In 1995, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) hired a young editor named Dick Carozza, CFE, to turn a newsletter into a magazine. He embraced the assignment and succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Carozza, along with ACFE
founder and Chairman Dr. Joseph T. Wells, CFE, CPA, laid out a new blueprint and remodeled a humble newsletter into the glossy, practical, down-in-the-trenches publication you know today as Fraud Magazine.
It’s three decades later, and Fraud Magazine is set for another transformation. This is our last printed issue as we tackle a new assignment: delivering the latest fraud prevention and detection content in a digital-only format. And while you’ll
no longer receive a physical copy of the magazine in your mailbox, the blueprint for anti-fraud content that Carozza and Dr. Wells envisioned for Fraud Magazine will remain.
My English literature professor in college said that most great works of literature revolve around the concepts of transience and mutability. Life is always in a state of transition. Nothing lasts forever — everything is transient, and we’re in a constant
state of mutability, always changing. Of course, transience and mutability make life feel uncertain, but I remember how amazing it was to see the launch of the four-color, glossy version of The White Paper in January 1996. Before that we’d
been communicating with our members through a newsletter without color or graphics. And we were able to fine-tune the purpose of the magazine when we renamed The White Paper to Fraud Magazine in 2004.
Printing thousands of copies of a four-color magazine and mailing them out around the globe six times a year is a massive undertaking, not to mention the rising costs of ink and postage. And, as the pandemic years changed the way many of us work, remotely
and in multiple locations, it makes sense for us now more than ever to embrace an all-digital future where we can reach so many more of you.
The reality of print when everything changes so quickly is that you end up a step behind on the latest information. We miss a few beats as it takes time to lay out, print, bind and mail the magazine. Now we can transmit to you the latest anti-fraud news
as we learn it.
I enjoy printed materials and will greatly miss the printed magazine. But with the technology we have today, we can provide you the anti-fraud information you rely on much faster and in a more interactive format.
Each iteration of Fraud Magazine over the past 30 years has been a transformation to better communication with our members. The decision to go all digital wasn’t made lightly, but we’re incredibly excited about it. We think you’ll have an even
better experience browsing and reading the magazine with our revamped Fraud-Magazine.com. Change can be a good thing, and we thank you for your continued support as Fraud Magazine heads
into an exciting new era as an online-only publication.
John
D. Gill, J.D., CFE, is president of the ACFE. Contact him at President@ACFE.com.