Assessing the current practice of Auditing in Islamic Financial Institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia

Drastic development of Islamic financial institutions globally may lead to new expectations of and requirements for accountability, which in turn lead to new demands on the audit function of the institutions. The prohibition of interest and the aspiration of Muslims to make this prohibition a practical reality in their economies, has led to the establishment of a number of Islamic financial institutions around the world. The study examines the scope of the current practice of auditing in Islamic financial institutions using questionnaires survey in Malaysia and Indonesia. As Malaysia has taken drastic initiatives to become the global Islamic finance hub, and Indonesia having its own Shariah Audit manual for IFIs, it would be interesting to study on the development of these two countries in respect of the current scope of shariah audit practice. The findings record that the gap is wider for Indonesia which is in need of the four dimensions for Shariah audit tested in this study. The only gap that exists for Malaysia is in relation to the scope of Shariah auditing. This does not support the hypothesis that since Indonesia has a Shariah audit manual being in place in the country, at least they have a better guidance for the implementation of Shariah auditing. Majority of the respondents are in the opinion that more has to be done for Indonesia in the process of catching up with the development of Islamic finance in Malaysia in particular for this study, the auditing perspective.

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