RU Citation Committee Meeting

Today was our 11th committee meeting and we are ready to submit to the university's top management our proposal on "publication strategy for 2009 and beyond". Some of the strategies would involve the setting up of written policies on publication. Our committee is confident that once the policies are put into place and effectively implemented, our publication and citation rates would improved tremendously.

OBE for Post Graduate Programs...

We attended another OBE workshop with Dr JJ today. Alhamdulillah, our group managed to complete about 80% of the basic documentation. Insyaallah, Assoc Prof Dr NorAshikin will be organising a short meeting with all the teaching lecturers so that they can complete the individual course syllabus. Thanks to our team members, ARI Research Associates AP Dr Shikin, Dr Indra, AP Dr Nor'azam and AP Dr Thiru for your full committment.

Dean & Research Briefings at UiTM Kelantan

Just to take advantage of our visit to Kota Baru, faculty members at UiTM Kelantan had made arrangements for two briefings to be conducted. The first briefing was about the introduction of the Bachelor of Accountancy program to be offered by the UiTM Kota Baru City campus in December 2009. The second briefing was an update by the ARI Director on research and publication activities that could be undertaken by faculty members in Kelantan. An update of the RU scorecard was also given to all lecturers.

Meeting with AG & IPN Officers...

In view of the research & publication MOU to be signed tomorrow, ARI and the Public Sector Accounting Research Centre will be arranging for a series of meeting with senior officers of the Accountant General Office and the Institut Perakaunan Negara (IPN). Most likely, the meetings will be held in Sabak Bernam, where the IPN office is situated.

New Research Centre

Prof Dr Muhd Kamil, the Director of UiTM Johor Campus has recently indicated interest to form a new multi-disciplinary research centre which will be placed under ARI. Technically, the research centre will be operating from the Johor campus. In view of the university's RU initiatives, ARI hopes that the new research centre will focus on relevant KPIs of producing the following: Publication in indexed journals, Publication of Chapters in Books, IPRs, Externally-funded research etc.

More Applied Research Students...

After two weeks, I am still receiving more student names who are keen to take up applied research this semester. To date, I have gotten twenty names. Since we are introducing the "guided applied research format", we are expecting all the master students who chose to conduct applied research to complete their research projects by the 3 October 2009.

Lets go "OBE"...

Thanks Associate Professor Dr Jaafar Jantan (DR JJ) for making it a fun OBE workshop. We all had so much laugh that we want him to organize another workshop on wednesday. Yes, people talk so much about OBE, but most of us who attended the workshop today didn't have a clue of how OBE could benefit us and the students. At the end of today's session, we became interested and wanted to know more. We managed to complete 30% of our assignment, another 70% on Wednesday. The OBE concept is similar to Steven Covey's concept of "Begin with the end in mind"....

Visiting Assoc. Prof. Dr Margaret McKerchar

ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy is pleased to host our visiting Associate Professor Dr Margaret McKercher. Dr McKercher is currently the Head of School, University of New South Wales, Australia. Her research interest is in the area of taxation. Dr Margaret McKercher is an active member of CPA Australia and is currently NSW President and a member of both NSW Divisional Council and of CPA Australia's Tax Centre of Excellence. Lecturers and graduate students are encouraged to meet up and discuss with her during office hours.

Research Assistants: Thanks & Hello...

Since our two previous research assistants (Ms Ati and Ms Fiza) had recently obtained new & permanent job positions, I have conducted some interviews for new recruitments. Both Ms Ati and Ms Fiza had been with ARI for almost three years and their departure will be missed by all members. Two new research assistants will be appointed very soon. They are both very experienced. Thanks to Ati & Fiza; Welcome Asniza and Sabrena...

Down Memory Lane....

I was browsing for some information on leading research and I found this about Manchester Metroplotitan University, my alma mater: "News and Events - MMU is conducting 'world leading' research in Business and Management, according to the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise the major review of research at UK universities". Since I left the university many years ago, there have been a lot of changes to the structure of the university and the Business School in particular. There's a lot of renowned professors who are now with the MMUBS. The business school has form a Research Institute in Business Management (RIBM). I contacted one of RIBM's research director (Accounting & Finance) Professor David Leece for possible research collaboration and he is very positive about it. ARI members are encouraged to prepare research proposals through which our two entities can collaborate in the near future.

COEs to Offer Academic Programs

The university senate had recently approved the request to allow Centres of Excellence (CoE) to offer graduate level academic program(s). ARI hopes to offer Master and PhD (by research) programs in the areas of forensic accounting & financial criminology soon. This will be a niche area for ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy. Recently, the Asia-Pacific Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology Research Centre (AFARe), which is a collaboration between UiTM, University of Teeside and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) was set up to support these programs. The centre hopes to become a reputable reference point in this region. Efforts are under way to publish books of readings and journal articles in the area of forensic accounting

A Six Month Research Format

It was interesting to learn from Prof Sakthi that his university in the US is embarking on a new program where good researchers are given six months "time-off " from teaching and they can complete their research during that time. Teaching loads are given six months or one semester "in advance" prior to the research time-off period. At the end of the "research period", researchers are expected to publish articles in good "A or B" journals. Well, great idea for all of us to ponder...

Thanks Prof Sakthi....

It was Prof Sakthi's last day with us today, after a fruitful two weeks visit. Prof Sakthi is our visiting professor from Butler University in the US. We had a short discussion on the exit report that he had prepared for UiTM. Well, it is good to know that he has been appointed by Monash University (Malaysia) for a six month tenureship in January 2010. He will also be asking Monash University to give him a one day per week collaboration with UiTM. So we are planning to have him co-author some articles with our lecturers for possible publication in Scopus or ISI Thomson journals.

Dividend Research Update

Our research group members comprising Prof Shidah, Assoc Prof Dr Wee, Assoc Prof Dr Norhayati, Assoc Prof Dr Shikin and myself had an interim discussion this afternoon to decide on the presentation format of the report. Two presenters identified for the MSWG seminar are namely Dr Shikin and Dr Wee. The contract research is sponsored by the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group (MSWG) . The research basically examines the disclosure of dividend policy by public listed companies (PLCs).

Publishing in Niche Areas

In our RU Citation committee meeting held today, Prof Dr Szarina mentioned the need for researchers to conduct research in niche areas. We were told that the publication of these kind of papers are much in demand by Scopus and ISI journals. When they are in demand, their citation rate may also improve tremendously. She further explained that recently the publication of articles on "Halal food" and "Islamic Capital Market" have received a lot of citations among Scopus and ISI users. We all should be identifying our niche topics....

University Lecturer...

I was browsing the wikipedia to understand the meaning of a university lecturer. In universities, lecturers sometime "declare" themselves as being a "teaching lecturer" or a "lecturer-Researcher". Interestingly, in its simplest form, wikipedia gives the following definition: "Lecturer is a term of academic rank. It is the name given to those who teach in their first permanent university position. Lecturers are academics early in their careers, who lead research groups and supervise postgraduate students as well as lecture courses.". As such, we as university lecturers can't really differentiate between teaching and researching can we?. We have to do them both... :O)

New Book Publications

Members from ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy had recently published new books. The first book titled Corporate Finance was co-written by Associate Prof Rodziah Samad, Assoc Prof Rohani Wahab and Ms Shelia Christabel. The second book, Corporate Responsibility: Concepts and Emerging Issues was co-written by Prof Dr Mustafa, AP Dr Faizah Darus, AP Dr Roshayani Arshad, Ms Suaini Othman and Mr Tay Kay Luan. The third book, Internal Auditing was written by Puan Sri Datin Dr Mary Lee and her team. Congratulations everyone...

Meeting Two Great MA Gurus

For me, it was a dream come true to have the opportunity to meet up with two great management accounting professors from England. Professor Michael Bromwich, is a CIMA Professor of Accounting and Financial Management; and Professor Al Bhimani is a Professor of Management Accounting. Both professors are from the London School of Economics (LSE). I remembered reading and using a lot of their articles for my researches. They have co-written many books on management accounting including Pathways to Progress and Management Accounting: Evolution, not Revolution. Their latest book entitled Retrospect and Prospect will be launched by CIMA soon...

Research-Inclined Lecturers

The Vice Chancellor, during his recent meeting with staff and the RU Committee had indicated his willingness to allow 10% of the university's academic staff to focus more time on research and publication. As such, teaching load will be accordingly reduced. In return, these lecturers are expected to conduct research and to produce publications in Scopus and ISI journals. Faculty members who are keen on research, please make your choice. ARI is also opening several positions as research fellows. Interested candidates, please contact me at normah645@salam.uitm.edu.my

The UiTM Alumni Society

As a director of ARI, I have been roped in into the society's research and publication committee. The society had its first meeting tonite since the new president, Dato' Seri Mohd Zin Mohamed took office as a president. Interestingly, committee members comprise of alumni from different cohorts. I personally feel that the alumni society can play a great role in facilitating UiTM to greater heights. We should all want to be members of the alumni society so that we can contribute significantly to our alma mater. I urge all ARI and faculty members to become a member of this society...

New Book and Journal Publications

Congratulations to ARI and faculty members who have recently published their books and articles in reputable journals. This semester alone we have more than ten new books and more than twenty articles published in journals. For the first time in history, two of ARI's research associates: PM Dr Norzaidi and Ms Intan Salwani were able to publish their articles in ISI journals. Congratulations. Three research monographs have also been sent to the Prime Minister Exchange Fellowship Programme. I am so proud of all of you...

RU Data in PRISMa

I appeal to all faculty and ARI members to update their research and publication output into PRISMa. The RU Committee is given until 31 July 2009, after which we will need to finalise the RU form. After that date, the RU data for all faculties (we will be using faculties as the responsibility centre) will be computed and compared. Certainly we want to be leaders and not laggers. So please submit your respective information. If you have questions, please ask PM Dr Zuraidah, PM Dr Roshayani or Ms Wan Mariati at ARI. Together, we can do it....

The CSR Professor...

Prof Dr Mustafa Mohd Zain will be delivering his professorial lecture on the 14th of July 2009. ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy will be hosting the event. We are expecting more than 300 guests for the event. Prof Dr Mustafa is always passionate when discussion issues related to corporate social responsibility. The committee members are very busy this week to finalize their preparation for the occasions. All ARI and faculty members are invited to attend. The lecture will take place at the Annex Hall at 9.00 am.

CIMA World Conference

The CIMA World Conference 2009 will be held on 13-14 July 2009. The event's venue is KLCC. As ARI Director, I have received an invitation from CIMA to participate in the two-day conference. Many international speakers will be sharing their thoughts and experiences. ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy will be sending seven lecturers and researchers to attend the seminar. It is a great place to enhance networking between academia and the practitioners....

VC Video Shooting.

In view of the forthcoming MOU signing ceremony between UiTM and the Accountants General Office to be held in Kelantan later this month, a group of officers from the AG Dept came to UiTM today to conduct an interview and a photo shoot of our Vice Chancellor. ARI and the Faculty of Accountancy was each represented by AP Dr Nafsiah and Prof Dr Ibrahim respectively. After the RU meeting, I had the opportunity to discuss with the video shooting team on the video contents. The AG Department will be engaging UiTM team through the Public Sector Accounting Research Centre to conduct several research topics. They will also be involved with some staff training programs...

Suggested Applied Research Topics.....

I wish to suggest some applied research topics in accounting that the masters students and other interested ARI members can undertake this semester. Please find enclosed a newly purchased journal by Emerald Publishing Group and samples of topics in the journal's "call for paper": Impact of new financial reporting standards or legislation on a company; Critical discussions of cases of corporate failure or financial systems; New solutions to or new ways of thinking about established accounting problems or newly identified accounting-related problems.

More on Applied Research...

The basic question one often ask is what is applied research?. The basic definition for applied research is "any fact gathering project that is conducted with an eye to acquiring and applying knowledge that will address a specific problem or meet a specific need within the scope of the entity". Applied research is designed to solve practical problems of the modern world, rather than to aqcquire knowledge for knowledge's sake. The key thing to remember about applied research is the fact that "applied research tries to solve a particular problem".

New Approach to Applied Research

Effective this semester (July 2009), our part-time master students will have an option of taking an applied research course. The applied research course will be a guided one. A lecturer is assigned to guide the students throughout the 10-week duration. There will be at least four related presentations before the students are allowed to submit their report. The four presentations focus on (i) Identification of research issue (ii) Variable(s) identification and methodology (iii) Data analysis of research findings and (iv) Report writing. We hope to reduce the number of non-completion amongst the master students.

Sustainability Reporting Seminar-Workshop

The National Sustainability Seminar/Workshop was held today. The event which was jointly organised by the ACCA-Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainability Reporting (APCeS). It was a good mix of academia and practioners. The keynote speaker was the renowned Prof Roger Burritt from the University of South Australia. There were also several forums and plenary sessions to discuss relevant issues on sustainability reporting in Malaysia and globally. I also moderated a plenary session where Prof Dr Mustafa deliberated a paper titled "Sustainability Reporting and Its Competitive Advantage" and Tengku Marina from Nestle Berhad shared her corporate experience in bringing Nestle to winning the ACCA Mesra award in 2007.

Welcome Prof Roger Burrit

ARI welcomes our guest all the way from Australia, Prof Roger Burrit. He is an expert and author of numerous journal papers related to sustainability and corporate social reporting. Basically he is here to participate in the forthcoming workshop on sustainability where he will be the keynote speaker. Perhaps there's a lot of potential for ARI to collaborate with his CAGS research group in UNISA.

UiTM Knowledge Portal?

In our effort to streamline our data management for RU, I visited the PTAR library IT department yesterday. I wanted to explore the library's data collection and data management system. To say the least, I was actually very impressed. The "mom meta-data" and "Imprint" facilities are indeed very good. Both system can facilitate and enhance citation of our publication as it is already registed with the global open access system. As a result, the RU committee data management working committee that met today decided to utilise the system and to integrate it with Prisma...