Do You Know Your BMI?

Body Mass Index(BMI) can be used to determine whether an individual is overweight. Body Mass Index is calculated using the BMI formula to find the height to weight ratio of an individual. BMI is then compared to 'weight status' categories. Please visit http://www.whathealth.com/bmi/calculator.html to use the calculator. BMI Calculator is easy-to-use & versatile - a combination of imperial and metric measurements can be input or selected. Everyone should take care of his or her weight and be healthy.
Instructions:
1. Input or select your height value in the calculator above. If you input your height select the appropriate measurement button (inches or cm's)
2. Input or select your weight value. If you input your weight select the appropriate measurement button (pounds or kilos)
3. Press Calculate. Your BMI will now be displayed.
4. Compare your BMI with the BMI weight status table below.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY ACCOUNTING...

I was having a chat with Prof Dr Azni today and we were discussing on the possibility of a collaborative research. Prof Azni's current research interest in the area of "Green Technology" and she was proposing that I should explore "Green Technology Accounting". I found this excerpt about Green Technology and wonder how ARI can participate in this type of research. I think there's a need to explore the accounting and economics aspect of green technology.....

NEWS
The key challenge faced by the Malaysian government in going green has been the absence of an institution tasked solely to drive green technology, Encik Mohd Rosli bin Haji Abdullah told FutureGov.

Senior Under Secretary Haji Abdullah is heading the Green Technology Division, which was set up two months ago following the launch of the country’s National Green Technology Policy.

The first of the five strategic thrusts under the National Green Technology Policy is to establish the National Green Technology Council. The council, chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, will have ten to 12 members from various ministries to discuss green technology issues.

“Green technology efforts have always been fragmented with different ministries and agencies running their own projects. Environmental initiatives often involve several parties across the government, so we need to first strengthen the institution. The council will take a consolidated approach, providing a national strategic focus and plan,” added Haji Abdullah.

According to the Prime Minister Najib Razak, the government will lead by example by adopting green technology in government facilities.

The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water – which the Green Technology Division falls under – will be the key coordinator and facilitator for the green technology roadmap. It has already taken a lead in going green. Its building is the first to be rated a ‘Low Energy Office’ in Malaysia and reported energy savings of more than 50 per cent compared to new office buildings.

Budgeting During Tight Economic Environment

During tight economic environment, it is best to focus on how well we can tap on our human capital development. Since money is tight, it is difficult to expand on physical infrastructure. But certainly we can think of increasing productivity, capapability and efficiency of our human resources. Due to the current economic downturn, our university has asked all responsibility centres to re-calculate their budget for the 10th Malaysia Plan which will commence in 2010. A two-day budget workshop which started today had asked all deans and campus director to be prudent and reasonable in their budget request....

Meeting Professor Extraordinaire Rosenberg

We have heard of E-Learning and have somehow try to utilise this tool or technology in our teaching and learning initiative. Today I met Prof Rosenberg who is an independent New Jersey, USA-based management consultant, writer, educator and leading figure in the world of training, organizational learning, e-learning, knowledge management and performance improvement. He was conducting a workshop titled E-Learning in Higher Education: Effective Planning and Implementation Strategies to Support Learning and Teaching. The workshop was organized by AKEPT, Ministry of Higher Education and was held right here in Shah Alam. There's indeed a lot of research that ARI members can explore in the area of E-Learning....

Carbon Accounting?

Of late, there has been interest in a new topic called "carbon accounting"? I was recently approached by a group of scientists who are currently conducting various researches on environmental-related matters.
I was asked if ARI researchers could participate in their research and compute the costs that have to be incurred in order to clean the environment from unnecessary carbon monoxide emissions. I personally think it is possible. The concept is very similar to computing internal and external failure costs in TQM. Interested members please let me know. This project will involve diversed expertise such as environmental engineering, Chemistry and biology. Any takers?...

Salam Aidil Adha

Salam Aidil Adha to all ARI's friends and members. The year is almost coming to an end. I wish to congratulate all ARI members who have contributed significantly this year. 2009 has been fruitful for ARI. Some very significant outcome include: Recognition of ARI as a National Centre of Excellence by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE); Submission of ARI journals for SCOPUS indexing; Purchase of JOFRA by Emerald International Publication; ISI-indexed journal articles; SCOPUS-indexed journal articles; ISI & SCOPUS-Indexed conference proceedings; Lots of referred journal articles; Research grants from numerous agencies; Books of Readings; Research & Academic Books; Completion of many applied research monographs; International awards for innovations and monay more blessings.
Thank you all ARI and Faculty members who have been very committed. We will do more for 2010 Insyaallah

Fulltime Researchers for ARI

Insyaallah ARI will be getting fifteen fulltime researchers next semester for 2-3 years. Names have already been given to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation). Basically, these researchers will be focussing on research, publication and innovation. Specific KPI will be given upon appoinment - certain number of article publication in journals indexed by SCOPUS & ISI Thomson per year; certain amount of International grants per year etc. By giving them reduced teaching workloads, ARI is confident that the KPI targets could be achieved.

Road to AKNC Final

What can be done effectively in fifteen minutes?. That is the amount of time alloted to all finalists of the Vice Chancellor Quality Award 2009. As one of the finalist, ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy management team was having a brainstorming session today of how best to showcase our achievements and initiatives to the judges. Already some members were giving some brilliant ideas for the occasion. The final will be hld on 30th November at 2.30 pm. Good luck everyone....

The Power of Information...

As a director of ARI, I was recently invited by a group of business owners to facilitate them in a workshop that examines publicly available data and information of their competitors. Using such data, they are able to strategize for future direction. It was interesting to note that we are actually in possession of so many data and information but are not using them for our competitive advantage. Great lesson...

Two Products for International Exhibition in Korea

Congratlulations to Associate Professors Dr Rozainun and Dr Nor'azam who have been selected to showcase their respective innovations at a forthcoming international exposition in Korea. These products had won silvers at the resent PECIPTA 2009 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur. Basically, only those products that have won silver or gold awards are allowed to participate at international exhibitions.

Industrial Networking

I have just completed a ten-day NAfMA 2009 second visits. As the head assessor for the visits, we really had to scrutinise participants' management accounting tools and how they (the MA tools) have contributed significantly to the companies' value creation.
It was indeed a very taxing 10 days for me. Nevertheless, one of the most satisfying aspects of the judging is how much one learns from the industry. The networking that academics like me is able to establish with key industry players is invaluable. NAfMA is actually creating a win-win environment to participating companies, to the assessors and to the organizors.
All second-time participants have come out very strong this year with much more management accounting tools being showcased. Congratulations NAfMA...and thank you for the opportunity given to ARI and AMARC to be a partner to NAfMA.

FRGS Workshop

Prof Dr Najib from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) will be conducting a FRGS research proposal workshop at the FSPU. ARI members are encouraged to participate in the event. ARI hopes to submit fifteen FRGS and five escience proposals in the forthcoming round.

Writing Book Chapters

Prof Dr Rashidah, ARI Deputy Director will be conducting a workshop next week on writing book chapters in corporate governance, public sector accounting, forensic accounting, financial management and auditing. ARI hopes to complete two hundred chapters after the workshop. The target date of completion will be 31 December 2009.

Management Innovations

I have been recently appointed as one of the judges for the Management Best Practice Award at UiTM.
Based on this year's aparticipation alone, I am confident that the university's aspiration to totally migrate its manual system to digital is about to be realized.
The presentations by the thirteen finalists include electronic-based system such as e-kolej, e-voting, e-payment, e-book for the library, e-registration and many others that should be emulated by other faculties & divcisions within the university.

ARI Participation at IID 2010

ARI will be sending 22 products for the forthcoming IID 2010 which will be held on 14-17 January 2010. Basically product selection has been based either on commercialisation or academic writing potentials. As such, all products to be showcased at IID 2010 will need to get basic IPR such as copyrights plus either collaboration with industry partner or publication acceptance by indexed journals. All participants will have to comply to these requirements.

PhD Proposal Defense

Our first year PhD students had their proposal presentation this morning. Thank you all panelists who helped to review the proposals. I hope the students had learned a great deal and would be able to improve on their proposals asap.
To date, ARI and the faculty have fifty one PhD-qualified lecturers from whom the students can learn and consult. I was appointed to chair one session where two proposals were presented.

Submission of FRGS Monograph

ARI will be submitting seven FRGS-funded monographs as follows:
1. A Standard Model of Optimum Cost Allocation for Local Authorities
2. Enhancing Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in Manufacturing Practices Through the Application of Standards
3. Performance Measurement in Malaysian Higher Educational Institutions
4. CSR-Based Corporate Governance Reporting : Towards Self Governance Regime
5. Forecasting in Malaysia : Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice
6. Management Accounting Practices of Malaysian Manufacturing Companies
7. Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Firm’s Effectiveness

Congratulations all ARI researchers

More Indexed Conferences

There are many Scopus & ISI-Indexed Conferences that ARI members could attend in 2010. But remember, most call for paper deadlines fall towards the end of 2009. Listed below are some of the relevant conferences for ARI members.
1. 2nd IEEE International Conference on Information management and engineering (ieee icime 2010)Co-sponsored by IEEE Beijing Section, International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology (IACSIT), Sichuan Computer Federation
April 16-18, 2010, Chengdu, China. www.icime.org/
2. 16th ISSAT Conference themed Reliability and Quality in Design 5-7 August 2010, Washingtom DC USA. Submit a full manuscript of no more than 15 double-spaced pages including the authors' names, affiliations and complete mailing and email addresses. All papers should be submitted electronically in PDF of MS Word, by February 15, 2010, to Conference Secretary at rqd@issatconferences.org. See http://www.issatconferences.org/ for details
3. 2010 The International Conference on Industrial and Intelligent Information (ICIII 2010), 23 April 2010 Bangkok Thailand, Organized by: Cagayan State University, IACSIT, Denver University and etc. Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 15 December 2009. ICIII 2010 conference proceedings will be included in the IEEE Xplore and CSDL, and indexed by INSPEC, Thomson ISI, Ei Compendex.

ARI Members on Pilgrimage

On behalf of ARI, we wish all the best to two of our research associates: Mr Saiful Azlin Putih and Associate Professor Dr Noor Ashikin Ismail who are on pilgrimage to Mecca this year. May Allah gives His blessings to both of you

Heartfelt Views from the MOHE Minister about UiTM

I am personally touched by the kind words uttered by the Minister of the Ministry of Higher Education YB Dato' Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin in his blog about his recent visit to UiTM. ARI members please visit this specific address for details http://khalednordin.com/?p=511. Personally, it has given me so much hope and motivation to work harder for our beloved ARI and the university

CSSR 2010 Going International

Congratulations RMI for having the vision to upgrade the annual Conference of Science & Scocial Science Research (CSSR). According to Prof Dr Abu Bakar Majid in his email today, CSSR 2010 will be upgraded to an international stature. Excerpt of the email reads "... RMI is organizing CSSR 2010 6-9 Dec 2010 at Kuala Lumpur. CSSR 2010is going to go international, to be indexed to IEEE, and will also be run in a multi-conference manner, together with 2 other conferences, International Conference on Computer Applications and Industrial Electronics (ICCAIE 2010) and International Congress on Engineering Education (ICEE 2010)...".

Evaluation of Research Proposals

The Research Management Institute (RMI) organised a one-day research proposal evaluation meeting yesterday for the "Dana Kecemerlangan" fund. Basically, there are four categories of research proposals for this funding: (1) Post graduate research application (2) New lecturers (for confirmation of service) (3) University's tracer studies (institutional research) and (4) Those whose research proposals were rejected by other external funders (FRGS, EScience etc).

Minister Visit

Yang Berhormat Dato' Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Minister of Higher Education came for a working visit to UiTM today. Whilst here, he met up with UiTM top management team and the deans to discuss current issues and to keep abreast of the latest developments at UiTM. The official main programme entails the Minister meeting with senior management staff, after which he will witness the MOU signing ceremonies between the University and industry partners.

ARI Welcomes Ms Hamidah

As a director of ARI, I wish to welcome my new Personal Assistant (PA), Mrs Hamidah Awal to the institute. With her vast experience, we hope ARI will be able to operate more efficiently...

VIVA-VOCE for Master Students' Dissertation

Good luck to all final semester master students who will be attending their viva this week. I hope there will be a lot of publications as a spin-off of the dissertations.

Final Examinations

ARI wishes Good Luck and All the Best to all our undergraduate and post graduate students who will be sitting for their final examination this week.

Thank You Dinner

The Intellectual Discourse Committee of the UiTM Alumni Society organised a thank you dinner for the success of our recent Intellectual discourse with YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The dinner meeting was also used for a post-mortem discussion on the event as well planning for futurew events.

ISI & Scopus Publications

ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy are very proud to announce some recent publications by our members in journals and proceedings indexed by Scopus and ISI Thomson:
1. Prof Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman
2. Dr Rashid Ameer
3. Assoc Prof Dr Norzaidi Daud
4. Ms Intan Salwani
5. Assoc Prof Dr Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi
6. Assoc Prof Dr Asmah Abd Aziz
7. Assoc Prof Dr Rozainun Abd Aziz
8. Dr Mohd Nizal Haniff
9. Assoc Prof Dr Huang Ching Choo
Congratulations to all of you.

The Making of Forensic Accountants

Yes, I personally think that they are very talented. First they need to identify real financial fraud cases in Malaysia. It was definitely not easy to complete the tasks. The course curriculum has adopted various teaching and learning techniques. These include lectures by professionals, simulation, case study writing and the use of latest technology for fraud investigation.
Then they need to obtain evidences to support their cases. In conducting their investigation, they must be able to link all the evidences, check the legal implications of the cases and present their cases to experts comprising professors, accountants and lawyers. Four financial fraud cases were successfully presented that day. ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy hope to publish these local cases in the form of books of readings.
This is part and parcel of the requirements that the final semester students from the Master in Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology program have to fulfil.

Two Great Philantrophists for the Alumni Society

My deepest respect and appreciation to two great alumni who are heading the UiTM Alumni Society. Dato' Seri Mohd Zin Mohamad the President and Dato Mohd Shafee the Deputy President. Despite their busy schedules being businessmen themselves, they are both equally committed to lead the society. With the attitude of "Alumni pay back to UiTM", they have been instrumental in the society's success. Thanks to both of you.
Currently I am in two committees: Intellectual Discourse & Events and Research and Training. As a director to ARI, both portfolios would fit well with ARI's own activities. As such, ARI will plan and collaborate with the UiTM Alumni Society in its research, training and publication activities.

More Tax Incentives in the 2010 National Budget

I only managed to read today, the details of the National Budget announced yesterday by the Finance Minister cum Prime Minister YAB Dato' Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak. There are numerous tax incentives available, among which the most prominent include the followings:
1. Personal tax relief of RM9,000 for individuals (an increase by RM1,000),
2. A reduction of max tax bracket from 27% in the previous years to 26% effective
year of assessment 2010
3. A broadband fee exemption of RM500 per year.

Module for SME Accounting Practitioners

ARI and the Persatuan Akauntan Bumipera are collaborating to develop a training module for the SME Accounting Practitioners. The Society's president and the head of the audit SIG assoc Prof Dr Zuraidah and their respective team members had a meeting today to discuss and finalise the module components. The training will commence either at the end of 2009 or early 2010.

Just Being Innovative....

The IID Exhibition organised by ARI and the faculty has attracted a lot of participations from students.
With a bit of mentoring, I am sure the products could be further enhanced and some do have commercial value in them. I hope they will work harder for the forthcoming IID 2010 to be held on 12-14 January 2010. Two groups of students participated in the event. The Bachelor of Accountancy students were supervised by Ms Intan Salwani and the Masters students were supervised by Associate Prof Dr Rozainun and Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah

Case Study on UEM?

Mr Ahmad Zakie Ahmad Shariff, the Director of Corporate Affairs, UEM Group Berhad made an open offer (or challenge?) at a management accounting conference today for interested scholars to write case studies of the conglomorate's various companies and projects. ARI members who are pursuing their higher degrees or those who are keen to write management accounting case studies, please discuss with ARI Director or the head of our CIMA-UiTM Asian Management Accounting Research Centre (AMARC)for details. We may need to strategise so that a good case study book can be written for the company. Interested anyone? Once we have a team, we will arrange to meet up with Mr Ahmad Zakie at UEM. But please hurry...

Pilot Research for IIM Members

Two of ARI's associates: Associate Professor Zaini Ahmad and Ms Hilwani conducted a pilot survey for their study entitled The Roles and Responsibilities of Internal Auditors in Detecting and Preventing Frauds. The research is a collaboration with the Institute of Internal Auditors. The pilot questionnaires were given to fifty internal auditors who were attending a national conference which was organised by IIM at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Meeting Tun Mahathir and Tun Siti Hasmah

Meeting and talking to both of them in person - it was a moment in time for me. YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was recently the guest of Honour for the intellectual discourse event organised by the UiTM Alumni Society in Putrajaya. The proverb that says Leaders are Readers is very true and an apt description for YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir.
Everyone was mesmerised by the high level of knowledge that he portrayed when he was discussing the topic related to the discourse. I particularly liked the way Tun Mahathir was responding to all the questions posed to him during the Q&A session. A true Statesman indeed...

Convocation 2009

It's our faculty's turn (today and tomorrow) for the students to receive their scrolls from the university's pro-chancellor. Congratulations to all our students (and their lecturers too) who obtained their PhD, Masters, Bachelors, Diploma and professional degrees. In the USA, convocation ceremony is called commencement. It is a day when everything commences -a new responsibility, a new job may be, a renewed dream. One has to work harder... what a concept!!!. Convocation should not just be a moment to celebrate because you have "achieved something". Instead, it is a day of realisation because your commitment should be further enhanced...

Alumni President's Hari Raya Open House

YB Dato' Seri Mohd Zin Mohamad, the president of the UiTM Alumni Society organized a Hari Raya open house at the Dewan Ar-Raha in section 7. It was really nice to have met old colleagues at the event. Dato' Zin had also requested that ARI conducts a research on the need to have better public transport system in this country. Perhaps ARI will collaborate with MITRANS in gathering the relevant data.

Congratulations Dr Zuraidah

Associate Professor Dr Zuraidah, one of ARI's research fellows has recently been appointed as a Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Accountancy. Congratulations. Despite your new work schedule, I do hope that you will continue to contribute to ARI and the university - in terms of research and publications.

Honorary Doctorate for Tun Musa Hitam...

He has refused numerous offers from local universities who were keen to honour him with the doctoral degree. In his speech after being awarded the honour by DYMM Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Di Pertuan Agong, Tun Musa recollected the days when he was asked by the late Tun Razak to work on the viability of building the proposed new ITM campus in Shah Alam. He remembered numerous challenges that he had to overcome, and that is why he felt that an award by UiTM is genuine and special and he just won't reject it. Tun Musa Hitam was today honoured by the University with an Honorary Doctorate in Government & Politics. Congratulations to Tun Musa Hitam

A Succesful Alumnus

Tuan Haji Mustaza was the guest of honour for our excellence award day today. The awards were to honour our students who did very well in their respective examinations this year.
Tuan Haji Mustaza gave a rousing talk on his experience as a poor student of ITM, a successful corporate figure of a large conglomorate, an unemployed adult when he lost his job due to the economic crisis that hit the country in 1986, a struggling enterprenuer when he tried to get out of the economic crisis and a successful business owner today. All in all, the students were told that they have to be good in whatever they are doing. But more importantly, they must have good values to survive all kind of "climatic changes" in their life. Perhaps ARI members who are keen, they can write books on Tuan Haji Mustaza's experiences...Any takers?

Producing Our Own "Money Tree" Kids....

After our meeting with CPA Australia and the Money Tree Sdn Berhad team, ARI and the Faculty hope to organize financial training programs for our own accountancy students. The Money Tree program teaches kids as young as twelve years old to be financially literate. The team had showcased two young students who are in the money tree team who are obviously confident and have good grip of soft skills.
Yes, may be we have students who are academically strong, but the money tree experience will give them some added value for them to become better individuals. We hope to organize the first money tree program towards the end of 2009.

UiTM Alumni Meeting with the President

The society's president, YB Dato Seri Mohd Zin had called for a meeting at his house in Section 7 Shah Alam to discuss development of the forthcoming Intellectual Discourse event in Putrajaya.

Examination Briefing by the Dean

A staff meeting was called this afternoon to brief all lecturers on new examination processes and procedures. This includes the introduction of new digital forms to record students' continuous assessments and final examination marks.

Judging the PECIPTA 2009 Exhibition

Together with a few other other lecturers from UiTM: Prof Abu Bakar, Prof Sazali, Assoc Prof Dr Hanafiah, I was also appointed as a judge for the PECIPTA 2009 held at the KLCC from 8-10 October 2009.
The judging took place on 8th October. All in all, there were more than four hundred products/exhibits. UiTM brought the largest contingent with 59 products for the exhibition.

Good Luck to ARI's PMR Kids

Good luck to all ARI Members' kids who are sitting for their PMR examination today. All the best to Addin, Amira, Amir, Imad, Syed, Arif, Mamat and many others...

Long Hari Raya Break

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri 1430 everyone. I took a long break this hari raya visiting friends and relatives. The first raya was spent in Hulu Langat, my home town. We went back there a few days before the raya break. Then we spent the next four days in Gurun, Kedah - my husband's home town. Every year, it has been a routine that our family will spend our time in both home towns. Raya has always been great as all our family members will get together....

Hari Raya Mood

The office was pretty much deserted as most staff has taken an earlier leave to travel to their respective hometowns. Nevertheless our office staff managed to decorate the office, so that the raya mood is there....

Software to Check for Plagiarism

There's a lot of anti-plagarism software that are available in the market. Supervisors and lecturers should check thesis, dissertation and research projects submitted by students and other fellow researchers for possible plagarism. Journal publishers are very strict on plagarism as there are instances where the authors or writers are blacklisted indefinitely should their papers are found to have plagarized the work of others. ARI will also be buying one of these softwares soon....

Potential Students Participation for IID 2010

About twenty Bachelor of Accountancy (BAcc) students have indicated their interest to participate in UiTM's forthcoming Invention, Innovation and Design (IID) Exhibition to be held in early 2010. The students had today presented their ideas to their lecturer, Ms Intan Salwani. Ms Intan will act as their supervisor for the IID projects. The Dean of the Faculty of Accountancy, Prof Ibrahim Kamal has agreed in principle to support the students' projects by allocating a small fund to them...

ARI's Latest Publications

Two new books on corporate governance were published recently by two ARI members. Basically, the two books are "spin-offs" from the authors' two separate research projects. The first book entitled CSR-Based Corporate Governance is premised on a FRGS project with similar title and the second book, Self-Regulating Corporate Governance is based on various collaborative projects with the industry.

Plagarism

The Sun Newspaper today highlighted on its front page the case of two local university lecturers who were found to have plagarised the work of others six year ago. The plagarism was nevertheless only discovered last month by the university's investigation team. I can bet the repercussion is great and very damaging. As such, don't even get near to this habit. As researchers and post graduate students, the use of internets as a reference source is inevitable. Please do not attempt to plagarise as this act remains a "liability" for a long period of time. You will never know, as the discovery may happens 10, 20 years down the road.....

ARI in Three Newspapers....

As UiTM is celebrating its 10th year anniversary since it became a university, various write ups on the university's research and program initiatives are being highlighted in three newspapers namely NST, Utusan Malaysia and Kosmos. Interestingly, the achievements of the Accounting Research Institute have been included as "centrestage" materials in the newspapers. ARI is both humbled and thankful to the university for its recognition of our contributions....

UiTM Alumni Society Meeting & Breaking Fast Event

The UiTM Alumni Society organised its third Committee Meeting yesterday at the Yayasan Ar-Raha in Section 7, Shah Alam. All Vice Presidents of the society's seven main committee presented their plans of proposed activities for years 2009-2010. Personally, I am involved in two committes namely research and intellectual discourse. Our committes have already lined up various activities to be implemented. Our first activity of intellectual discourse will be in October 2009 as Y.Bhg Tun Dr Mahathir has agreed to give a talk at the Yayasan Perdana Leadership in Putrajaya for alumni members

Briefing on Cradle Funding

In ARI's monthly meeting today, we have invited Mr Kenny from Cradle Fund to give a briefing on how ARI and faculty members can take advantage of the fund to further develop our research products so as they are ready for commercialisation. Thanks to Associate Professor Dr Noraini for organising the briefing.

Workshop on ISI/Scopus Conference Proceedings

In our ARI meeting today, it was agreed tht Prof Rashidah will conduct a workshop on how ARI members can take advantage of the many engineering & other science-based conferences that are indexed by either Scopus and Thomson ISI. The workshop will be organized on 15 & 16 September 2009. All ARI and faculty members are invited to participate in the workshop

Strategic Direction for COEs

The university is organizing a 3-day workshop on 11-13 September 2009 at the Puncak Alam campus. Basically, the workshop is to discuss strategies and future direction of our centres of excellence in UiTM. Perhaps some COEs need to merge to form a unit that is transdiciplinary - may be an Institute of Transdiciplinary Research (ITR). We must take advantage of our strengths in social science areas such as law, art & design, creative art, architecture, Library studies etc so that we can produce research projects that are multi-disciplinary....

ARI and Applied Research

When asked about what sort of research ARI focuses on, it is obvious that ARI concentrates on applied research. To date, we have collaborated with various organizations and conducted researches on areas that interest them and in the end facilitate them with research findings that could contribute to their decision making process. Among organisations that we have been involved with are: IIM, MSWG, MICG, CIMA, CPA Australia, ACCA, MIA, Petronas, RAM, TM Berhad, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Nestle Bhd, Philip Lumeleds, DHL, Public Bank Berhad, Bank Rakyat Bhd, ICSA, LLM, Mesiniaga, Biz Aid Technology, Proton etc

UiTM's 10th Anniversary as a University

The university status awarded to us in 1999 has indeed transformed all of us. Today UiTM aspires to become a research university. Why not?. But everyone of us must contribute towards this aspiration. Listed below are contributions that everyone should give to our beloved university. Can we contribute at least one unit for all these items per year?:
1. 1 Publication in Scopus/ISI-indexed journal
2. 1 Publication in non-indexed journal
3. 1 Chapter of a book
4. 1 IPR
5. 1 research grant of at least RM10,000
6. 1 paper presentation at Scopus/ISI conference

Institute of Transdiciplinary Research

With the diversed research areas that our researchers in UiTM are engaged in, I personally think that we should formalise the setting up of the Institute of Transdiciplinary Research (ITR). At least we shall have the right structure and facility to integrate multi-disciplinary research activities in the university.

More ISI-Thomson Indexed Conferences

Yes, our research is accounting-based. But certainly we can "adapt" our papers to suit the need of these indexed conferences.

ISI-INDEXED CONFERENCES 2009/2010

1. The 2nd International Conference on Advanced Computer Control (ICACC 2010)
Shenyang, China, 27th-29th, March 2010. Submission deadline: 5th November 2009. www.icacc.org/

2. The 2nd International Conference on Computer modeling and simulation (iccms 2010), Organized by the International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology January 22-24, 2010, Sanya, China. Submission deadline: September 10, 2009. www.iccms.org/

3. 2010 International Conference on Business, Economics and Tourism Management (CBETM 2010), February 26 - 28, 2010, Singapore. Submission deadline: October 20, 2009. www.iacsit.org/cbetm/

4. 2010 International Conference on e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning (IC4E 2010), Sanya, China, January 22-24, 2010. Submission deadline: October 5, 2009. http://www.iacsit.org/ic4e/

5. The 2nd International Conference on Machine Learning and Computing (ICMLC 2010), Bangalore, India, February 9-11, 2010. Submission deadline: October 20, 2009 http://www.icmlc.org/

6. The 29th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic EngineeringShanghai, China - June 6-11, 2010; Submission deadline (abstract): September 28, 2009, http://www.ooae.org/

7. The 2010 International Conference on Chemical Engineering and Applications (CCEA 2010) Singapore, Feb. 26-28, 2010. Submission deadline: October 30, 2009. http://www.iacsit.org/

8. The 2010 International Conference on Electrical and Energy Systems (ICEES 2010)Singapore, Feb. 26-28, 2010; submission deadline: October 30, 2009: http://www.iacsit.org/icees/

More Opportunity for Novice Writers

Yes, I have been mentioning a lot about publishing your work in Scopus and ISI Thomson journals. Whilst that is what we aim for, novice writers should not despair. You may want to start by submitting your papers to any international peer-reviewed journals. You should get into perhaps groups of 3-4 authors and submit 2-3 papers to different international journals. You may want to browse through the attached URL which is based in Canada. The Canadian Centre for Science and Education (CCSE) has more than twenty online and print journals that you can consider to publish in. As the journals are published monthly (i.e 12 issues per year), the turnover to get your papers considered for publication is relatively short, between 1-2 weeks. But the publication may require some fee payments. That's why, if there are 3-4 of you, you can share the cost. Happy trying. Remember, once you have gained confidence in publishing in these journals, your publication should evolve to Scopus & ISI-indexed journals.

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal.html

RMI Research Direction Workshop

RMI organized another round of research strategic direction workshop for the Tenth Malaysia Plan (RMK 10). RMK 10 covers the periods between 2010 to 2015. This time around, a lot more deans, deputy deans and heads of centres of excellence were involved in the discussions. Basically we were discussing on our strengths and at the same time, making sure that our strategy is in tandem with the country's vision.

UiTM Purchase of ISI Thomson Database

The university has recently gotten an approval by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on the purchase of the ISI Thomson (Web of Science) Database. Today, UiTM (headed by Prof Dr Mustafa, TNC Academic) and ISI Thomson representatives had a price negotiation session with the supplier. It was agreed that UiTM will buy the databases for three years. This purchase would certainly facilitate UiTM researchers to move in tandem with the university's aspiration to become a research university. The Perpustakaan Tuan Abdul Razak has been given the honour to maintain the databases and to initiate trainings for staff and students to maximize the utilisation of this facility.

New Policy on Conference Paper Presentations

I have been informed by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Internationalisation) Prof Dr Mustaffa that the UiTM top management has decided to implement a policy of only allowing paper presentations at Scopus or ISI Thomson-indexed conferences. The good thing about this policy is that researchers can present in as many conferences as possible. Moving forward, UiTM is also planning to index some of its major conferences with Scopus and ISI Thomson. This policy is in tandem with the university aspiration to become a research university.

Happy 52nd Merdeka Malaysia

Yes time flies. Happy 52nd Independent Day for al Malaysians. May all of us be free from all other forms of "colonisations" (e.g. fear, helplessness, debt etc).

Understanding IFRS

I saw an article in the Sunday Star today signifying lack of understanding of the various International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) not just among individuals and practitioners. In fact a lot of public listed companies (PLCs) are also experiencing difficulties in reporting their financial statements. As such, there's a lot of opportunities for ARI members to conduct research and organising training programs on IFRs. Those interested, please submit a proposal to ARI...

ARI's New Strategic Direction

Very soon, ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy will be organising a collaborative workshop to discuss our new strategic direction. As a Centre of Excellence, ARI is entrusted to lead research and publication activities in the university. In addition to our normal KPIs being set to support the RU aspiration (e.g. no of publication in indexed journals and proceedings; publication of book chapters, publication in international journals and other innovation & industrial linkage requirements), ARI will also engage in transdiciplinary research (TD) and will be collaborating with other TD research institutes globally

Management and Social Research Journal

In 2003, when the Faculty of Accountancy hosted the annual Conference on Science and Social Research (CSSR), we initiated two journals namely the Management and Social Research Journal (MSRJ) and the Scientific Research Journal. Then, every year whenever the CSSR conference is held, an ad-hoc committee would be formed to undertake the tasks of revieiwing and publishing the journals. This year, ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy were assigned the total responsibility of publishing the MSRJ journal. The journal is now published twice a year. Today, the editorial committee which is headed by Prof Dr Rashidah Abdul Rahman has successfully submitted the journal for possible indexing with Scopus. Basically, the papers for the journal is sourced from the annual CSSR conference. In addition, the call for paper is also opened to everyone else who has a paper to contribute....

PhD is a Journey...

Ms Amrizah Kamaluddin, one of ARI's associate member, will be attending her viva tomorrow, Friday 28th August. Insyaallah, my prayer that she will pass her viva with flying colours. PhD is a journey. Hers is a showcase of a great partnership between herself and her three supervisors. . They have as a team presented and published a number of papers. That by itself is a great testimonial of her effort. She has grown tremendously in term of confidence, wisdom and maturity. Amrizah's research is in the area of intellectual capital. I am looking forward for having her around as an active researcher. Congratulations....

ARI Welcomes Dr Mohd Nizal

Insyaallah, if everything goes as planned, ARI will be appointing Dr Mohd Nizal as a new research fellow. Dr Nizal's term as a Deputy Dean ended on 15th August 2009 and he had indicated his interest to join ARI. ARI welcomes you and I am sure we can work well as a team. Congratulations for your two articles recently accepted to be included in ISI Thomson conference proceeding. What a way to start your journey with ARI...

Congratulations Dr Nawal Kassim

Dr Nawal Kasim passed her viva recently and she is now the Faculty of Accountancy's 50th PhD qualified lecturer. She was doing her PhD at the International Islamic University. Congratulations to you. ARI welcomes you as an associate member. We look forward to your publications in Islamic Accounting....

Finishing the Dividend Policy Report...

We finally managed to complete the report today. Once the report is content and English-edited, we hope to send it to the sponsor - Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group (MSWG) by Friday. Of course the report will be further deliberated upon by the MSWG group. Insyaallah the plan is to launch the report sometimes in October 2009. Seen here is Associate Professor Dr Wee Shu Hui, our project leader who was showing us the final draft report at today's meeting.

FRGS Reports 2/2007 Due Now....

For those of you who obtained the second FRGS grant in 2007 (ARI obtained 9 grants), please remember that the due date to submit your final research reports is 30th September 2009. Do not wait till the last minute to prepare your reports. For Muslim ARI members, Ramadhan will be the best time to finish off your reports. Do not sleep after your sahur meal. Instead spend an hour every morning to write the report. Once the report is submitted you can look forward to applying for new grants by the end of this year. ARI will organize a final FRGS presentation by the middle of September 2009. Please get ready....

Wish You a Blessed Ramadhan...

I wish all ARI members a blessed Ramadhan 1430. May Allah bless all of us Insyaallah... Personally, I find Ramadhan to be the most productive month in a year. We can plan our time for sunnat prayers including Tarawih and at the same time, use the after sahur meal to finish off whatever work that need to be completed. May be that paper that you want to send to the ISI/Scopus-indexed conference, the chapter that you want to contribute to the book chapters, the article that you want to submit to the indexed journal....imagine what we can accomplish in 29 days of Ramadhan

Going for AACSB...

The Faculty of Accountancy and the Faculty of Business Management are applying to abtain the prestigous US-based AACSB accreditation for their undergraduate and post graduate programs. AACSB accreditation represents the highest standard of achievement for business schools worldwide. Being AACSB-accredited means a business/accounting school is able to continuously pass a strict set of standards that are designed to ensure quality. This morning we met Mr Jon, the CEO of a data management company that facilitates keen universities to record and maintain AACSB-compliant data. Mr Jon is from Tennessee, USA

What a Way to Treat Your Guest.....

I was invited to UiTM Perak today and to give talk to staff on "publication in indexed-journals". The minute I reached the campus gate this morning, a "rider" was already waiting to take me to the meeting place. I was able to capture that moment on camera. I was given a first class treatment and I really felt honoured and humbled for the kind hospitality shown by everyone there. Thank you. The hall was full for the afternoon talk. Wow what an enthusiastic group. It was really a worthwhile trip....

Contract Research

ARI will be bidding for more contract research this year. We recently had received an invitation from Riyadh University for a contract research project and Prof Dr Rashidah has submitted a research proposal. The prospect looks promising. Next, ARI will be submitting proposals to agencies such as the World Bank and United Nations and working collaboratively with other international research centres, Insyaallah...

New Appointment of RO and ARO

Today I received the registrar's letters of appointment of ARI's Research Officer (RO) and Assistant Research Officer (ARO). They should be reporting for duty on 1st September 2009. Both of these staff have wide experiences of doing research in medicine and micro-biology. In view of this, ARI is planning to collaborate with other science-based research centres and be involved with transdiciplinary research projects. Perhaps studies examining the economic implications of treatments for dengue and H1N1? Now ARI should move towards e-Science grants. Why not?

So You Want to Present Papers at Conferences?

"Be effective and be focused" - this should be our tag line this year. As a director of ARI, I wish to advice all fellows and associate members to only present your papers at either Scopus or ISI Thomson-indexed conferences. Listed below are examples of conferences that you can participate in 2009/2010:
1. 2009 International Conference on Information Theory and ...
ICITE is the main annual Information research conference aimed at presenting current research being carried out. ... and be submitted to Ei Compendex and Thomson ISI for indexing. ... (C) ICITE 2009-2010 Kota Kinabalu , Malaysia.www.iacsit.org/icite/index.htm
2. 2009 International Conference on Education and Management ...
5 Jun 2009 ... Conference Chairman Dr. Prof. Subhas Misra in Harvard University will deliver a Keynote ... which will be indexed by Thomson ISI Proceeding (ISTP). ... 2009-2010 ICEMT 2009. Chengdu, China Oct.23-25, 2009.www.iacsit.org/icemt/index.htm
3. 5th International Conference on e-Learning ICEL 2010
The proceedings for this conference are listed in the Thomson Reuters ISI Index to Scientific and Technical Proceedings (ISTP), the Thomson Reuters ISI ...www.academic-conferences.org
4. ICTTA 2010
2010 The 2nd International Conference on Telecom Technology and Applications ... the conference proceeding, and will be indexed by the Nielsen, Thomson ISI ...www.ictta.org/
5. International Conference on Humanities, Historical and Social ...
CHHSS 2010 Proceedings will be indexed by the Nielsen, Thomson ISI, ...www.mladiinfo.com/...conferences/international-conference-on-humanities-historical-and-social-sciences-singapore.html
6. ICKD 2010
The 2nd International Conference on Knowledge Discovery (ICKD 2010) ... submitted to IEE INSPEC, CSDL, Thomson ISI (ISTP), and EI Compendex for indexing. ...www.ickd.org/

Alumni "Pay" Back

I have been invited to be a member of one of the UiTM Alumni Committees on "Intellectual Discourse and Event". Basically the committee hopes to get successful alumni to share their experiences with the current students and recent graduates on "what it takes to get them there". The alumni chosen will be from different cohorts and age groups. The project "Alumni Pay Back", wants to encourage our alumni to "pay back" to UiTM by sharing their experiences, ideology, thought processes and preseverence with our students.

More Ideas on Book Chapters

There's a lot that we can write as book chapters. PM Dr Rozainun, Head of the Asia-Pacific Forensic Accounting Research Centre will be editing a book on "Developing Forensic Accounting Professionals". Each chapter will be contributed by lecturers who are teaching the various courses for the Master in Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology Program. Even if you are not directly involved with research, you can still write a chapter. I am sure, that everyday, we are involved with a lot of activities. Put these activities into perspectives and write them down as chapters of a book that you can somehow contribute. Very soon, a group of our postgraduate students will be participating in a "How to do a Literature Review". Well, at the end of the workshop, you can write something on what you have just learned. Add some more literature to substantiate your write up....

Three New ISI Papers

ARI is happy to announce three new papers that will be published in ISI conference proceedings. The first paper is written by Associate Professor Dr Asmah Abdul Aziz, ARI's research fellow together with her team for the 2009 International Conference on Machine and Language, Perth Australia. Two other papers are written by Dr Mohd Nizal Hanif and his team for the forthcoming business conference in Singapore. Congratulations to all of you....

Content Editing & English Editing

In our efforts to write a lot of book chapters, please remember that one of the most important steps in the publication process is to get our chapters professionally edited. Prospective readers are only exposed to our finished products, i.e the book/s. So all ARI members are advised to edit their work properly. Both content and english editing. If you have problem in getting the right editors, please do not hesitate to contact ARI.

Especially for You Novice Researchers.....

As scholars and researchers, our ultimate aim is always to publish our work in reputable, indexed journals. Perhaps nothing less than journals indexed with Scopus and ISI-Web of Science. For novice researchers, this could be a daunting task. Today I found a website that handles an online journal called Academic Leadership Online Journal. I attach here excerpts from the website that you may find interesting. The message is, faculties and COEs do not have to start a new journal. For young researchers, you can submit your articles through this kind of online platform. Later on when you are more confident, your target should be to submit in indexed journals.

About this Journal

"The online Journal of Academic Leadership is aimed at those in the academic world who are dedicated to advancing the field through their research. ALJ provides an array of articles and essays that speak to the major issues of the field faced by those in leadership roles across all content areas and disciplines – from classroom instructors to university presidents. The Journal is peer edited through a blind review process that utilizes national and international editorial boards and peer reviewers. It is listed in Cabell's and has a 45% acceptance rate.I encourage novice authors to submit their work. To provide some support for new writers, the Journal includes a section called Publishing Assistance."

For details, please browse the website as follow http://www.academicleadership.org/pages/About_the_Journal.shtml

IID 2010 and IPR

The forthcoming IID 2010 will be organized in January 2010. ARI members (including your respective students) are encouraged to participate in this event. But this time around, we will be focusing on getting the Intellectual Property Right (IPR) prior to your IID registration. This is in line with the RU requirement under the sub-heading of "Innovation". IPR in the forms of copyright and trademarks would be the most appropriate for that purpose. For ARI members to participate, that would certainly be the main pre-requisite.

Dividend Policy Research Monograph

Our team members are finalising the research monograph on dividend policy to be submitted to the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group (MSWG) by the end of this week. The MSWG has been a very good client and has been sponsoring various research projects for ARI members. This time around, our project is covering all public listed companies in Malaysia. Once submitted, MSWG will be organising a research seminar where the research monographs will be launched and sold to the participants.

New Phd Candidate

A potential PhD candidate from USIM came to ARI recently to enquire about the possibility of doing PhD in Islamic Finance and Management Accounting at ARI. The topic reminded me of one of NAfMA's 2008 Practice Solution Award winner, Bank Muamalat Berhad whose Islamic-based product has really impressed the judges. Perhaps this is a great opportunity to collaborate with Bank Muamalat for a high level academic research and case study on the company...

Our Guest from the AG office.....

Dr Kalsom (ARI's associate member) and her Master in Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology students had this morning, invited Mr Y. Hamdan from the Auditor General Office in Putrajaya to give a talk on computer auditing. Mr Y. Hamdan is a specialist in computer audit and he has been conducting related workshops for the government auditors. During the lunch break, I was informed by Mr Y. Hamdan on how he has developed a mechanism that allows him to extraxt financial statements of the organisations that he conducts audit on. How impressive...

Starting Them Right....

For me, meeting newly appointed lecturers has always been inspiring. They are enthisiastic, full of energy and always having fresh, new ideas. As a director of ARI, I was invited by the dean to meet up with the faculty's new lecturers. After talking and listening to them, I have no doubt whatsoever that this new generation will continue our culture of excellence in UiTM. We just encouraged them to plan and chart their future early. My personal advice to them was for them to learn research, do research and to teach research to others. If we continue with this cycle, Insyaallah, UiTM too can become a research university...

Anugerah Akademik Negara (AAN)

The third AAN was held last night at the Royale Chulan's Grand Ballroom. The event was to honour academics who excelled in teaching, research and commercialisation. As a director of ARI, I was also invited to attend the dinner. It was a stimulating experience to see friends from fellow academics being recognized. The top award, Tokoh Akademik Negara was conferred to Professor Dr Muhammad Haji Salleh from USM. Congratulations Prof.

KMart's Ten Deadly Sins....

I presented a paper entitled "KMart's Ten Deadly Sins: a Counter Strategy by Mydin Hypermarket". The paper was based on a 2003 book KMart's 10 Deadly Sins by Marcia Layton Turner which according to Dato' Ameer Ali Mydin had a tremendous influence over the Mydin's business. Our research team comprising Dr Zuraidah, Dr Norashikin, Ms Noralmiah and myself had early this year interviewed Dato' Ameer, the managing director of Mydin Holding Bhd. It was interesting to learn from Dato' Ameer, how Mydin had used KMart's experiences to its own advantage. "Smart people learned from the experiences of others"....