ARI Tax Kiosk - A CSR Project

Every year the Accounting Research Institute organizes free consultancy service to the university.
Fondly known as ARI Tax Kiosk, researchers from the Taxation Special Interest Group get together to offer their advices. This year, the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) sends its officers to facilitate. Today is the second day of a two-day event. Though the deadline for income tax submission is just around the corner, we receive a lot of guests who happily participated in our event. Thanks all for your continuous support

Dr Philip Sinnadurai

ARI welcomes Dr Philip Sinnadurai, a lecturer from the Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, Australia, who is on a two-week academic visit at the Faculty of Accountancy and Accounting Research Institute (ARI). Dr Philip works closely with several academic members of the faculty and ARI. One of the main objectives of his visit is to complete an ongoing research project, which he collaborated with Associate Prof Dr Norashikin Ismail (ARI Associate member). Whilst here, Dr Philip help facilitates several young researchers and graduate students with their data analysis. As a director of ARI, my greatest appreciation goes to you Dr Philip Sinnadurai.

MyRA Meeting

As a Director of ARI, I have been appointed as one of the panel members to continuously evaluate MyRA, the instrument used to evaluate the research capabilities of public and private universities in Malaysia. Premised on eight dimensions, MyRA is used by universities to self-assess their own research strength. As one of the panel members appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education, the committee recently met to evaluate comments, feedback and suggestions made by universities and researchers. The panels comprised of both professors who were (i) part of the original committee formed when the research university initiativees were launched in 2006 and (ii) newly appointed members who are knowledable and familiar with the MyRA instrument

Young Researcher Scheme Program at ARI

Young researchers under the Young Researcher Scheme (YRS) will commence their graduate program at ARI in the forthcoming semester. The YRS program is especially created by the university to support its research agenda for selected centres of excellence in UiTM. As a HICoE, ARI has been allocated five YRS positions (Thank You) in the areas of Islamic Accounting & Muamalat and Financial Criminology. The candidates will be pursuing their graduate research programs (Master/PhD) at the Accounting Research Institute

Research in AML/CFT

The following write ups were excerpts from the Accountants Today (August 2008)- a professional journal of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). It is an important reminder for all accounting professionals.

Following the September 11 tragedy in the USA in 2001, a new law known as the Anti Money Laundering and Anti Terrorism Financing Act (AMLATFA 2001) was introduced in Malaysia. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)research highlighted a trend in the use of complex commercial arrangements by money launderers and terrorism financiers to hide their money trail. These arrangements often use the services of professionals such as lawyers, accountants and company secretaries. Arising from this trend, the FATF standards require countries to improve their Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)on Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) Sector. In Malaysia, the DNFBPs include casinos,real estate agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, lawyers, companies secretaries, accountants and other independent legal professions. All have been made reporting institutions. Reporting institutions shall report to the Financial Intelligent Unit (FIU) in Bank Negara, any transactions where the identity of the persons involved, the transaction itself or any other circumstances concerning that transactions give any officer or employee of that reporting institutions, reasons to suspect that the transactions involve proceeds of an unlawful activity. Research in this are is still limited and ARI is in the best position to lead research in this AML/CFT sector....

PECIPTA 2011

The second PECIPTA meeting was held today. Chaired by Prof Dr Azni Zain Ahmed, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic & Internationalization), it was a full attendance by all committee members. The committee essentially decides and makes a proposal on assessment criteria for different categories of participation to the organising committee. Another national level meeting, attended by representatives from other Malaysian universities will be held to discuss our proposal. A new category, the Young Inventors Award particularly focuses on secondary school participants who will be competing and showcasing their new inventions and innovations. PECIPTA 2011 ensures originality of ideas by making sure that all competing products obtain their copyright certificates. There will also be a business matching session at PECIPTA 2011.

Master by Research at ARI

The Accounting Research Institute (ARI) is offering Master of Accountancy program in specialized areas of (i) Forensic Accounting & Financial Criminology and (ii)Islamic Accounting & Muamalat. This specialized Master by research is a two year program, but students with good research projects may apply to "transfer" and convert to a higher PhD program. Possible topics in Financial Criminology may include among others:(i) Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) Initiatives by Banks; (ii) Development of Typologies and Indicators for ML/TF in Financial Institutions; (iii) New Methodologies in Detecting Financial and Economic Crime; (iv) Pinancial Fraud Prevention Mechanism; (v) Fraud Risk Indicators and many others.
Meanwhile, some researchable topics in Islamic Accounting & Muamalat may include:
(i) Islamic Microfinancing - A Supply Chain Perspectives; (ii) Shariah Audit and Islamic Accounting Framework; (iii) Sukuk; (iv) Islamic Capital Market and others.

ARI wishes to invite qualified and interested candidates to apply. Financial assistance in the form of Graduate Research Assistanship is available. For others who are keen to be an academic researcher at ARI, we are also offering the Young Researcher Scheme (YRS)option.