British Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences 50
February 2012, Vol. 4 (1)
© 2011 British Journals ISSN 2048-125X
Composite Performance Measurement for Zakat Organisations
Jamaliah Said, Erlane K. Ghani, Siti Noor Hayati Zawawi, Sharifah Norzehan Syed Yusof
Accounting Research Institute and Faculty of Accountancy
Universiti Teknologi MARA
Tel: +60355444973
Email: jamaliah533@salam.uitm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
This study proposes a composite performance measurement which is often used in profit-making
organisations to be also used in Zakat Organisations. Zakat Organisations are non-profit organisations in
Malaysia formed to collect funds from eligible Muslims and then distribute the funds to the eligible
recipients. This study modified and developed a composite performance measurement which comprise of
financial index, employee index, Zakat recipient index and Zakat payer index. Using a series of focus group
interviews, the results in this study show that in terms of financial performance index, the proposed nine
ratios to capture the performance of Zakat distribution is expected to encourage Zakat managers to become
more creative and innovative in increasing Zakat collection. Similarly, the managers are expected to
distribute all the collection to the rightful recipients within the same year. Total Zakat collected for the year
as a proportion of total collected for the year tends to show high ratio if the amount collected is not
distributed. In addition, the dimensions of organisational performance proposed in this paper include input
from the employees as well as major stakeholders; Zakat payers and Zakat recipients through satisfaction
survey. It should be noted that the performance ranking of each Zakat organisation also depends highly on
the satisfaction level of the major stakeholders. The unique of this proposed model is that it does not only
include the efficiency performance of Zakat organisation but also on the evaluation of stakeholders.
Keywords: Composite Performance Measurement, Non-profit organisations, Zakat Organisations, Financial
Performance, Service Quality Performance
1.0 Introduction
The management of non-profit organisations has gone through significant changes. Such changes are
attributed to the aim of the non-profit organisations to deliver better services which are often measured in
terms of efficiency and effectiveness. With the emergence of the global economy, advances in technology,
increased societal demands and the need to provide more social services with fewer resources, such
evolvement suggested that the role of managers in non-profit organisations has become more challenging
than ever (Kaul, 1997). The demand for improvement in the provision of their services by the recipients of
non-profit organisations has provided a significant distinct and powerful pressure for change (Kaul, 1997;
Carmeli and Cohen, 2001).
Subsequently, many non-profit organisations worldwide are now devoting time, money and attention to
satisfy multiple stakeholders’ expectations. The managers of non-profit organisations have been challenged
to place a higher emphasis on customer-focused strategies in delivering their services to their stakeholders