Purpose

Money laundering offences occur worldwide, with recent discussions involving issues related to the low levels of compliance among professional accountants towards the anti-money laundering (AML) regime. Under the regime, professional accountants are required to implement compliance programs (Know Your Customer, Clients Due Diligent, Record Keeping) and to submit any suspicious transaction report encounters to the authorities. Due to the lack of research in this sector, this study aims to examine the compliance determinants towards AML regimes among professional accountants in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

Premised on protection motivation theory, a questionnaire was developed and distributed among 1,100 professional accountants. Of which 275 questionnaires were returned and subjected to regression analysis.

Findings

Based on the findings, “perceived risk of non-compliance” and “awareness of Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001 and Financial Action Task Force standard” were significantly related to the level of compliance towards the AML regimes. Meanwhile, “compliance cost” did not influence the compliance behaviour of professional accountants. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that awareness programs among the reporting institutions should be enhanced, specifically the professional accountants.

Practical implications

This study recommends the professional bodies particularly professional accountants in Malaysia to establish a blueprint as a guideline for money laundering reporting.

Originality/value

This is one of the pioneer studies looking into AML compliance determinants among the professional accountants in Malaysia. This study will provide insights on the current practices and recommend ways to improve the current AML reporting practices among the professional accountants.

中文翻译：

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马来西亚专业会计师反洗钱制度的合规决定因素

目的

洗钱犯罪在世界范围内发生，最近的讨论涉及与专业会计师对反洗钱 (AML) 制度的合规程度低有关的问题。根据该制度，专业会计师必须实施合规计划（了解您的客户、客户尽职调查、记录保存），并将遇到的任何可疑交易报告提交给当局。由于该领域缺乏研究，本研究旨在研究马来西亚专业会计师对反洗钱制度的合规决定因素。

设计/方法/方法

在保护动机理论的基础上，开发了一份问卷，并在 1,100 名专业会计师中分发。其中275份问卷被退回并进行回归分析。

发现

根据调查结果，“感知到的不合规风险”和“对 2001 年反洗钱法和金融行动特别工作组标准的认识”与反洗钱制度的合规水平显着相关。同时，“合规成本”并未影响专业会计师的合规行为。此外，调查结果表明，应加强报告机构，特别是专业会计师的意识计划。

实际影响

本研究建议马来西亚的专业机构，尤其是专业会计师制定蓝图，作为洗钱报告的指导方针。

原创性/价值

这是研究马来西亚专业会计师反洗钱合规决定因素的先驱研究之一。本研究将提供有关当前做法的见解，并推荐改进专业会计师当前反洗钱报告做法的方法。