South Florida Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Perspectives

The views expressed in this document are solely the opinion of the author.

South Florida Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud

Examiners

PerspectivesFernando Cancino, CFE, CIA

SFCACFE President


Objective

To leverage our membership’s networks and talents to catapult our chapter’s mission achievement to greater heights


Chapter Mission

• Serve the Community

• Promote Member Interaction

• Maintain a Membership Directory

• Contribute to the Common Body of Knowledge

• Provide Basic Fraud Examination Education


Serving the Community

• Provide membership with speaking opportunities at universities, alumni associations, common interest associations, chambers of commerce, and local bar associations for example:– Universities: FIU, UM, Nova, FAU, BCC, MDCC– Alumni Associations: UM, FIU, UF and Harvard– Professional Associations: CPA, IA, Banking, Local

Bar, Law Enforcement, Inspector General– Tricounty Chambers, Multinational Chambers

• Donate time to ACFE approved charitable or community service organizations.


Promote Member Interaction

• Organize 1 and 2 day training seminars– Supported by ACFE national– Involve sponsors– Great opportunity for low cost CPE credits 1 day is 8 credits for

$150 = $18.75/credit• Increased purely networking events with other

professional, educational and law enforcement associations as well as chambers of commerce in the tri county area. This is a low cost avenue to increase exposure and membership, not to mention fun.

• Change format of our chapter meetings to include more opportunity to network before and after the presentation


Maintain Membership Directory and Job & Consulting Listing

• Directory available to active membership from the chapter’s website on PDF format.

• Directory updated quarterly• Job & Consulting listing available to ALL active

members via website with the following features:– Email alerts

– Free postings to members and minimal fee to non-members

– Updated as needed


Contribute to the Common Body of Knowledge CBOK

• Provide incentives for publishing by our membership in the form of awards, recognition and accolades for publishing.

• Provide training seminars that cover and relate to the CBOK (Fraud Examiner’s Manual). Merge topics of current interest with CBOK subject matter.– Part of chapter meetings program– 1 or 2 day events

• Commission a South Florida white collar crime study for annual publication– Great for media coverage– Leverage methodology and know how from ACFE.


Membership

• Prepare two annual membership drive events with a leading topic of interest & speaker– Get list of CFEs and ACFE members in the tricounty area and target them for this event– Targets for membership also include:

• Faculty and Students of Local Universities• Security Directors of Large Corporations and Banks• Attorneys• Law Enforcement• Insurance Investigators• Association of Inspectors General

• Have an achievement award program for our members i.e.:– Most new members– All who publish– Community service leadership– Thought leadership

• Discounts to members for all events, meetings, seminars• Discounts to members who increase membership• Award honorary memberships to anti-fraud leaders in our area including Attorneys, Law

Enforcement Officers, Academic Faculty • Establish anti-fraud recognition award for people in our community that demonstrate leadership in

the fight against fraud


Increased Media & Membership Contact

• Our events need to be publicized in a cost effective manner, ie “mark your calendar” sections of newspapers and major community organizations

• Publish articles and have positive articles written about our chapter

• Quarterly newsletter for membership, general public and media.

• Present our annual South Florida White Collar Crime report.


Chapter Meetings

• Frequency of every other month (not including seminars)

• Location throughout the tricounty area• Format more conducive to networking• Offer “bring a prospective member”

discounts to members• Mix of settings: Lunches, Snack Dinners or

Buffets


Revenue

• 1 and 2 day seminars– For sale as in-house training for companies or at open venue

• Host Annual South East Mini Convention (best in the winter months)– Needs approval by ACFE, but not out of the question as there are

other regional conventions and events.– Great event to drive sponsorship & leverage on established ACFE

sponsors• Annual dues• Reduced event fees for members, higher for non-members• Book and training materials sales at all meetings and

events


Administration

• Outsource bookkeeping– Non-member strengthens manageability and accountability

• Outsource event management & promotion– Budget constraints, but worth leveraging existing relationships of ACFE for seminars and

conferences– The efforts of two or three volunteers devoted part time yield a dysfunctional part time

equivalent.• Outsource anything that detracts from our core mission• Website:

– Online payments for dues, events, etc– RSVP functionality– Email alerts & reminders– Job & Consulting posting– Membership Directory– Calendar of events– Chapter Bylaws– Chapter News


Demographics

• From the ACFE membership directory (includes CFE & non-CFE) here are a few numbers for your consideration:– 320+ Miami-Dade– 270+ Broward– 140+ Palm Beach

Documents

South Florida Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Perspectives