Journal Article

The aim of this paper is to investigate the differences between the contemporary Shariah governance frameworks of Malaysia and Pakistan. The study also examines the ways in which the Shariah governance frameworks of both countries can complement each other. This research concludes that the SGF principles of both countries under discussion abide by the AAOIFI and IFSB guidelines regarding SGF. Many aspects of the SGF of Malaysia are similar to the SGF of Pakistan. For example, both structures need to further develop the ethical aspect. While the similarities are plentiful, a few differences can be found between the two as well. This research provides insights to policy makers, regulators, and practitioners on approaches in governance policy and an assessment of the governance scope adopted by Malaysia and Pakistan via their respective SGFs. The SGFs have also been assessed for their conformance to international standards, including the AAOIFI and the IFSB.

This paper aims to present comparison of conceptual framework published by the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) (fully converged with the standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). As the Islamic finance industry evolved, some scholars proposed that the Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) should have different accounting standards to serve their need to report the unique financial information needs. The research is motivated by the introduction of accounting standards by the AAOIFI to fulfill the financial reporting needs of Islamic finance industry that offered Shariah complied products and services. AAOIFI divided the objective of financial reporting into two parts, namely, objective of financial accounting and objective of financial reports. However, only a limited number of countries adapted the AAOIFI accounting standards as mandatory for their IFIs. The other 120 countries apply standards issued by IASB for their IFIs. For MASB, the objective of financial reporting is to generate useful financial information for creditors and investors. An analysis of the accounting principles outlined in the conceptual framework of the MASB shows substantial replication of the AAOIFI's conceptual framework. In the Malaysian Islamic finance industry perspective, though the regulator requires the IFIs to apply the IFRS, yet it issued relevant regulations as a guide for IFIs financial reporting and to close the gap.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the accounting treatment and reporting of a murabaha contract and its implication to the financial statements of Islamic banks. In addition, the paper also explains the implication of time value of money on the measurement of a murabaha contract and the concept of substance over form in recognising financial transactions. This study reviews the accounting treatment and reporting for a murabaha contract as stated in the Financial Accounting Standards (FAS) of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and the application of a murabaha contract as a financial instrument based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The paper finds that, while IFRS-based financial reporting primarily focuses on economic consequences of financial instruments, AAOIFI further takes into consideration the legal structure of the instruments, which are based on Shari'ah precepts. The paper also finds that IFRS-based financial reporting cannot always capture the distinctive structure of the murabaha and, hence, may lack representational financial reporting. However, the IFRS recognizes the substance of a murabaha contract as financing, and the majority of Islamic banks in Malaysia report it as one of financing and not as a trading contract. For measurement, IFRS adopted the concept of time value of money where the profit allocation is based on amortized cost, which is similar to the measurement of conventional loan transactions that apply the concept of effective interest rate. Meanwhile, AAOIFI uses a straight-line basis to allocate the profit of a murabaha contract. The forthright discussion and the observations of the paper are expected to assist regulators and standard setters in developing accounting standards that are in convergence but also cater to the unique characteristics of Islamic financial transactions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the trend of intellectual capital disclosures (ICD) of Islamic banks under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) regimes over a seven-year period (2012?2018). A self-developed checklist was developed to measure the extent of ICD practices of Islamic banks in both regimes. The results revealed a moderate increase in ICD practices over the period of the study. However, there is no significant difference in ICD between the two financial reporting regimes i.e. IFRS and AAOIFI-based banks. In fact, most of the IFRS-based banks have better ICD than AAOIFI-based banks throughout the analysis period. This study contributed to the ICD literature by introducing Shariah capital as a new category of information to disclose besides the common disclosure on human capital, relational and structural related information by the Islamic banks. It is important for Islamic banks to distinguish themselves from conventional banks and ICD can be a conduit to show their uniqueness. The introduction of Shariah capital in this study reflects the main objective of Islamic bank?s existence, and it should become an important element in ICD. In fact, some form of guidelines or policy by regulating agencies could facilitate the ICD by Islamic banks and reflect the truth about their ability to capitalize on Intellectual capital and disclose about these practices to their stakeholders.