Hisham Yaacob

Accountability in the sacred context: The case of management, accounting and reporting of a Malaysian cash awqaf institution

Purpose – The concept of accountability has long been argued in the academic and public policy debate to have been contextually ingrained in the technical processes of accounting and reporting. Both processes provide lenses through which the extent of managerial accountability in the corporate context could be objectively examined. The sacred religion of Islam as a social order with a complete code of life classifies accountability as being dual; in line with the duality concept in life – in this temporal world and eternal hereafter, necessitating for accountability concept in accounting and reporting from the Islamic worldview to transcend beyond the point of worldly objectives. Parallel to this line of reasoning, the purpose of this paper is to undertake a preliminary empirical investigation with respect to accounting, reporting and accountability practices of a Malaysian cash awqaf (Islamic endowment) management institution over a six‐year period, from 2000 to 2005.Design/methodology/approach – The pap...

Issues and Challenges of Shari’ah Audit in Islamic Financial Institutions: A Contemporary View

The Islamic Banking and Finance is said to be the alternative to the conventional finance and banking system. Although it has been around for slightly more than forty years, the tremendous growth in Islamic Finance has seen the assets under management by the Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) have exceeded one trillion US Dollars. Inevitably, a proper system of audit is envisaged for the IFIs to continue growing and providing assurance that they are strictly following the shari’ah in all aspect (of their products, rules and procedures and contracts). Hence, failure to give reasonable assurance will dampen the objectives of the IFIs and the achievement of maqasid al shari’ah. This paper is trying to provide a contemporary view on the issues and challenges of shari’ah audit in IFIs. It looks at the actors in Islamic finance especially the shari’ah auditors, the regulators and standard setters and the Shari’ah Supervisory Board (SSB). Furthermore, the paper highlighted four of the pressing issues and challenges as discussed in extant literature on auditing in IFIs. This paper is trying to promote the institutions of Hisbah as one the possible solutions to the issues of shari’ah auditor’s independence and accountability. This paper also touches on the issue of lack of competency among the shari’ah auditors. This paper concludes that the IFIs are in dire needs of independent and accountable shari’ah auditors with high level of competency. History tells us that the institution of Hisbah has played a major role in ensuring the market comply to the shari’ah requirements and it is possible to revive this institution and improvised on its structure and mechanism not just to give reasonable assurance but to be very sure that the IFIs are shari’ah based.

Accountability through accounting and reporting lenses: Lessons from an awqaf institution in a Southeast Asia country

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to review, understand and document the contemporary Design/methodology/approach - – Consistent with the established research objectives, this study adopts the qualitative research approach of a single case study research involving semi-structured interviews and archival documentation review and analyses. Sample is chosen using purposive sampling to suit the research objectives. Findings - – The paper finds that Research limitations/implications - – The sample is an Islamic organization in a non-Islamic country; therefore, the results are unique and may not be generalised to organizations in Islamic nations, as it will be a different setting with different variables. Secondly, the paper only focuses on Practical implications - – This paper is important as it shows that the management and administration of Originality/value - – Focusing on a single