Fintech’s business in Indonesia is growing rapidly nowadays, proven by the existence of many Fintech-based startup companies in the last few years. Fintech startup itself is starting to occupy a large part of the Indonesian startup industries. Fintech helps people to access financial products, facilitate transactions and improve their financial literacy easier. Fintech became highlight in September 2015 when Indonesia’s Fintech Association established. The goal is to set a trusted and reliable partner to build up Indonesia’s Fintech ecosystem. It come up from Indonesia enterprises and for Indonesians. Up to now, there are at least 140 Fintech players in Indonesia, with 55 of them joining the organization as full members.
In 2016, the Indonesia Financial Service Institution (POJK) issued new regulations and policies about fintech on off balance sheet (marketplace) lending and by Central Bank (BI) on Payment Transaction Processing. The growth of Fintech players has been skyrocketing, from only 7% in 2006/2007 to 78% a decade later. The number of the players are recorded around 135-140 companies. 43% of them play in the payment sector, such as mobile payment as well as payment gateway startups from various sectors, ranging from payment startups, lending, financial planning (personal finance), retail investment, crowdfunding, remittances, financial research, and others. Fintech reaches the younger generation who are more familiar with the internet and make use of the internet for all their needs. Fintech can also make things simpler and more efficient. Fintech uses technology, software and big data, it also uses social media data from its users that Fintech uses in conducting risk analysis.
This case discusses Garuda Indonesia’s 2018 financial report which is deemed to be misstated with respect to its revenue account. Despite this, the auditor issued an unqualified opinion. As a public company and national flag carrier of Indonesia, this case attracted a lot of attention from and was scrutinized by many stakeholders. A financial report should contain certain characteristics to it (usually referred to as qualitative characteristics of financial information), so that users can rely on it to help them make business decisions. Two commissioners of Garuda decided that Garuda’s 2018 report did not satisfy the accounting standards, and hence they refused to sign the report.
After receiving high publicity and conducting a thorough investigation, in June 2019, regulators finally announced that Garuda had manipulated its 2018 report and required Garuda to publish a restated financial report. In addition, Garuda was also required to pay a fine. The regulator also imposed sanctions to the auditor for failing to perform the audit process according to the auditing standards. In a sense, this case is yet another example of an accounting scandal and audit failure. Nevertheless, there is always another side of the story, which is expected to be discussed during the class discussion.
The development of modern technology has penetrated the world of transportation in Indonesia. It can be seen from the emergence of ride-hailing application models in major cities in Indonesia (Exhibit 1). This ride-hailing application is a combination of motorcycle taxi transportation services and communication technology. This application is intended to make it easier for users to access transportation media that will be used in daily mobility. This online-based transportation application is also called the ride-hailing application, whose appearance in Indonesia began to rise in 2014 and peaked in 2017 (Exhibit 2). The phenomenon of online-based applications is an answer to people's needs for transportation that is easy to get, convenient, fast, and inexpensive. The most popular online transportation provider in Indonesia is Gojek and Grab.
The issue that is now the concern is the widespread finding of cases of fictional orders that aim to get massive bonuses, including the use of fake GPS to rig the driver's partner position. Fictional orders appear after new regulations from online transportation providers are considered to be harmful to the drivers. Service rates are lowered, and minimum payments are also deleted. The company also added a performance appraisal system for its drivers. This policy certainly has a positive and negative impact on the driver and management. The new rules will add to the list of burdens borne by drivers, namely pulses, gasoline, and vehicle service fees, while receipt of orders must reach 70 per cent to get a daily bonus. This new rule seems to eliminate the opportunity for the driver to get the daily bonus. This new rule also makes drivers unable to reject passenger orders directed by company management. Drivers only have 10 seconds to take the order, and if not taken, it will affect their performance as a driver.
The case study is a case study on energy efficiency accounting that leads to energy saving and CO2 reductions with cost saving as the financial result. This case study describes how Grundfos Indonesia as a pump supplier for PT. SRM, a chemical company in Indonesia, contributes to energy saving and Co2 reduction that can lead to wider access to clean water by providing its advanced inverter pump technology to its consumer.
The case study covers the introduction on Grundfos Group and Grundfos Indonesia, followed by the understanding of pump life cycle cost to enhance students’ experience and learning in studying the case. The role of PT. SRM in the case study is as the background of the case in which Grundfos has successfully delivered its services.
The main concept of the course specific topic that is relevant to the case study is the consumers and suppliers engagement. Under the concept of stakeholder engagement, the case study describes how a seemingly marketing-oriented activity conducted by Grundfos as part of engagement agreed by PT. SRM can actually lead to energy saving, CO2 reduction and cost saving. In this case study, the stakeholder engagement is slightly different from the stakeholder engagement of consumers and suppliers described in the text book (Chapter 6). In the book, stakeholder engagement is generally described as an engagement “allowed” by the inviting organization. However, in the case study, the engagement started with the pro-active approach of Grundfos that eventually agreed to solution phase in which Grundfos becomes one of the suppliers of PT. SRM in pumping system. This difference in starting point can enrich student understanding on stakeholder engagement between suppliers and consumers. The kind of report and energy accounting done in the case study will also expose the students to actual practices of communication or accountability in the making between a supplier and a consumer.