ACFE Chapters 2022 Year in Review
/We are very proud of the accomplishments our ACFE chapters made in 2022. Last year, we saw chapters not only return to having in-person events, but also become comfortable with the virtual environment and offer hybrid events. Chapters continue to partner with other chapters and provide more opportunities for members. More chapters signed up as Fraud Week supporters, and chapters again set a record in our annual Chapter Foundation Challenge.
After a couple years of only organizing virtual events, many chapters have been successful returning to in-person events and offering networking opportunities. Several of these events have been sold-out conferences highlighting the positive response to being back in person and networking with peers. Let’s look back at all we accomplished in 2022 and celebrate how the chapters have impacted the growth of the ACFE. Here are some highlights from the past year.
New Chapters
The ACFE welcomed three new international chapters in 2022. We now have 196 ACFE chapters worldwide. The new chapters are:
Romania Chapter #243
Cayman Chapter #244
Kazakhstan Chapter #245
Chapter Awards Winners
At the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, the South Florida Chapter was recognized as Chapter of the Year, and the New York Chapter was recognized for the Chapter Website of the Year. You are welcome to read the South Florida Chapter’s award nomination form to see their accomplishments from the previous year.
Chapter Leaders Meeting
More than 200 chapter leaders attended the Chapter Leaders Meeting held in conjunction with the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. The meeting took place over two days. The first day’s presentation was given by South Florida Chapter President Matt Molchany, CFE, and Greater Boston Area Chapter Vice President Michael McCall, CFE. They covered a lot in their two-hour presentation beginning with the resources available on the Chapter Leaders Administration site. Then, they discussed strategies to increase chapter membership and allowed other chapters to share their successes. They also mentioned the importance of chapter board succession and ensuring that new leaders are prepared for their new roles. The presentation ended with an open discussion, allowing leaders to find solutions to common chapter challenges.
The second day’s presentation was given by New York Chapter President Dora Gomez, CFE, and UK Chapter President Tim Harvey, CFE. Their presentation concentrated on events that chapters organize. They first discussed returning to in-person events and the difficulty of budgeting due to the uncertainty of attendance. They then moved on to virtual meetings and weighed the ease of organizing these events with the desire to return to in-person networking. Finally, they discussed whether it makes sense to hold their meetings using a hybrid model. They also spoke on the benefits of partnering with other chapters. The partnership may have included a financial benefit for the chapter or just provided another opportunity for their members to gain continuing education credits. The presentation concluded by offering solutions to finding speakers, locally, nationally and globally.
Scholarship Fundraising Challenge
ACFE chapters donated a record-breaking $128,980 to the ACFE Foundation in 2022. This beat the prior year’s record by nearly $20,000. There were 39 chapters that donated. A record of eight chapters donated at least $10,000. Thirteen chapters donated between $1,000 and $2,500. Both of these accomplishments were also records. Thank you to all the ACFE chapters that helped make the 2022 Scholarship Fundraising Challenge so successful.
Other Accomplishments
More than 1,350 supporters and 47 ACFE chapters signed up to support International Fraud Awareness Week 2022. Each year, ACFE chapters find creative ways to promote Fraud Week to their members and the local community. This year, all chapters that supported Fraud Week were given a short training video presented by ACFE’s President & CEO Bruce Dorris that they could present to their members during International Fraud Week.
During the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, the Middle Tennessee ACFE Chapter organized a concert featuring Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. All proceeds of the concert supported the ACFE Foundation, which helped raise more than $13,000!
Prior to the pandemic, the Middle Tennessee Chapter offered a free in-person full-day training event as a benefit to their members. After two years of cancellations, they were able to offer this event again in a hybrid format, and it was a tremendous success.
The Jamaica Chapter held their first Anti-Fraud Conference since 2019, and they could not have had better results. Their in-person attendance sold out at 150 guests and 89 attended virtually. They have already booked a larger venue for next year.
The Central Ohio Chapter held their annual Emerging Trends Conference as a hybrid model. More than a thousand people attended the conference with more than 230 attending in person.
Since the board reformed, the Poland Chapter has been very active. The have held events every other month with between 30-40 in attendance. At their whistleblowing event, they had 80 attend.
The Colorado Area ACFE Chapter held their Annual Conference as a hybrid model with speakers from around the country. It was very well-attended both in person and virtually.
The Costa Rica Chapter asked for approval and received permission to translate various ACFE resources to provide to their members. We thank them for taking on this very time-consuming task to bring resources to their Spanish-speaking members.
Since reforming their board, the Czech Republic Chapter has been busy organizing events. They held four events in the second half of 2022 and already held one event in 2023.
The ACFE released the 2022 Report on the Chapters highlighting chapters’ activities from the previous year.
We would like to thank each and every one of you for supporting ACFE initiatives and volunteering your time to provide assistance to ACFE members. You provide an invaluable service to the anti-fraud community around the globe. We look forward to another great year and more accomplishments in 2023.
