PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the governance structure in the ancient Melaka Kingdom (1401–1511 AD) using historical Hukum Kanun Melaka (the Land Law) and Undang-Undang Laut Melaka (the Maritime Law). The focus is on self-correction, control and accountability that were used to preserve the peace and well-being of society and the overall harmony of the community during the period.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs close readings to discover and identify implicit formal and thematic elements of the texts into a meaningful enactment. The study is based on historical archival research at the National Archives of Malaysia and at the National Library of Malaysia.FindingsThough classical, the underlying accounting practices were shown to consummate in an articulated model of measurement activities based on specific proportion of gold in tahil measurement, used for slaves, free men and stolen animal and property value. Controls were established through punishment and penalty. Accountability functioned in different levels and degrees hierarchically and horizontally.Research limitations/implicationsThe study excludes the improved sections of the laws that are based on the Islamic perspective. The discussion is limited to the indigenous adat sections of laws only although the sections may inseparable with the Hindu/Buddhist tradition.Originality/valueA study of these classical laws would be a reference for accounting publication in the Malay world which has been stationed in the gallery for many years, awaiting discovery.

We present a Decline Curve Analysis-based algorithm to rapidly determine the rig drilling schedule (effectively the investment timing) for future large offshore gas fields with the aim of sustaining nominated gas delivery. The algorithm generated schedules for multiple platforms and wells, and incorporates constraints due to facilities and pipelines. The resulting production profile is benchmarked against the profile generated by a full-blown reservoir simulation. The new algorithm takes the gross rate vs time profiles from each well and platform that were generated from standalone reservoir simulation models and the Arps’ empirical model. This well and platform sales gas rate vs time profile will be transformed into sales rate vs cumulative sales gas using relevant CO2 shrinkage factors to deliver gas within sales specifications. The algorithm will seek for contributions from each well/platform to meet the nominated gas delivery based on the current production profile, imposed prioritizations and facility/pipeline constraints. Finally, individual standalone models are coupled into the existing integrated model, and the results are compared against the ones generated by the algorithm. The algorithm (implemented using Visual Basic) is benchmarked against a full-blown reservoir simulation that couples multiple large gas fields with numerous wells. The wells are grouped into 5 platforms; platform A1, A2, B1, B2, and C1. Each platform contains 4 to 5 wells, which are optimized to fit into a single drilling rig campaign if possible. Drilling rig schedules of all 5 platforms are shown to satisfactorily match (i.e., within the campaign) for both the DCA-based algorithm and full-blown simulation. The results from the algorithm reveal that the total gas delivered (i.e., EUR, estimated ultimate recovery) from each platform is consistent with the original EUR. The blended feed gas CO2 profiles generated from both methods also satisfactorily agree. It can also be seen that the plateau of the gas production ends at about the same time in each case. Based on these results, it can be concluded the DCA-based algorithm is an excellent tool to generate multiple forecasts to select the optimal integrated development strategy for multiple gas fields. This new algorithm thus reduces the required time to optimize rig drilling schedules from days to hours. This is a valuable tool that can also alert management on investment opportunities and cost optimizations, in a timely manner before final evaluation and decision making.