Perceptions of Waqf Reporting Practices by State Religious Islamic Councils

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the literature by providing an insight on the perceptions of waqf reporting from the Islamic councils’ perspective. In order to gauge council’s acceptance of waqf reporting in general, the paper used qualitative method to identify the perception of waqf reporting by Islamic councils. The establishment of waqf reporting guidelines by the Department of Waqaf, Zakat & Hajj (JAWHAR)’s manual was not fully practiced by the councils. Even though there is a guideline prepared by JAWHAR, most councils still use their previous systems, which do not meet the standardisation and transparency problems. Thus, from the meetings and interviews conducted, most councils appear reluctant to follow the guidelines given in the Waqf Management Accounting. The findings of this paper may provide a perception on how the acceptance of waqf accounting by State Islamic Religious Council on the importance of their roles in ensuring standardisation and transparency in reporting. This paper has offer a new and significant information, by using different methods i.e. interviews, document analysis and observation in providing an insight on how perception of waqf reporting in the Islamic councils and provide additional evidence on reporting of Islamic councils. It will be the interest to policy makers i.e. state and government. Given the current debate in Malaysia on the most appropriate forms of regulation for the Islamic sector, this paper aims to provide valuable insights into the role of annual report in the system of regulation. The findings can also provide a significant contribution to JAWHAR regarding the means to better reporting and improved Islamic accountability amongst practitioners. This paper seeks to contribute to the literature by providing an insight on how the perception of waqf reporting in the Islamic councils.