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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE OF THE STUDY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The background to the present study together with the research objectives and issues, the methodology

and methods used and an outline of the thesis are presented in this chapter. In the next three sections

(1.1,1.2 and 1.3) the context of the study, the problem giving rise to the study and imperatives which drive

the study are presented respectively. This is followed in section 1.4 by a discussion of the specific research

aims and objectives of the study, which is to inquire into the need for an alternative “Islamic accounting”

given the problems that conventional Anglo-American Accounting poses for Islamic organisations and

users. Section 1.5 outlines the research methodology and methods followed in this study while the

contribution the study makes to the Islamic accounting literature are stated in section 1.6. This chapter ends

with section 1.7 where a flowchart and a brief outline of each chapter of the thesis are presented.

1.1 THE CONTEXT: CONVENTIONAL ACCOUNTING AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO


SOCIETY

Behind the facade of accounting as a purely technical subject, lies a reality in which accounting and society
are intertwined in a complex relationship (Burchell et al., 1980). Accounting creates social reality (Hines,

1988) and in itself is influenced and moulded by society (or the dominating forces within it). This is not

readily apparent to users, even accountants, who unfailingly advocate its technical neutrality. Until recently,
this was echoed even in academic circles which tends to be dominated by a positivist epistemology in

mainstream accounting research especially in the USA (Baker & Beltner, 1997). Within this approach,

accounting is studied for its causal relationships; what is instead of what ought to be and for the

purposes of predicting and projecting profitability and cash flows (Watts & Zimmerman, 1986). This has

given rise to a whole discipline of finance and financial markets and fund management, which has become

basically a speculative activity- a popular post-modern game in hyper-reality (McGoun, 1997).


This positivist tendency of accounting to be used for justifying speculative financial activity (for example, in

the case of the mergers, acquisitions and privatisations (Briloff, 1990; Arnold & Cooper, 1999) has serious

consequences for any society, Islamic or otherwise. Academic circles in the West have realised this
tendency and its dire consequences for society. Hence, a discourse on the critique of conventional Anglo-

American accounting has developed which takes a more comprehensive view of accounting in relation to

its role in society. Various accounting journals sprang up in the late 1970’s and 1980’s such as Accounting,
Organizations and Society, Advances in Public Interest Accounting, Critical Perspectives on Accounting

and the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal which provided a broader gateway for alternative

types of accounting research.

1.2 THE PROBLEM: THE GLOBALISATION OF ANGLO-AMERICAN ACCOUNTING IN

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DIVERSE CULTURES AND ENVIRONMENTS

There is also debate in academia about whether “Western” Anglo-American accounting (from here on

referred to as conventional accounting) is the appropriate system to be accepted without question by all

other cultures and people of the world (Wallace 1990a). Initial research (e.g. Hove, 1986) has indicated that
it is not, although the extent to which western accounting is relevant or otherwise is a matter of debate

(Baydoun & Willet, 1995). A whole journal dedicated to this area of research (Research in Third World

Accounting) has sprung up and the debate is alive and well. Research so far has indicated that there is a

relationship between accounting and culture (Gray, 1988; AlHashim & Arpan, 1992; Perera, 1989) and one

system cannot be transplanted into another cultural environment to take root without causing dysfunctional

effects on the host culture and society.

Despite this however, in recent years, there have been pressures on developing countries with different

cultures, religions, social, business and political environments to adopt the conventional accounting

principles and standards. Consequently, their underlying philosophy is adopted without any or negligible

modification in the name of globalisation. These ‘pressures’ have been in the guise of; (i) Harmonisation of

international accounting standards by the IASC (Taylor, 1987;Wallace, 1990b), (ii) the operations of

multinational audit firms and their clients the multinational corporations, and (iii) the professional education

imparted through the examination and qualification exporting accounting bodies of the UK e.g. CIMA

(Briston & Kedslie, 1997).

However, the spread of “Western” consumerism (Ahmed, 1992) and capitalism over the globe is not

without its opponents. The resurgence of religion especially Islam in the Muslim countries, questions the

socio-economic values of Western capitalism and attempts to introduce its own socio-economic system in

line with its own worldview. The researcher considers that the Islamic economic system may need an
alternative “Islamic accounting” System that would provide appropriate information which hopefully would

induce user behaviour consistent with the Islamic worldview. This research project hopes to make an initial

contribution in this area. The Islamic reaction against the attack on its values in the name of globalisation is

the imperative to this research project and is outlined in the following section.

1.3 THE IMPERATIVE FOR THE RESEARCH: RESURGENCE OF ISLAM AND


ISLAMISATION OF KNOWLEDGE

Islam is the second largest and fastest growing religion in the world. It is not only a ritualistic religion
confined to the individual but an integrated way of life combining politics, economics, culture, religion and

every aspect of human life. From its very beginnings, it was an integrated way of life combining the secular

and the sacred, mosque and the state, political and social life. Thus, Noreng (1997), for example, terms it
as both a “political and social project “ since its inception. This is unlike the understanding of religion in the

modern secular West where religion is separated from the state.

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In this study, Islam is used in the sense of a civilisation driven by Islam- the religion and code of life, law,

ethics, government, economics and society. The word “Islamic” is used to denote Muslim society, which

lives according to Islamic principles in all areas of life. The word ‘Muslim’ on the other hand is used to

describe the actual situation of Muslim countries where Muslims have political power but have not

implemented Islam in their political, social or economic life although they may be at various stages of this

process. This civilisational view of Islam is not entirely novel or an entirely ‘Islamic’ perspective but is

recognised by writers in the West, for example, Hunttington (1996) who portrays Islam in this context.
Further, the Economist (1998) included ‘Islam’ as a potential candidate for ‘super power’ status in the 21st

Century although arguing that it is very improbable given the disunity amongst its ranks and its lack of

long-range military power. Further, Talbott (1998), in commenting on the ambiguous response of the EC on

Turkey’s admission to the European Union, admitted that European opposition to its joining was because

of its ‘Islamic’ credentials and that this should not be the case:
“The debate within the EU over Turkey resonates with references to “culture” and “civilisation”.
These words are often euphemisms for religion [emphasis mine]. The theory is currently in vogue
that the cold war rivalry between communism and capitalism has given way to a global “clash of
civilizations” including one between the Judeo-Christian West and the Islamic world. That idea is
pernicious. If the “Europeanness” of a village depends on whether its landmarks are church spires
or minarets, then the peace of the Continent will be in recurring jeopardy of the kind we have seen
in Bosnia over the past several years and in Kosovo over the past several
months”. (Talbott, 1998)

Although the Muslim countries are not united politically and Muslim countries for the most part are secular

according to their constitutions this is due to a number of historical factors including colonialism’s divide

and rule policy. There is a global resurgence of Islamic fervour at both local and international levels and the

aspect which most concerns this study is the aspiration of the Muslims to order their political, social and

economic life in accordance with Islamic teachings.

Towards this end, in the socio-economic sphere, there has been a paradigm shift from conventional

utilitarian economics to Islamic Economics (Presley & Sessions, 1994). In Islamic economics, the rational

economic man’s utility maximising behaviour is replaced by the ‘homo-economicus-Islamicus’ (Al-Zarqa,

1980) whose consumer behaviour is limited by a ‘moral filter’ and a redefined self interest extending to the

hereafter (Chapra, 1992).

To attain this “Islamic Economic System”, Islamic political and economic organisations have been set up at

the international, regional and local levels. International politico-economic organisations include the

Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) grouping 52 Muslim countries, Economic Co-operation

Organisation (ECO) grouping Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and the Central Asian States, the newly formed D8

(group of developing eight Muslim countries) and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) which groups six

Muslim gulf countries. These organisations have economic, scientific, trade and cultural sub-committees.

More important from an accounting point of view is the setting up of local and regional Islamic banks,

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insurance companies, investment companies, Muslim treasuries (baitul mal) and endowments (al-awqaf)

established to operate under Islamic Shari’ah (Islamic law) and to achieve Islamic objectives. These
organisations are for the most part using conventional accounting principles, which may not be appropriate

to the achievement of their mission.

In addition there is a movement towards Islamisation of knowledge and disciplines (Abu Sulayman, 1989)

which basically is an attempt to critically re-examine secular ‘western’ knowledge and to recast them with the

values, norms and assumptions of Islam.

This movement asserts that there is a ‘crisis in the Muslim mind’ which has caused the stagnation of

knowledge and progress in the Muslim world. They assert that the way to correct the problem is to

reinterpret conventional western secular knowledge into the Islamic mould and to reintegrate human

knowledge derived from the senses and reason with revelation, the knowledge given by God through

scriptures and the Prophets; in other words, a whole new epistemology. The apparent problem with Islamic

law is that it is based on eternal principles in the Qur’an (which is the Word of God according to Muslims)

[1]
and the Sunnah (the sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh ) and the interpretation of

religious scholars over the past 1420 years. The Qur’an and the Sunnah cannot be changed. They can only

be reinterpreted within strict limits in line with the requirements of time and space.

Unfortunately for the Muslim world, the process of development of Islamic law stagnated around 700 years
ago and the colonisation of the Muslim world leading to the separation of politics from Islam further

confounded this problem. Since the law of the land was separated from Islam, Muslim scholars became

completely out of touch with the realities of modern society and state and many of the derived laws for a
bygone age became obsolete. After independence, not only was there an absence of law to meet the

requirements of modern society, the colonial masters had moulded their successors in the developing world

with their own philosophies and left them with a legacy of knowledge, institutions and civilisation, divorced

from the Islamic past. The Muslim not only had problems of reinterpreting laws to meet their current needs,

there were left with an alien epistemology that alienated their thinking from their religion and forced them to

lead a double life in their personal and societal roles.

With the Islamisation of knowledge, Muslim scholars hope to go back to their divine sources to extract

principles which together with the aid of reason and empirical positive facts of current circumstances and

place, develop new and relevant knowledge and laws in order for Islamic society to achieve its objectives.
As part of this process, the various “modern” disciplines need to be reconstructed on the edifice of Islam.

This research attempts to make a beginning in the Islamisation of Accounting.

1.4 THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

This research is an initial exploratory attempt towards establishing the need for an alternative ‘Islamic

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accounting’ from a critical re-examination of the principles, norms, objectives and normative values which

underlie conventional Anglo-American accounting and the unIslamic consequences it engenders among

Islamic and Muslim organisations and Muslim users.

The underlying philosophical values of secular “Western” Anglo-American society are reflected in its

accounting practices and principles. It is created by a capitalistic social reality with extreme concentration of

power, inequalities in income and wealth, social and economic instability, and environmental destruction.

These are not the objectives of any civilised society let alone an Islamic one. Changes to conventional
accounting have been suggested from various perspectives: e.g. social and environmental (Gray et al.,

1996), feminist (Reiter, 1997), deep green (Cooper, 1992) and Marxist (Cooper & Hopper, 1990).

However, they do not take the spiritual element seriously as does Islam and therefore cannot be used as a

tool to achieve the objectives of an Islamic society.

Further, there are currently 192 Islamic banks and financial institutions in the Muslim world and other

countries (Timewell, 1998). These institutions are springing up even in Western countries where
Multinationals such as Chase Manhattan and Australian New Zealand (ANZ) banks establish special Islamic

counters or branches to serve the niche market (or capture the significant Muslim funds). Islamic insurance

companies (known as takaful) are also operating together with relief organisations (e.g. Islamic Relief,

Muslim Aid and Human Relief Foundation in the UK). Zakat agencies have been set up to collect and

distribute Zakat, a religious wealth/income tax. There are Islamic universities, pilgrim fund management

boards, Islamic hospitals, and Islamic foundations.

In addition business corporations are being set up following the Islamic model in Muslim countries such as

Egypt (El-Ashker, 1987). Most of them use conventional accounting, which may not be suitable to the

development of an Islamic economic/social environment and the achievement of their Islamic mission for

which they have been set up. This is despite the fact that a regulatory agency, the Accounting and Auditing

Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions has been created which has issued certain Accounting

Standards for Islamic banks (Pomeranz, 1997; Karim, 1999).

Besides arguing for the need for an Islamic accounting, this research attempts to explore and develop the

objectives and characteristics, from an Islamic perspective, of an accounting, which will serve the purposes,

and objectives of Islamic society. The researcher suggests that the worldview, principles, objectives and

values of Islam are different from secular Western society. As such, the particular obligations and

prohibitions in the economic and social arena under the Islamic Shari’ah (Islamic Law) require a different

accounting framework and different accounting concepts, rules, principles and guidelines to achieve the

objectives of an Islamic society. The researcher suggests therefore that conventional accounting may be

inappropriate tool for the task. Further the establishment of Islamic organisations within Muslim societies

requires an immediate practical as opposed to only a theoretical need for an alternative Islamic accounting.

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There is a danger that the continued use of conventional accounting without at least a major modification

may result in a deviation if not a frustration of the objectives and mission for which the organisations were

established. This alternative accounting which would be in line with the mission of Islamic organisations and

the world-view of Muslim users is termed “Islamic accounting” by the researcher.

Further, since one cannot find the objectives and rules of Islamic accounting in detail in the Qur’an, the

researcher aims to follow the methodology of Islamic jurisprudence of ‘Ijma (consensus) of scholars and

experts in the area. The second part of the study will therefore seek to find the consensus of Muslim

Accountants and Accounting academics in Malaysia by surveying their perceptions on conventional

accounting and on the objectives and characteristics of Islamic accounting which have been derived in the

earlier part of the study.

One of the assumptions of the researcher in this project is that the need for Islamic accounting is partly

based on the assumption that conventional accounting is not suitable for Muslim organisations and users.

The researcher believes that conventional accounting leads to unIslamic Financing, Investment and

Operating behaviour among Muslim users. Further, certain aspects of accounting lead to behavioural
problems from an Islamic moral/ethical perspective. The third part of this research aims to elicit information

on the validity of this assumption.

In short the objectives of this research can be divided into three main parts:

· To argue the need for and to enquire into the objectives and characteristics of an “Islamic accounting”
derived from Islamic values and an Islamic worldview which is more appropriate to an Islamic society;

· To explore the consensus or otherwise of Muslim accountants and academics on the objectives and

characteristics of Islamic accounting; and

· To ascertain the extent to which conventional accounting is unsuitable for Muslims and Islamic

organisations by obtaining information regarding its behavioural effects.

1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND METHODS

According to perceived wisdom (see for example, Burrell & Morgan, 1979), an exploratory study of this

nature should use either a grounded theory (code analysis) or case study (critical analysis) or a historical

structural analysis approach to explain, diagnose and understand the issues under study. Gioia & Pitre

(1990), however, argue for a multi-paradigm approach to theory building, which has been adopted due to

the nature of the study and the limitations of practicality. Hence interpretive, critical, structural (in terms of

probing historical evidence) and functionalist approaches (in terms of testing hypothesis) have been

employed in this study.

A normative/deductive methodology is used in this research to argue the case against the adoption of

conventional accounting by Islamic organisations and societies and to deduce the outlines of an “Islamic

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accounting theory”. Specifically, disclosure of the distortions caused by the social construction of an

UnIslamic reality by conventional accounting is critically analysed to describe and critique in the hope of

change through revising consciousness of users.

In contrast to the proposed emancipatory accounting (e.g. Tinker, 1985) which stops short of prescribing

changes, an initial attempt is made to propose an alternative Islamic accounting system in terms of its

objectives and characteristics in line with Islamic values. Here, the researcher will attempt to deduce the

characteristics of Islamic accounting from general principles and values from the Islamic worldview.
Finally a nomothetic method (which is usually reflective of a positivist methodology) is followed using

survey techniques and basic statistical analysis to test certain hypotheses to study the consensus on

objectives and characteristics of Islamic accounting. Although this may seen to be inconsistent with a

normative-deductive and ‘critical’ methodology employed in the first part of the research, the researcher

justifies this in terms of the objective of the second part of the research. This is to elicit evidence on

consensus of the respondents on Islamic accounting, as well as to gauge the extent of unIslamic behaviour
of users caused by conventional accounting, both of which are positive (what is?) issues.

The methods used in the various stages of this research are:

(a) Review the literature on criticisms of conventional accounting and examine and extend them from an

Islamic perspective. Also the literature on Islamic worldview, Islamisation of knowledge and the Islamic
economic system will be reviewed and contrasted with the values inherent in the capitalist economic

system of the West, to argue the need for an alternative Islamic accounting.

(b) Deduce the objectives and characteristics of an alternative “Islamic accounting” from the worldview,
objectives, values and economic norms of the Islam and the Islamic economic system.

(c) Test the perception and consensus or otherwise of Malaysian Muslim accounting academics and

professional accountants on the characteristics of Islamic accounting using postal questionnaires.

(d) Undertake two further surveys of finance managers and organisational employees in other functions in

various organisations to find out the extent to which, if any, conventional accounting practices within

organisations result in unIslamic behaviour.

1.6 ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY.

To the knowledge of the researcher, this is the first study of “Islamic accounting" of its kind both in terms of

theoretical enquiry and empirical investigation. The word “Islamic accounting” has been in the literature

since the late 1980’s (e.g. Hayashi, 1989; Choi & Mueller, 1992). There has been great expectations

regarding its development. Hayashi (1989) for example, studied the implication of Islamic accounting for

Western Accounting while Choi & Mueller (1992) gave “glad tidings” of Islamic accounting in the following

words:
“There is every reason to believe that in due course something labelled “Islamic accounting” will
be identified and propagated (p57)......An Islamic perspective is beginning to assert itself upon the

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international accounting scene. Its beginnings are modest, but its fervour adamant. We believe that
the Middle-East region will continue to make accounting news as the twenty-first century breaks”.
(Choi & Mueller, 1992, p57 and 65)

There have been some recent attempts to develop Shari’ate Accounting (Triyuwon & Gaffikin, 1996) and

Islamic corporate reports (Baydoun & Willet, 1998). The paper by Triyuwon & Gaffikin (1996) argues from

a critical perspective using the language of philosophy. Baydoun & Willet (1998) argue for an Islamic Value

Added corporate report, cash flow statement and current value Balance Sheets. However, in the

researcher’s opinion, Baydoun & Willet’s (1998) theoretical arguments are rather brief.

Despite these important contributions, however, instead of exploring the theory first, most research has
jumped into the practice bandwagon by exploring the accounting implication of Islamic banking (e.g. Karim,

1995 and 1998a). Perhaps this is to be expected as conventional accounting represents itself as objective

and neutral and “misleads” its acquaintances into thinking that it can be modified for new areas such as

Islamic banking without recourse to a fundamental re-examination of its principles. This research initiates a

contribution to basic theory or conceptual framework to this area with its enquiry into to the objectives and

characteristics of Islamic accounting (Chapter 6).


There is also no study attempting to compare conventional accounting to the proposed Islamic one. In

particular, there is no exposition of the fundamental philosophical tenets of conventional accounting in the

mould undertaken, for example, by Gray et al. (1996) in their call for social accounting or that undertaken by
Tinker (1985) in his bid for an “emancipatory accounting”. There is also no examination of these

expositions from the Islamic perspective. This research (see Chapter 3) tries to fill this gap at least partially

and contributes to the critical and social accounting literature by adding the “confounding” element of Islam
(Hamid et al., 1993) to the debate.

Further, not many seem to have answered the call of the proponents of the Islamisation of Knowledge (see

Chapter 4) in the discipline of accounting compared to the discipline of Islamic Economics (see for

example, Haneef, 1995). The analysis of the Islamisation methodologies (Chapter 4) and its partial

adoption in this project contributes to academic support for Islamisation of disciplines as a whole and for

accounting in particular. It is hoped that this thesis will make Islamisation of knowledge a more concrete and

practical idea.

To the author’s knowledge, this research is also the first to contribute empirical survey results on the

[2]
objectives and characteristics of Islamic accounting (Chapters 8 and 9). The results show strong support

among Malaysian Muslim Accountants and Accounting Academics for the replacement of the decision-

usefulness framework of conventional accounting with an “Islamic Accountability” framework of Islamic


accounting. Further, stakeholders other than shareholders and creditors (who are the focus of conventional

accounting) are considered at least as important as users of Islamic accounting information. The

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respondents also view the integrated disclosure of Islamic, social and environmental information as the

hallmark of Islamic accounting.

There is also a lack of research on whether conventional accounting causes unIslamic behaviour by Islamic

organisations and Muslim users. This research argues that negative behavioural consequences for internal

users may make conventional accounting unsuitable to a Muslim society, to Muslim users and to Muslim

organisations. The current research contributes to the literature through a survey to gain insight into this

area (Chapter 10). Although the results do not conclusively substantiate the validity of the researcher’s
arguments in practice, the evidence presented has raised some doubts. This at least calls for further

research in the area.

The nature of the research project (time and cost constraints) restricted the scope of the study from

including a more extensive survey. Future research could extend the survey to other employees in various

organisations in Malaysia, accountants and accounting academics in other Muslim countries and a Delphi

method of brainstorming Islamic scholars on the subject could be undertaken to make the subject credible
under Islamic law.

To gain further insight into the behavioural consequences of conventional accounting in Islamic

organisations and among Muslim employees, case study research extending over a period of time is
necessary. This research has been limited by the lack of access to Islamic and Muslim organisations for in

depth case studies. Future research could overcome these problems and gain a deeper insight into the

behavioural implications of conventional accounting on Muslims.


The next section presents the outline of the thesis through which these contributions came about.

1.7 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS

Figure 1-1 on the next page, shows the structure of the thesis. A synopsis of the study follows:
This chapter has provided the background to the problem, outlined the research aims and objectives,

described the research methodology and methods used and highlighted the original contribution this study

has made to the Islamic accounting literature.

In chapter 2, the relationship of conventional Anglo-American accounting and the worldview and values of

“Western” society are reviewed. It is argued that Accounting being a social institution (Roslender, 1992) is

not value free and objective. Conventional accounting in particular has imbedded values of the capitalist
economic system, which in turn reflect the values developed from the historical experience of Europe

including its enlightenment and modernist phases of development. The Western values of democracy,

secularism, individualism, utilitarianism and consumerism are analysed as the underlying assumptions and

rationale under which accounting works. The implications of this for the economic objectives, norms and

behaviour are traced out and its implication for accounting as an information provision system delineated.

The worldview and values of Islam is then presented and shown to lead to an ethical Islamic economic

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system. These are then contrasted with the Western worldview and values and the capitalist economic

system and are shown to be different from the Islamic worldview, values and economic system. Thus, the

requirement for an alternative Islamic accounting system is posited.

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FIGURE 1-1:STRUCTURE OF THESIS

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In chapter 3, a critique of conventional accounting is undertaken in terms of its objectives, characteristics

and consequences. Taking the cue from social, environmental and critical accounting literature, it is argued

that the objectives, characteristics, consequences and the environment under which conventional

accounting operates (the push factors) are totally unsuited to accounting for transactions in an Islamic

society. In particular, the existing social and critical literature on accounting is examined from an Islamic

perspective to argue the need for an Islamic accounting system.

In chapter 4, the first category of “pull factors” which make Islamic accounting necessary - the Islamisation

of knowledge, is defined, discussed and categorised. The debate on the Islamisation of knowledge is

extended by its discussion in the context of the general epistemology and methodology of research in

general, and the Burrell & Morgan (1979) framework in particular. The implications of the various

methodologies of Islamisation for the Islamisation of accounting and for this research project are explored
and the methodology for this study adopted.

In chapter 5, the second category of “pull factors”, the establishment of various Islamic organisations with

their own Islamic objectives and legal framework, is outlined. In particular, the operations and financing
techniques of Islamic banks and financial institutions are used to show the relevance and importance of an

alternate “Islamic accounting” systems for these institutions.

In chapter 6, the objectives and characteristics of Islamic accounting are developed from the Islamic
worldview and a perusal of the literature in Islamic accounting. An “Islamic accountability model” is posited

as the framework and objective of Islamic accounting in contrast to the decision-usefulness of conventional

accounting. Some problems of recognition, measurement, valuation and disclosure principles of

conventional accounting are discussed and Islamic alternatives proposed.

In chapter 7, the research design, data collection methods in general and a justification for the survey

method adopted in this research are presented. The design and structure of the research instruments
(questionnaires) are discussed. This is followed by a discussion on the population and sample

characteristics. The procedure followed for data collection, including problems encountered during the

empirical part of the research, is outlined.


In chapter 8, the responses to an “Islamic accounting questionnaire” sent to professional accountants and

academics in Malaysia are analysed and the findings presented. The results indicate strong support for

Islamic accounting.
In chapter 9, several hypotheses regarding Islamic accounting are tested on the data from the Islamic

accounting questionnaire. The results of the statistical analyses conducted on the data support the

hypotheses of the researcher except those regarding certain conventional accounting principles.
In chapter 10, the results of the questionnaires on behavioural consequences of conventional accounting

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are presented. The results are mixed although there is some evidence to suggest that conventional

accounting does cause some unIslamic behaviour although its undesirable effects seem to be less

prominent in Islamic business organisations.

The research is summarised in chapter 11 where conclusions are drawn as to the implications of the

findings and the direction of future research is suggested. The researcher concludes with the original

contributions to knowledge of this research.

[1]
Peace be upon him , a mark of respect and salutation a Muslim is required to say and write whenever the name of any Prophet (e.g.
Muhammad, Jesus, Moses etc.) are mentioned. The researcher as a believer wishes to follow this tradition in this research.
[2]
Abdul Rahim & Goddard 1998 have undertaken a grounded theory based interpretative enquiry into the accounting practices in Islamic
non-profit organisations using two case studies.

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