Chapter Profile - Dallas Area Chapter #3
/The ACFE Dallas Area Chapter was one of ACFE’s first chapters to form just over 30 years ago and remains one of our most active chapters. Their board stays very active coming up with new training ideas and ways to increase the chapter’s visibility in the local community.
The Dallas Area Chapter serves 250 chapter members, and to ensure the chapter is providing enough opportunities for these members, they have a board comprised of 12 dedicated chapter leaders. These board members are responsible for organizing between 10 to 12 events per year, including luncheon events, one to two-day conferences, and free networking events. In May 2020, they will be celebrating their 30th anniversary at their yearly DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) Fraud Conference in May 2020.
Dallas Area Chapter leaders at the chapter’s 29th Annual DFW Fraud Conference in May 2019.
The Dallas Area Chapter has been a great resource for other chapters throughout the years. Not only do they assist in helping promote other nearby chapter’s events, they also suggest speakers for other chapters and the ACFE. They also recently sponsored the Austin Leatherworks at the fundraising concert at the 30th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference in June.
A unique training opportunity
In March, the chapter held a joint meeting with the Dallas Bar Association and presented a panel of ACFE chapter and bar members discussing working with accounting experts on fraud and other litigation matters. This was a great experience for our members to network with local attorneys and discuss the partnership between attorneys and forensic accountants when it comes to fighting fraud.
Their greatest achievement
Their biggest achievement in the last year has been their increased involvement in the DFW community. In the winter and spring, chapter members volunteered at Dallas’ local public broadcasting station, KERA, as part of its membership drives. They helped raise $47,000 for KERA and the ACFE was recognized on the broadcasts. They also had successful canned food and toy drives supporting local organizations at each meeting, receiving donations from members at each of their events throughout the fall. Finally, in addition to giving lectures at local universities, chapter members and board members hosted seminars at a local assisted-living facility and at a local church discussing risks of elder fraud.
Chapter recognition
“I volunteer as a chapter leader because fraud is my PASSION and I thoroughly enjoy helping protect others in the community as well as helping the chapter succeed. It is amazing what can be accomplished when we all work together as a team!”
The chapter would like to recognize Andrea Prater, their director of community outreach. She has been instrumental in pushing forward all of the chapter’s outreach activities.
Anything can happen
During one of their events, a small fire broke out in the kitchen. While there was no fault on the part of the chapter or the attendees, and the fire was put out quickly before causing any damage, building security was called and the incident was escalated. This caused a strain on the relationship with their corporate partner, who sponsors the event space.
Lesson learned
Dallas Area Chapter Leaders Scott Ward, CFE, Cliff Porter, CFE, and Chris Mabile, CFE, accepting the 2019 Chapter Website of the Year award at the 30th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.
Keep the risk of fires on your radar. The fire was caused by a tray warmer set up by the caterer, and they were lucky to have someone in the kitchen at the time. More broadly, and this was discussed during the chapter leaders meeting at the 30th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, chapter leaders should take some of the advice they often give their clients and stakeholders―talk through various risks that might pop up at their events. This can be anything from emergencies to absent speakers. Create a plan to deal with those risks for whenever they occur.
On recruiting new members
They have focused recently on partnering with other local professional organizations; they have a good relationship with the local IIA. They have also partnered on events with the Dallas Bar and the Cyber Security Summit. The chapter also stays involved on local university campuses by hosting lectures, and the past two years, they have had student groups from UT Dallas perform audits of the chapter's books and records.
Goals for the future
Their primary goal for the future is to boost the chapter's, and by extension their chapter members', visibility and standing in the local community. They want their members to be known as go-to resources on fraud and fraud-related issues in Dallas, and they try to create as many opportunities as possible to connect members with the professional community and the community at large.
Advice for other chapters
The Dallas Chapter’s board has have been compiling "succession plan"-type documents and resources to assist with board member turnover, and it recently appointed one of their board members to be in charge of document retention. This came following a few board members who had to resign unexpectedly in the last few years. You would be surprised how much chapter business goes on, and even the incompletion of relatively simple tasks, such as renewing the chapter website domain name, can have big ramifications.
