Call for Member Comment: ACFE Board of Regents Presents Proposed Amendments to Disciplinary Procedures and ACFE Bylaws

One of the duties of the ACFE Board of Regents is to ensure that the rules of conduct governing members are relevant, fair and in accordance with the expectations of the professional anti-fraud community. In 2023, the Board established an advisory working group of CFEs to advise it on possible revisions to the ACFE rules. The members who contributed to this working group are:

• Patrick Chylinski, CFE, MBA – Partner, Armanino, LLP
• Tiffany Couch, CFE, CPA – Founder and CEO, Acuity Forensics
• Tasheika Hinson, J.D., CFE – Associate General Counsel, Leader, Edward Jones
• Jerami Michalak, CFE, CIA – Head of Internal Audit, Qatar Airways
• James Rumph, CFE, CPA – Enterprise Anti-Fraud Leader, Nationwide Insurance
• Viktorija Smatko-Abaza, CFE – Principal Advisor, European Commission
• Robert Smolich, CFE – Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, U.S. Department of State
  
   

The working group developed a list of recommendations and supporting arguments for the Board to consider. After careful review of the recommendations, the Board is formally proposing several amendments to the ACFE Disciplinary Procedures and the ACFE Bylaws. For the purposes of transparency and obtaining a wide range of perspectives, the Board is calling for member comments on these amendments. The comment period for all ACFE members in good standing is open until March 31, 2024. Below is a summary of the proposed changes:

Disciplinary Procedures

• Addition of a videoconference hearing for members accused of violations of the ACFE rules of conduct, with the following features:
  • Designed to be a non-adversarial process for members to explain their position and the ACFE Board of Review to ask questions
  • Hearing to be optional for members
  • Only the member (plus legal representative and translator) may be present
  • The hearing process does not include a right of the complainant to join, though the Board of Review may separately interview the complainant
  • Hearing to include introductory statement by ACFE, thirty minute statement by member, question period from the ACFE and Board of Review, and a short closing statement from the member
• Executive session of Board of Review after the hearing
• Reduction in the time period for members to respond to a complaint (from sixty days to thirty days), with an additional provision for extension of the response period by twenty days
• New provision for conflicts of interest involving a member of the Board of Regents and reorganization of conflict of interest provisions into a new section
• Improving clarity in the Disciplinary Procedures (e.g., creation of a definitions section, consistent capitalization of key terms, specifying language of hearings, etc.)

ACFE Bylaws

• Specifying conditions under which members may access ACFE Membership records

The entire red-lined text of the proposed changes can be found here. To provide comments, you may submit them to [email protected] by March 31, 2024.

ACFE Membership Bylaws 

The bylaws establish the fundamental rules of governance for the ACFE. 

Bylaws of ACFE Membership, Inc. (PDF)

ACFE Disciplinary Procedures (PDF)