Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 15

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004

The Appropriateness of Conventional Accounting for Muslim


Business Organizations:
An Empirical Evidence on the Perception of Muslim Accounting
Academicians in Yogyakarta-Indonesia1
By
Rizal Jaya, SE, MSc, Ak
Abstract
The dominance of secular capitalist economics in this world today has put the
conventional accounting as taken for granted in the accounting practice as well as in
the academics institutions. However Islam in its teachings have encouraged the
Muslims not to separate their worldly activities with the religious guidance. This
situation could lead the Muslim accounting academicians either to the secular
capitalistic mindset and keep having a split worldview with the religion they believe
or to the adjusted mindset of accounting which conforms with the Islamic teachings.
The choice of this option would be associated with their perception on the
appropriateness of conventional accounting to achieve the Islamic socioeconomic
objectives. This research would provide an empirical evidence on the perception of
Muslim accounting academicians in Yogyakarta-Indonesia on the appropriateness of
conventional accounting in achieving Islamic socioeconomic objectives. As the higher
education institutions in Yogyakarta can be grouped into the conventional
background and Islamic background, the analysis includes on determining factors
that influence the different perception and on discovering whether different
background of institutions have different perception on conventional accounting.

Introduction
Islam recognizes the desirability of engagement in business activity. In Islam,
business activities can become part of ibadah (worship and obedience of Allah) if
they are performed in accordance with the commands of Allah and the Islamic code of
conduct (Ahmad, 1988). In Islam, man is perceived as the vicegerent of Allah on
earth, and Allah has made the universe subservient to him (Al-Quran 2:30; 14:32-33;
22:65; 31:20; 35:39 & 45:12-13). As vicegerent, it is mans duty to work hard to build
this world and to use its natural resources in the best possible manner in accordance
with Divine rules (Al-Quran 2:5; 6:153). In other words it can be said that there is no
separation in Islam on the worldly activities with the religious guidance.
However current business practices are separated from religion, in which to
some extent resulted in contradiction with Islamic morality (Hameed, 2000a).
Furthermore, current business practices are also equipped with accounting system,
which is more likely established to achieve the capitalistic socio-economic objective
(Sombart, 1919). This situation leads to the need of establishing an accounting
system that could attain the Islamic socio-economic objective of falah (the success in
the world and the hereafter). The importance of such efforts becomes definite along
with the development of Islamic financial institution in many parts of the world,
which operate under Islamic teachings (Shariah) basis.
1

The writer would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shahul Hameed bin Hj Mohd Ibrahim, lecturer of
International Islamic University Malaysia, for his valuable comments and suggestions on this article
and for sharing a number of reading materials.

145

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


This study tries to elaborate the appropriateness of conventional accounting
for Muslim business organizations. The discussion would involve the elaboration on
the characteristics of Islamic business activities, the issues on the inappropriateness of
conventional accounting with Islamic business organization and finally the empirical
test on the perception of Muslim accounting academician in Yogyakarta province
Indonesia on the appropriateness of conventional accounting for Muslim business
organizations.

Characteristics of Islamic Business Activities


Islam is basically an ethical and moral code of conduct. This can be inferred
from the Hadith (prophets words) narrated from Abu Hurairah, saying that the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has been sent only for the purpose of
perfecting good morals. Naqvi (1981) views that Islamic ethical and moral code of
conduct permeates in human life whether individual or collective in a way that Islam
considers ethics as an off shoot of a Muslim belief system or imaan.
For the economic enterprises, Siddiqi (1979) notes that adala (justice) and
Ihsan (benevolence) (Al-Quran 5:8) could be considered as the summary of the
entire morals in economic enterprise derived from the Quran. These values in his
opinion are the basic values, which offer guidance in almost every action of human
life. Therefore Islamic business should also be characterized with these manners.
A. Adala (Justice)
In Islam, Allah has commanded the maintenance of justice under all
circumstances and in all aspects of life (Al-Quran 6:152; 5:9). Meanwhile the
Prophet (peace be upon him) has also reiterated the maintenance of justice and has
sternly against indulgence in injustice. The Quran commands Muslim to be just and
truthful while bearing witness and while deciding a disputed matter, which is not only
among them but also when dealing with their enemies. Muslims are therefore
enjoined to cooperate with each other in the establishment of justice and
righteousness. On the other words they are not allowed to exploit others and also may
not let other exploits them (Ahmad, 1995).
In order to maintain justice in the conduct of business, the Quran has
provided believers with certain guidelines that serve as safeguard. Based on his study
on the Quran, Ahmad (1995) proposes some principles in safeguarding the rights
such as; (1) Writing of a Contract; (2) Witnesses; and (3) The principle of individual
responsibility. In Islam, when one writes a contract, it should be put in black and
white. This is specially recommended in the case of credit transaction for both large
and small scale (Al-Quran 2:282). In business realm, writing down the terms of
transactions is an effective safeguard against any false claims made by either party. To
enhance the safeguarding function, The Quran also recommends that credit
transactions should be witnessed by two men or double number if they are women
(Al-Quran 2:282). In a realm business, the present of reliable witnesses, is much
needed as an added safeguard against any sort of foul play.
In Islam, everyone is held personally responsibility for any undertaking or
transaction made by him (Al-Qur'an 74:38). It means that no one is given immunity
from facing the consequences of ones deeds and everyone is answerable both in this
world and in the hereafter (Al-Quran 6:164; 17:15; 35:18; 39:7; 53:38; 99:6-8).
Therefore, one cannot blame his unlawful actions because of the pressures of business
or because everybody else is behaving unlawful (Beekun, 1997).

146

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


B. Ihsan (Benevolence)
Ihsan (benevolence) means good behavior or an act which benefits other
persons without any obligation (Beekun, 1997). Siddiqi (1979) views Ihsan is
importance in social life as even more than that of justice. If justice is the corner stone
of society, Ihsan is its beauty and perfection. If justice saves society from undesirable
things and bitterness, Ihsan makes life sweet and pleasant (Siddiqi, 1979). In the
realm business, Ahmad (1995) outlines some manners that would support the practice
of Ihsan. They are (1) leniency; (2) Service motives; and (3) Consciousness of Allah
and of His prescribed priorities.
According to Ahmad (1995), leniency is the foundation of Ihsan. It is a highly
praised quality and encompasses every aspects of life. It is an attribute of Allah
Himself and Muslims are encouraged to incorporate it in themselves. Leniency can be
expressed in terms of politeness, forgiveness, removing of other people hardship and
providing help. Meanwhile service motives means that Islamic business organization
should consider others needs and interest, provide help and spending on others,
recommend and support a good cause to others. Therefore through his involvement in
business activity, a Muslim should intend to provide a needed service to his
community and the humanity at large.
Although the Quran has already declared business as lawful, yet in their
engagements should not become hindrance in remembering Allah and complying with
His commands (Al-Quran 24:37). A Muslim is required to be mindful of Allah either
when he gets success or failure in his business. God consciousness must be the
driving force in determining his course of action.
Business activity must also be compatible with the morality and the higher
value prescribed by the Quran. The believers are exhorted to seek the felicity of the
hereafter by making a proper use of the bounties provided by Allah in the present
world (Al-Quran 28:76-77). They are also asked to recognize and observe the
priorities determined by the Quran, for instance; (1) to prefer the great and
everlasting rewards of the Hereafter to the finite benefits of the present world (2) to
prefer that which is morally pure to that which is impure and (3) to prefer what is
lawful to that which is not (Ahmad, 1995).

The Inappropriateness of Conventional Accounting with Islamic


Business Organization
The characteristics of Islamic Business activities as what have been discussed
above can be considered as an ideal practice for an organization controlled by
Muslims. Such organization then can be called as an Islamic business organization. In
order to maintain its characteristics, an Islamic organization is also recommended to
be equipped with accounting tools with such characteristics (Hameed, 2001).
However, conventional accounting has been criticized on its inability to support such
criteria or in other words it is not suitable for the Islamic Business organization.
The issue of inappropriateness of conventional accounting to Islamic Business
organization (IBO) can be categorized into its contradiction to Islamic teachings and
its insufficiency in achieving Islamic socio-economic objectives. The following
section would discuss each of those reasons.
A. The Contradiction of Conventional Accounting to Islamic Teachings
Many studies have indicated that conventional accounting has resulted in
situation, which contradict to the Islamic socio-economic economic objectives.
Arnold & Cooper (1999) for instance find that it has led to the loss of jobs through
147

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


downsizing and transfer of wealth through privatization. Meanwhile Briloff (1990)
comes across that it has led to the concentration of wealth by a few individual at the
expense of society. Furthermore, Gray (1994) asserts that conventional accounting has
directed an organization grows at the cost of environmental degradation. He argues
that this could happen because conventional accounting as the scorekeeper in
evaluating the performance of an organization, does not take such view into account.
Therefore in our opinion, conventional accounting often results in the organization
practices, which is contradict with Islamic principles of both adalah (justice) and
ihsan (benevolence).
In particular, Hameed (2000b) points out that these are caused by the use of
decision usefulness objectives in conventional accounting. Although he admits that
the term decision usefulness seems rational, harmless and acceptable from an
Islamic perspectives, but when one examines this concept in depth, a number of
problems arise such as; Firstly, it focuses on informational efficiency in the capital
market from the perspectives of shareholders. This can imply that the resulting
equilibrium may not be efficient from other members of society such as employee,
government and community at large. Secondly, conventional accounting operates
under an assumed pristine liberal economic society. Meanwhile, in this type of
society, the increasing gap between the rich and the poor is not questioned and there is
no room for environmental and ethical values other than self interests utilitarian. And
thirdly, the decision usefulness paradigm was born in the countries with developed
capital markets. Meanwhile many Muslim countries do not have established or
developed stock exchanges and the economy is non-monetized. Therefore in such
situation, a decision usefulness of accounting oriented toward market does not have
any social or economic sense.
Hameed (2000a) views that the characteristics of conventional accounting
would be utilized towards the enrichment of shareholders and creditors even at the
expense of damaging social and environmental consequences. In particular, Adnan
and Gaffikin (1997) point out that some of accounting concepts i.e. historical cost and
conservatism are contradict with Islamic principles. According to them, historical cost
can be misleading and cannot guarantee the quality of justice and honesty within
information it carries. Therefore they argue that such concept has no room in the
accounting of Islamic institution (Adnan and Gaffikin, 1997). Meanwhile the
conservatism concept could also go against the Quran and Sunnah as it would distort
accounting data. They argue that the conservatively reported data are not only subject
to proper interpretation but also contradict with the objective to disclose all relevant
information related to the particular company (Adnan and Gaffikin, 1997).
Abdelgaders (1994) assertion on the stability of purchasing power of the
monetary unit concepts reveal that this concept inherently contradicts to Islamic
principles, as in inflationary environment, money as a unit of measure is unable to
observe as a just and honest unit of account. It makes money an inequitable standard
of deferred payments and on untrustworthy store of value and would encourage some
people to be unfair to others even though unknowingly.
Meanwhile realization concept particularly for the Islamic bank would create a
problem, as it does not realize fairness for withdrawing depositors. This concept
suggests that the earning process for revenues of the bank should be known and
should be collectible with reasonable degree, if not already collected. This means if
some of the depositors withdraw before the full liquidation of the project which their
funds have actually participated, they may lose a part of the profit that might be
realized in the future (Abdelgader, 1994).
148

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


The inappropriateness of conventional accounting is also viewed in terms of
attitude before Allah. Going concern concept for instance, according to Adnan and
Gaffikin (1997) would mean that that there is something else other than Allah that will
live continuously, although it is said until there is evidence to the contrary. In fact in
Islam, among the characteristics of Allah is, only He lives indefinitely forever (AlQuran 3:2; 2:255; 20:111; 25:58; 40:65; 53:27) and a Muslim is prohibited to have
such attitude.
B. The Insufficiency of conventional Accounting in achieving Islamic socioeconomic objectives
Khan (1994) observes that the point of reference is overall objective of the
Shariah and not users rights or need as in the conventional accounting. Therefore he
proposes additional requirement on accounting for applying the Islamic socio
economic objective as its objective. According to him this will lead to the providing
true figure of Zakat (Islamic tax) payable, the figure of the extent to which justice and
benevolence being considered in the organization, the figure of the impact of the
business on its environment, the figure on organizations treatment to the employees,
and its adherence to the Islamic code of ethics.
Hameed (2000b) also asserts that conventional accounting is insufficient to
achieve the Islamic socioeconomic objectives. He argues that the main information of
conventional accounting (e.g. income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement
and other subsequent or extraordinary events information) is considered important in
Islamic accounting and could continue to be applied. This is because the investors and
other financial providers are also member of society and they must get their due
rights. However, those information is insufficient for Islamic society which should
uphold accountability to Allah (as the primary accountability) and to men (as the
secondary accountability). (Hameed, 2000b). Therefore the uniqueness of Islamic
accounting would be to provide other types of information in an integrated manner in
the accounting report or statement so that it could achieve the Islamic socioeconomic
objectives.
To achieve the Islamic socio economic objectives, Haniffa & Hudaib (2001)
propose that an Islamic enterprise is expected to disclose at least: (1) any prohibited
transaction they made; (2) Zakat obligation they have to pay and already paid; and (3)
social responsibility. Social responsibility would include charities, wages to
employees and environmental protection. This means that financial reporting in an
Islamic society is likely to be more detailed than in what is currently prevalent in
Western societies.
Meanwhile Baydoun and Willet (2000) view that social accountability and full
disclosures are the basis of Islamic corporate reports. They suggest the current value
balance sheet be included as part or the reporting requirements of firms operating in
an Islamic economy. Meanwhile the income statement should be relegated to the
notes because of its corruptive influence directing people to become highly profit
oriented. Instead of that, from an Islamic perspective, Value Added Statement (VAS)
should be applied. This is because the distributional characteristics of VAS would
support accountability in Islam (Baydoun and Willet, 1997).

149

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004

Research Methodology
Population and Sample
This research is conducted during August until October in the year 2002 in
Yogyakarta, a province located in Indonesia. In this research, Muslim accounting
academicians in that province would be taken as the research population. The
researcher would use the classification of Islamic and conventional background as
classification categories for these higher education institutions. Since there is no
Muslim accounting academician in the Christian and Catholic background higher
education institutions, the population of this research excludes these institutions and
confirmed to the remaining 18 higher education institutions in Yogyakarta. In total,
there are for about 235 Muslim accounting academicians as the population of this
research and about 30 % of them are Muslim accounting academicians who work at
the Islamic background institution. In this research, 87 respondents or 37% of the
population would be used as the research sample. Fifty six respondents or 64% of
total samples are from the conventional background and the other 36% are from the
Islamic background institutions.
Data Collecting Techniques
The researcher has used questionnaire in order to gather the data on the
perception of respondents on the Islamic accounting and demographic data of the
respondents. The questionnaire is distributed either directly to the respondents or to
the supervisor of the respondents, in this case the head of the accounting department
to be handed over to the academicians. One week after delivering the questionnaire,
the researcher went back for two or three times to collect the answered questionnaire.
For uncollected questionnaires, prepaid envelopes were supplied so that the
respondents could send them to the researcher by mail. Total number of
questionnaires distributed, were about 161 questionnaires and 76 of were collected
personally while 11 were posted by the respondents.
Table 1
Questionnaire Response Rate
No
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Conventional
background
UPN
STIE Yo
STIE YKP
Unwama
UNY
UWM

UGM
STIE YKPN
UJB
Total Number

No.
Quest
distr.

No.
Quest
recev.

Re
sponse
rate

15
14
9
9
15
6
14
20
5
102

10
9
9
9
7
4
5
3
0
56

67 %
64 %
100 %
100 %
47 %
47 %
36 %
15 %
52 %

No

Islamic
Background

No.
Quest
distr.

No.
Quest
recev.

Re
sponse
rate

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

UMY
UII
UAD
STIE WW
STIE SBI
Uncok

12
21
10
10
2
4

11
8
6
4
2
0

92 %
38 %
55 %
40 %
100 %
0

Total
Number

59

31

53 %

It means that this research could achieve more than 52% response rate in total and
almost the same response rate was also obtained for both Islamic and conventional
background of institutions.

150

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004

Hypotheses
Hypothesis on appropriateness of conventional accounting for Islamic Business
Organization & Muslim User
Since conventional accounting has been widely used in Indonesia accounting
curriculum, there might be a possibility of perceiving it as appropriate for Islamic
business organization and Muslim users. Therefore hypothesis one on the
appropriateness of conventional accounting for Islamic business organization &
Muslim user is set up as follows.

Figure 1: hypothesis 1
Ho:

MAAs in Yogyakarta believe that the financial statement provided under


conventional accounting provides appropriate information for Muslim users.

Ha:

MAAs in Yogyakarta believe that the financial statement provided under


conventional accounting provides inappropriate information for Muslim users.

This hypothesis would be tested by asking the respondents opinion on some


statements regarding to the suitability of conventional accounting with Islamic
business organizations. Those statements are listed in figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Lists of Questions for Hypothesis 1
Statement

Strongly
disagree

Disagree

Neither
Strongly
agree nor Agree
agree
disagree

Financial Statements prepared in accordance with


conventional accounting principles:
a. Provide appropriate information to enable Muslim
business organizations to properly disclose their
Islamic accountability (e.g. Shariah compliance)
to all stakeholders
b. Impede the fair and proper allocation of wealth
between different classes of stakeholders, e.g.
shareholders, managers, employees and Zakat
beneficiaries
c. Hinder the making of the appropriate decisions
needed to control organizations to ensure the
attainment of the Islamic objectives of Muslim
business organizations

Statement (a) is provided in an opposite way to what being concern of the issue of
Islamic accounting. If the answer of this statement indicates their disagreement, it
means that there is a need for different accounting rather than just using contemporary
accounting. Otherwise, the contemporary accounting would be appropriately used to
fulfill the need of Muslims users.
Hypothesis on the Impact of Different Background of Institutions on MAAs
Perception on the Conventional Accounting
Islamization of accounting education in Indonesia is formally conducted by
the universities with the Islamic background. In Yogyakarta province for example,
there are six higher education institutions with Islamic Backgrounds, which have
provided accounting department for bachelor degree. They are Universitas Ahmad
Dahlan, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Universitas Islam Indonesia,
151

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


Universitas Cokroaminoto, STIE (college of economics) Widya Wiwaha and STIE
(college of economics) Syariah Banking Institute.
At an early stage, this process was conducted by introducing some Islamic
related subjects to the student of those institutions (see appendix 1). This policy was
possible because Indonesian government recognized both national and local content
of curriculum. In terms of local content of curriculum, the university is allowed to
determine the subjects and the number of credit hours of the particular subjects.
Recently, the higher education authority has given a higher portion of credit hours to
any university to develop their local content of curriculum. However there is still a
general regulation mandating that there should be a minimum of two credit hours to
be provided for the religion education in any programs in university level. In this case,
other universities in Yogyakarta, mainly take the minimum requirement.
From appendix 1, we can summarize that (1) there is no common standard in
the policy on determining the subjects and the number of its credit hours and (2) the
Islamic related subjects are still general and not specifically touch on the Islamic
accounting. However, from the variety of Islamic related subjects offered, almost all
of the Islamic background universities provided Islamic Economics subject for their
accounting students. If we refer to the discussion of Islamic accounting, Islamic
economics can be considered as a backbone of developing Islamic accounting.
Hameed (2000a) asserts that different economics system would lead to the different
accounting. Therefore it can be inferred that they have already provided a required
knowledge for the further development of Islamic accounting.
In its development, to some extents, those universities have tried to develop
Islamic accounting through discussions and publications. STIE Widya Wiwaha for
instance has initiated a regular discussion on the Islamic economics and accounting
issues, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta has already published a handbook on
the Quranic verses which related with accounting issues and then Universitas Islam
Indonesia has also published a journal which encourages the articles on the Islamic
accounting. Along with the development of Islamization in the business practices,
such efforts of the education institutions would possibly continue to be developed in
the future.
In this case it is important to ask whether the different backgrounds of
institution would affect the respondents perception on both Islamic and conventional
accounting. In attempt to answer this question a hypothesis would be set as follows.
Figure 3 : Hypothesis 2
Ho:

Ha:

There is no significant difference in perception on Islamic accounting between


academicians in Islamic educational institutions and academicians in
conventional educational institutions.
There is a significant difference in MAAYs perception between Islamic
educational institutions and conventional educational institutions.

To test this hypothesis, the respondent would be classified into two groups; those
working at the Islamic background institutions and those working at the conventional
background institutions. Then, by using the respondents answer on the perception on
Islamic and conventional accounting, the means of each group would be compared
and analyzed.

152

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


Techniques of Analysis
Hypothesis one would be analyzed by using t-test for one sample. This test is
used to determine if the mean of a sample is similar to that of the population (Bryman
& Cramer, 1997). Since the conventional accounting has been widely used by the
accounting academician in Yogyakarta, the researcher therefore assumed that the
mean of the population of this research is the same as the conventional one.
Hypothesis two on the effect of different background of respondents
institutions on their perception on Islamic and conventional accounting would be
analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The ANOVA is like the t-test with
the concern of testing of hypotheses about means. However ANOVA is more versatile
than the t-test (Kinnear and Gray, 1995). In this test, it is expected that the effect of
different background of respondents institutions on their perception on Islamic and
conventional accounting could be ascertained.

Validity & Reliability


Bohrnstedt (1977) suggests the use of statistically test of validity by putting
the items in the scale after dividing the items into strata. If the items in a stratum
correlate higher than with the items in other strata, then the items have content
validity for that dimension. The theory is that if different items are measuring the
same attitude or trait, then the underlying trait should be causing the covariance
among the items. The higher the correlations, the better the items are measuring the
construct.
Figure 5 : Hierarchical Cluster Analysis
Dendrogram using Average Linkage (Between Groups)
Rescaled Distance Cluster Combine
C A S E
Label
Num
Q1b
Q1c
RQ1a

2
3
1

0
5
10
15
20
25
+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+

For the question on the appropriateness of conventional accounting


(hypothesis 1), it is found that Q1b & Q1c fall under below five distance cluster,
meanwhile question RQ1a (recoded from Q1.a) falls in different distance cluster.
Therefore in hypothesis 1, it is suggested to include Q1b & Q1c only and exclude
Q1a. Unlike the included questions, question Q1a, is presented in the negative
direction towards agreement with Islamic accounting. This probably has affected the
respondents consistency in answering the questions. During the field research, the
researcher finds one case of respondents unawareness of this negative direction of the
question as it can be seen from the respondents contradictive answer. After
confirming it with the respondent, the respondent admitted the unawareness and then
changed the answer. Due to the limitation of the research method, i.e. inability to
detect al respondents as only a few of them writing their name, the process of

153

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


reconfirmation of the contradictive answer could not be done. Therefore in testing
this hypothesis, the cases with contradictive answers are excluded.
Figure 6 below, shows the reliability of a set of questions which aim to test
hypothesis 1. It is shown that those questions are reliable with Cronbach alpha 0.8812.
Figure 6: Reliability Analysis for Hipothesis 1 Questions
R E L I A B I L I T Y A N A L Y S I S - S C A L E (A L P H A)
1. Q1B

2. Q1C

Reliability Coefficients
N of Cases =
Alpha =

73.0

N of Items =

.8812

Research Findings and Analysis


Test of perception on the appropriateness of conventional accounting for Islamic
business organizations
In testing respondents perception on appropriateness of conventional
accounting for Islamic business organization & Muslim user (APPROPT), question
Q1b & Q1c would constitute the APPROPT variable. The formula of calculating the
tested variable is as follows.
APPROPT = mean (Q1b, Q1c)
In order to test hypothesis one, APPROPT variable would be tested by using one
sample t-test, with test value of three as written in the following equation.
Ho : mean of APPROPT 3.00
Ha : mean of APPROPT > 3.00
If the mean of APPROPT variable is less than or equal with three, Ho would be
accepted, otherwise Ha is accepted.
From table 4, it is found that APPROPT mean is slightly above 3.0. This
means that null hypothesis saying that MAAs in Yogyakarta believe that financial
statement provided under conventional accounting provides appropriate information
for the Muslim users, would be rejected. Instead of that, the alternative hypothesis
would be accepted.
Table 4: Mean Value of APPROPT Variable
Std.
Std. Error
N
Mean
Deviation
Mean
APPROPT

73

3.0548

1.0259

.1201

Through a two-tail t-test, it is found that the acceptance of the alternative hypothesis
is not significant (see table 5), whereby the obtained t (.456) is less than the critical t
value (1.994). This means that the possibility to get the same result is very low if the
same test would be conducted in the population.

154

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004

Table 5: Level of significance of testing hypothesis 2


Test Value =3

APPROPT

df

Sig. (2-tailed)

Mean
Difference

.456

72

.650

5.479E-02

95% Confidence of the


Difference
Lower
Upper
-.1846

.2942

Test of the impact of different background of institutions on the characteristics of


Islamic Accounting
As already discussed in the previous section, the different background of
institutions is expected to have an impact to the respondents perception on the
characteristics of Islamic accounting. This is because the Islamic background
institutions have put more efforts than the conventional institutions in promoting
Islamic values. The efforts are for example in providing more credit hours in
curriculum for the Islamic perspective subjects, in publishing Islamic related journals
and hand books, in conducting seminars and discussions forum on accounting in
Islamic perspective and in providing Islamic understanding courses for their staffs.
For this purpose, one way variance test would be used in data analysis. This
analysis tool would analyze further the significant level of the difference between two
or more groups. In this case, the group would be divided into the Islamic background
institutions and the conventional background of institution. The APPROPT variable
shows that the difference is significant at .087 which we can say that it is significant
below 10%.
Table 6: Analysis of Variance for Islamic and Conventional Background of
Institutions
ANOVA
APPROPT

Between Groups
Within Groups
Total

Sum of
Squares
3.093
72.688
75.781

df
1
71
72

Mean Square
3.093
1.024

F
3.021

Sig.
.087

In the descriptive data for both groups, it is found that in the the respondents in the
Islamic background institution perceive the conventional accounting different from
the perception of respondents from the conventional background institution. Overall,
the mean of this variable for the Islamic background group is 3.3400. Since the
critical mean is 3.0000, we could say that they have perceived that the conventional
accounting is inappropriate for the Muslim users. However, the mean for the
conventional background institution is 2.9063. Since the obtained mean is lower than
the critical mean, we could say that overall, the respondents from the conventional
background institutions have perceived that the conventional accounting is
appropriate for the need of Muslim users.

155

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


Table 7 : Descriptive data of Islamic and Conventional background institutions
Descriptives
APPROPT

N
Islamic background
institution
Conventional
background institution
Total

Mean

95% Confidence Interval for


Mean
Lower Bound Upper Bound

Std. Deviation

Std. Error

Minimum

Maximum

25

3.3400

.9760

.1952

2.9371

3.7429

1.50

5.00

48

2.9063

1.0296

.1486

2.6073

3.2052

1.00

5.00

73

3.0548

1.0259

.1201

2.8154

3.2942

1.00

5.00

Conclusion
In this research, an empirical test on a group of Muslim accounting
academicians (MAA) in Yogyakarta province has been conducted. A number of
hypotheses are tested to reveal the appropriateness of conventional accounting for
Muslim business organizations in different background of higher education
institutions. Based on the test result we can say that there is a weak consensus among
the MAAs in Yogyakarta on the appropriateness of the conventional accounting to
provide appropriate information for the Muslim users. This weak consensus can be
understood as there is a different perception between Islamic background institutions
and conventional background institutions. The MAAs in Islamic background
institutions perceive significantly that the conventional accounting is inappropriate for
the Muslim users. Meanwhile the MAAs in the conventional background institutions
have perceived significantly that the conventional accounting is appropriate for the
need of Muslim users. This finding shows that the secular education has been
successfully internalized in the conventional background of institution that the
conventional accounting is value free and can be used in any society including
Muslim society.
On a deeper analysis on whether the efforts of an educational institution in
promoting Islamic values are related the perception towards conventional accounting,
it was found that there is a negative relationship between the efforts of an institution
in promoting Islamic values with the perception of accounting academicians on
conventional accounting. In other words the more efforts in promoting Islamic values,
the more conventional accounting is perceived inappropriate for the needs of Muslim
users. This means that the contradictive view on the Islamic principles in the ones
mind with the perceptions of accepting the suitability of conventional accounting in
achieving Islamic objectives of Muslim business organizations, can actually be
eliminated by providing more efforts in promoting Islamic values in the institutions
where one works.

References
Al-Quran, Original Arabic Text with English Translation & Selected Commentaries
by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Kualalumpur: Saba Islamic Media.
Abdelgader, A.E. (1994), Accounting postulates and principles from an Islamic
perspective. Review of Islamic Economics, vol. 3, No. 2, pp1-18.

156

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


Adnan, M.A. and Gaffikin. (1997), The Shariah, Islamic banks and accounting
concepts and practices. Proceedings of International Conference 1: Accounting
Commerce and Finance: The Islamic Perspective. Sydney, Australia: University
of Western Sydney.
Ahmad, M. (1995), Business Ethics in Islam. Islamabad : IIIT (Pakistan)
Ahmad, S.F. (1988), The ethical responsibility of business: Islamic principles and
implications. Paper of the Seminar on Islamic Principles of Organizational
Behavior held at Herndon, Virginia USA.
Arnold, P.J. and Cooper, C. (1999), A tale of two classes: The privatization of
Medway Ports. Critical Perspectives on Accounting. Vol 10. no 2 pp.127-152.
Baydoun, N. and Willet, R. (1997), Islam and accounting: ethical issues in the
presentation of financial information. Accounting, Commerce and Finance: The
Islamic Perspective, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-24.
Baydoun, N. and Willet, R. (2000), Islamic corporate reports. Abacus, vol. 36, no.1,
pp. 21-91.
Beekun, R. I. (1997), Islamic Business Ethics. Herndon, The International Institute of
Islamic Thought, Virginia.
Bohrnstedt, G. W. (1977), Reliability and Validity Assessment in Attitude
Measurement in Summers, G.F. (ed) Attitude Measurement, Kershaw
Publishing Co. Ltd, London.
Briloff, A. (1990), Accounting and society, a covenant desecrated. Critical
Perspectives on Accounting. Vol 1 no. 1 pp 5-30.
Bryman, A. and Cramer, D. (1997), Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS for
Windows, a guide fro Social Scientists, Routledge, London.
Gray, R.H. (1994), Accounting, the accountancy profession and the environmental
crisis (or can accountancy save the world?) Meditari, pp. 1-51.
Guy, R.F., Edgley, C.E., Arafat, I. and Allen, D.E. (1987), Social Research Methods:
Puzzles and Solutions. Allyn and Bacon Inc., Boston.
Hameed, S. (2000a), Nurtured by kufr: The Western philosophical assumptions
underlying conventional (Anglo-American) Accounting. International Journal
of Islamic Financial Services. Vol.2, no.2.
Hameed, S. (2000b), The need for Islamic Accounting: Perception of Its Objectives
and Characteristics by Malaysia Accountants and Academics. Unpublished
Ph.D. thesis,University of Dundee, United Kingdom.

157

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


Hameed, S. (2001), Islamic accounting-accounting for the new millenium?. Asia
pacific Conference1-Accounting in the New Millenium. International Islamic
University Malaysia, Kota Bahru, Oct 10-12.
Haniffa, R. and Hudaib, M. (2001), A conceptual framework for Islamic accounting:
The Sharia paradigm. Paper presented at the International Conference on
Accounting, Commerce & Finance: The Islamic Perspective. New Zealand.

Khan, M.A. (1994), Accounting issues and concepts for Islamic Banking. in.
Development of an accounting system for Islamic Banking. The Institute of
Islamic Banking & Insurance, London.
Kinnear, P.R. & Gray, C.D. (1995), SPSS/PC+ Made Simple, LEA Publishers,
London.
Naqvi, S.N.H. (1981), Ethics and Economics: An Islamic Synthesis. The Islamic
Foundation, Leicester, UK.
Siddiqi, M.N. (1979), The Economic Enterprise in Islam. Islamic Publications Ltd,
Lahore.
Sombart, W. (1919), Der Moderne Kapitalismus. Dunker and Hurnblot, Munich.
Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, (2000), University Academic Handbook 2000-2001,
Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Yogyakarta.
Universitas Cokroaminoto, (2000), Faculty of Economics Handbook, Universitas
Cokroaminoto, Yogyakarta..
Universitas Islam Indonesia, (2001), Faculty of Economics Handbook 2001-2002.
Universitas Islam Indonesia, Yogyakarta.
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, (2001), Faculty of Economics Handbook
2001-2002. Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta.

158

SNA VII DENPASAR-BALI, 2-3 DESEMBER 2004


Appendix 1
The Islamic Related Subjects and Credit Hours in the Islamic Background of
Higher education institutions in Yogyakarta Province
No

Name of Institution

Universitas Ahmad Dahlan

Universitas Muhammadiyah
Yogyakarta

Universitas Islam Indonesia

Universitas Cokroaminoto
Yogyakarta

STIE Widya Wiwaha

STIE SBI

Islamic related subject and number


of credit hours
- Islamic Study 1 (2 CHs)
- Islamic Study 2 (2 CHs)
- Islamic Economics (3 CHs)
- Muhammadiyah & Islamic Thought
(2 CHs)
- Emerging Issues on the Islamic
Movement (2 CHs)
- Islamic Faith (2 CHs)
- Muhammadiyah Movement (2 CHs)
- Islamic Economics (2 CHs)
- Islamic Law (2 CHs)
- Islamic Morals Code (2 CHs)
- Religion Education (2 CHs)
- Islamic Economics 1 (3 CHs)
- Islamic Economics 2 (3 CHs)
- Islamic Thought & Civilization (2
CHs)
- Islamic Study 1 (2 CHs)
- Islamic Study 2 (2 CHs)
- Islamic Organization (2 CHs)
- Islamic Study (2 CHs)
- Islamic Economics (2 CHs)
- Islamic Social System (2CHs)
- Islamic Economics (2 CHs)
- Shariah Banking (3 CHs)
- Islamic Banking Managemnt (3 CHs)

Total Credit
Hours
11

10

10

6
4
10

Sources : Data is collected from the handbooks of the particular higher education
institutions and the interviews conducted with the Heads Department of
Accounting of the particular institutions.

159

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi