: Ms Aida Lim Abdullah and Mr William Teo.  The session has been very interactive.

60 Years of CPA Australia

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) congratulates CPA Australia for its 60th Anniversary.  The Malaysian CPA Australia office in Kuala Lumpur organized a "short and sweet" Hi-Tea networking event for members and CPA Council members. CPA Australia has been providing a lot of support to ARI and Universiti Teknologi MARA by providing research grants, sponsoring a Research Centre in Public Sector Accounting, participating in organising professional programs at the university as well as acting as co-organiser of numerous international conferences.  The Hi-Tea ceremony provides a useful platform for members to mingle and network with one another.  Congratulations CPA Australia.

Courtesy Visit to Agro Bank

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) thanks Agro Bank, particularly its three officers, Ms Ainul (Head, Corporate Communication); Mr Ahmad Shahril (Chief Transformation Officer) and Mr Zahid (Chief Operation Officer) for inviting ARI researchers today to discuss possible inter-institution collaboration.  Agrobank, formerly known as Bank Pertanian Malaysia, is an institution which provides holistic financial services and banking facilities such as savings activities, banking services, loan facilities, insurance coverage and advisory services. It is a Government-linked-Company (GLC) under the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MFI). Focusing on agriculture, the bank’s financing of the agricultural sector is driven by a policy set forth by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries.  Recently in Bahrain, the Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) awarded agriculture-centred Malaysian-based Agrobank the 'Upcoming Islamic Bank 2015' accolade for upholding shariah-compliant banking and elevating Malaysia in its efforts to be established as a global Islamic financial hub. During the courtesy visit today, members of the meeting deliberated on some potential activities that can be carried out: Economic Transformation Programs for agricultural-based community (for example at Felda and Felcra settlement); Institution-based Executive MBA and Masterclass training programs for Agro Bank executives and officers.

Seminar on Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation

Today, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) organized a 1-day Seminar on Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation in Kuala Lumpur.

Themed "Uncovering Global Trends in Corporate Crimes" the seminar was attended by accountants and forensic accountants from various agencies - government, private and practice.  The seminar is basically divided into six sessions namely (i) Combating Tax Evasion & Money Laundering, (ii) Creative Accounting, (iii) Cyber Crimes, (iv) Fraud Detection using Data Analytics, (v) Cross-border Internal Investigation and (vi) Presenting Complex Accounting Issues in Court.  Prof Dr Normah Omar, Director of the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) was invited to moderate the first plenary session titled "Combating Tax Evasion & Money Laundering: Tips for Forensic Accountants".  Basically tax evasion & money laundering are global problems which are growing exponentially,

It is imperative to combat tax evasion & omey laundering in order to be able to finance growth-enhancing public investment, ensure the health of public finances, and sustain long-term economic well being. As a reporting institution, accountants need to ensure that internal controls are in-placed and fraud risk assessments are conducted on regular basis.  The discussions also explore the relationship between tax evasion and money laundering in addition to the roles of accountants in distinguishing between legitimate tax planning, tax avoidance and tax evasion.  ARI congratulates the Malaysian Institute of Accountants for organising the event.

Islamic Microfinance Project with Yayasan DiRaja Sultan Mizan

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) thanks Yayasan DiRaja Sultan Mizan (YDSM) for inviting our fellows to participate in a collaborative project involving Islamic Microfinance.  Islamic Microfinance Governance is one of ARI's research clusters within its research niche of Islamic Financial Criminology.  YDSM was established on 11th May 2005 as a charity organisation.  One of the main aims for its establishment is to elevate the socio-economy status of Terengganu subjects.  There has been numerous entrepreneurial activities undertaken by YDSM.  ARI's Islamic Microfinance model, a collaboration between ARI, Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) and Mydin Holding may suit YDSM's need to facilitate entrepreneurs in Terengganu.  Discussions were held in Kuala Terengganu  on the weekends between ARI fellows and officials of YDSM.  Possible local financiers as well as local suppliers and marketeers have been identified to enable ARI's microfinance model to be emulated in Terengganu.  ARI's entourage was headed by Associate Professor Dr Jamaliah Said, who is also ARI Deputy Director.

ARI-APBM Training Program in UK

As a result of a very successful training program in New Zealand in 2013, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) has again been invited by the Association of Malaysian Statutory Bodies (APBM) to organise training program and this time, it is in the United Kingdom.  APBM, was established in 1984 with the aim of encouraging collaborations among statutory bodies in Malaysia. Currently, there are a total 97 members. One of the programs offered by APBM is CPD training for top managers.  This year, the training program will involve members from statutory bodies such as the Inland Revenue Board, Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT), Tabung Haji, Perkeso, Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), MIDA, SME Corp, FINAS, Lembaga LADA, Malaysian Timber Industry Board, Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah, AKEPT, UMS, USM, UMT, UNIMAS and UiTM.   A memorandum of understanding between UiTM and APBM will also be signed in London.  Part of the training program will include attending an international conference co-organized by ARI, APBM, AKEPT, IPE (India), UiTM Council of Professors, University of Chullangkorn and Teesside University.  

A Day at Brahim's Airline Catering

At an effort to enhance corporate integrity at workplace, Brahim's Airline Catering recently launched its corporate's Code of Ethics document.The company signed the Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP), an integrated initiative with PEMANDU, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM).  CIP is a document that allows a company to make a commitment to uphold the Anti-Corruption Principles for Corporations in Malaysia. By signing the pledge, a company is making a unilateral declaration that it will not commit corrupt acts, will work toward creating a business environment that is free from corruption and will uphold the Anti-Corruption Principles for Corporations in Malaysia in the conduct of its business and in its interactions with its business partners and the Government. Three researchers from the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) have been invited to share various research instruments that have been developed at the Institute to measure corporate integrity practices at workplaces.  Prof Normah explained the concepts of corporate integrity and how to effectively used an instrument known as Corporate Integrity Assessment  Questionnaire  (CIAQ) for the company.  Associate Professors Dr Zuraidah and Dr Jamaliah developed case study typologies for "gifts giving" and "ethical decisions".

ARI Sharing Session at Brahim's Airline Catering Integrity Week

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) thanks Brahim's Airline Catering for inviting us to participate in its Integrity Week event on 19-21 March 2014. The event which will be held at its corporate office in Sepang will specifically discuss integrity policy related to gifts and entertainment.  As the company has recently signed the Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) with the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, Brahim's Airline Catering is also very keen to know more about ARI's work on Corporate Integrity System Malaysia (CISM) with the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM).  CIP is a document that allows a company to make a commitment to uphold the anti-corruption principles in Malaysia. By signing the pledge, a company is making a unilateral declaration that it will not commit corrupt acts, will work toward creating a business environment that is free from corruption and will uphold the Anti-Corruption Principles for Corporations in Malaysia in the conduct of its business and in its interactions with its business partners and the Government. On the premise that corruption is the direct result of "lack of integrity" of individuals and/or organizations, CISM is an instrument developed to measure and assess integrity practices at workplaces.  Two Brahim's officers - Mr Hisham and Mr Mahat visited ARI's office to discuss possible programs to be offered during the integrity week event.  Three ARI researchers - Prof Normah, Associate Prof Dr Jamaliah and Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah have been invited as speakers at Brahim's Integrity Week on 19-21 March 2014.  

Courtesy Visits to TH and Bank Islam

In an effort to promote Accounting Research Institute (ARI) and its niche research agenda in Islamic Financial Criminology, two researchers, Prof Dr Normah Omar (ARI Derector) and Dr Belo (ARI Post Doctoral Scholar)  visited two prominent organisations - the Hajj Pilgrimage Board or  Tabung Haji (TH) and Bank Islam Malaysia.  At LUTH, the duo met up with Dato' Latifah, the company's Chief Integrity Officer.  Discussions have included the possibility of TH to participate in the Corporate Integrity System initiative with the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) and staff training program on forensic accounting.  At Bank Islam Malaysia, Prof Normah and Dr Belo met up with Mr Nazeri, head of the Shariah division.  Similarly, discussions have focused on the bank's possible participation in the Corporate Integrity System program with IIM. The two meetings have been successful.  There's a lot of opportunities for ARI to collaborate with both companies in the near future.  The next step is for ARI to submit training and research proposals.

Training of Senior Government Officers

It was really an honour that the Association of Statutory Bodies (Persatuan Badan-Badan Berkanun), Malaysia has selected the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) to conduct statutory visits and training for its senior government officers as part of the association's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program. After much discussion and deliberation, the visit cum training has been scheduled to take place in New Zealand during the period of 1st to 10th September 2013.  New Zealand has been chosen as the most appropriate destination for the group due to its high performance ranking in public sector administration globally.  In fact, New Zealand is the only country in the world that had reigned the top placing for the renowned Corruption Perception Index (CPI), sixteen times since its inception.  The 10-day program includes site visits/meetings with selected local authorities and top universities in New Zealand; participation in an international conference on Corporate Governance Management & Financial Criminology at University of Waikato and participants undertaking 13 interactive training modules.  Four ARI members - Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah Sanusi, Associate Professor Dr Jamaliah Said, Dr Nor Balkish Zakaria and Dr Ismarani have been entrusted by the Association to plan and coordinate the program.  For ARI and Universiti Teknologi MARA, the visit will include the signing of two Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with the University of Waikato dan University of Victoria.

CISM Stakeholders Outreach Program

The Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) organizes its two-day outreach program, meeting and discussing with stakeholders on the issues of corporate integrity system Malaysia (CISM).  Recently, the Malaysian Government announced on the need of public sector organizations to set up their integrity unit or department.  In support of IIM's drive to promote corporate integrity at workplaces, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) has established a research cluster called "Corporate Integrity System Research Cluster".  ARI researchers, together with a few other academics from Universiti Sains Malaysia, INCEIF and Nottingham University (Malaysia campus) helped to develop an instrument to assess corporate integrity at workplaces.  Known as "Corporate Integrity Assessment Questionnaire or CIAQ", public and private organisations in Malaysia can do their own assessment.  To ensure effectiveness, the questionnaire needs to be filled by between 30-50 respondents, comprising employees of various management levels.  Today, IIM organizes a two-day outreach program to explain the CIAQ instrument to various stakeholders of public and private organisations.  ARI director, Professor Dr Normah Omar and Dr Salleh Hassan from SIDC have been tasked to share the findings of two organisations who participated in the Corporate Integrity System assessment.  A total of fifty participants attended the event.

Promoting Corporate Integrity System to State GLCs

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) is happy to report of its close collaboration with the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM).  Recently, in a meeting with IIM's  Private Sector Division, ARI through its Government-Linked Companies Research Centre (GLCRC) has been tasked to participate in IIM's outreach programs involving state GLCs and other listed government-linked companies.  As head of GLCRC, Associate Professor Dr Jamaliah Said and her research teams will be conducting research on corporate integrity system on these organisations.  Using the self assessment "Corporate Integrity Assessment Questionnaire", participating companies will administer the instrument on members from various organisational levels.  ARI will help to analyse and assess the integrity perceptions of GLC members.  Premised on this assessment, ARI researchers will prepare institutional reports for respective GLCs. For 2013, ARI hopes to cover some six state GLCs and another six public listed GLCs.

ARI Presentation TO CCM's Board

Today, the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) presented its proposal on "ARI-CCM Collaborative Works in Preparation of Forthcoming APG Mutual Evaluation" to the Board of Directors of Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM).  The Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (better known as APG) is an international organisation (regionally focused) consisting of 41 member-countries and a number of international and regional observers including the United Nations, IMF, FATF, Asian Development Bank, ASEAN Secretariat, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the World Bank.   The APG has a number of primary functions as follows:
(1) Assess APG members' compliance with the global Anti Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards through mutual evaluations; (2) Coordinate technical assistance and training with donor agencies and APG members/observers to improve compliance with AML/CFT standards; (2) Co-operate with international AML/CFT network; (4) Conduct research into money laundering and terrorism financing methods, trends, risk and vulnerabilities and (5) Contribute to the global AML/CFT policy development by active Associate Membership of FATF.  Basically, the proposed ARI-CCM collaboration focuses on creating awareness on AML/CFT standard among Non-Profit Organisations in Malaysia.  In the forthcoming APG Mutual Evaluation, one of the main focuses is to evaluate the governance and financing reporting of NPOs.  The collaboration will include collaborative research, training and outreach programs.  The BOD was indeed very supportive of the collaborative proposal.

 

Visit from EKONIS-UKM

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) thanks members of  EKONIS from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for visiting ARI today.  EKONIS is Research Center for Islamic Economics and Finance, which is based at the Faculty of Economics and Management, UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA (UKM).  In 2010, EKONIS was granted by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia as a center of excellence. The mission of the center is to foster the development of Islamic economics and finance fields by delivering the best research and providing the resources for scholars to develop themselves by the way of the Qur’an  and Sunnah.  During the meeting today, researchers from both entities discussed about possible collaboration, especially research in the area of Islamic Finance and Islamic Accounting.  Currently, few members from EKONIS are also part of the research team from Universiti Teknologi MARA that submitted afor the Long Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS) for the topic on Islamic Philanthropy.  Joint conference and joint publication are also other possible collaboration.

ARI Meeting with IRB CEO

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) thanks Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Shukor bin Hj. Mahfar, the Chief Executive Officer/Director General of the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) of Malaysia for welcoming our researchers at his office this morning.  Prior to this meeting, ARI has just completed a two-week research methodology training module for IRB staff who have been awarded  scholarship to pursue post-graduate programs.  In general, the meeting discussed possible ARI-IRB collaborations in terms of joint-research, co-supervision of PhD students, training, organisation of conferences and joint-publications.  As Tan Sri himself is actively involved with international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) and many others, he has invited ARI researchers to submit suitable research and training proposals that may be of interest to these organizations.  Several tax-related research topics have also been identified during the meeting.  ARI hopes to work closely with the Research & Development Division of IRB.

ARI Visit to PUNB

As part of their on-going effort to engage practitioners in their current research projects, members of the the Islamic Microfinance research cluster of the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) recently visited the Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad (PUNB).  PUNB is Malaysia's national entrepreneur development corporation that facilitate aspiring entrepreneurs to set up strategic and high potential businesses.  ARI members and fellows comprising Dr SitiKhadijah, Dr Bashir and Soheil accompanied Professor Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman to PUNB Kuala Lumpur.  PUNB was established in 1996 to spur the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by providing infrastructure facilities, financial assistance, advisory services, market access and other support programmes.  The delegates from ARI had a fruitful discussion with Mr Mohd Nor Shazali Idris, Head SME Investment Unit on possible collaboration in research and consultancy between PUNB & ARI.  Areas of interest include examining governance, marketing strategy and Islamic product development in PUNB.En Shazali was also interested to assign us a task in studying the impact of PUNB microfinancing on the success of the Young Entrepreneur Scheme.