02/14/2025
The reason behind our correspondence is simple. We want to inform each individual member of the current ongoings with some of the AWMA Executive Board. We as members need to push back and demand financial transparency from the Executive Board members and hold them accountable for directly violating the organization’s bylaws. If you wish to speak up, the Executive Board members may be contacted via email (all Board Member’s emails are on the AWMA website).
• The Executive Board Consists of:
o Andy Deitz, President
o Erick Aguirre, Vice President
o Jessica Johnson, Secretary
o Beth Golder, Treasurer
o Shannon Faltak, Membership Chair
o Jill Viggiani & Susan Kelly, Directors at Large
o Brigitte Deitz, Katie Smart, & Rachele Lema, Regional Directors
As members of the auditing committee, we are reaching out to membership due to concerns about the lack of transparency on the current Executive Board.
• On January 28th, 2025 we (the auditing committee) reached out for read only access to the bank and QuickBooks. As per our role in the bylaws, the auditing committee “shall audit the financial accounts of AWMA”, and “shall have the power to summon the Treasurer to answer any questions.”
• After multiple attempts, we provided the Treasurer step-by-step instructions as to how to get access set up in Bank of America for individuals acting as accountants and still do not have access.
• The 2023 audit has also still not been completed due to the auditing committee not being provided access to fulfill their roles.
o Screenshots and .pdfs of QuickBooks reports will not suffice as we need to be able to dig into individual transactions to determine their validity.
o That additional cost of 5 licenses to QuickBooks in lieu of our current single license is $100 per month versus the $35ish we are currently spending.
• We later found out that there is only one person in the organization who has access to both the banks and books.
o It is a violation of multiple accounting regulations for only one person to have access to any of these items, and is a major control violation.
o Nonprofits MUST be ensured transparency, accountability, proper oversight of the organization’s finances.
o A secondary also provides a backup in the situation that the person who has access is incapacitated to ensure the organization can still gain access to their funds, and prevents fraud and misrepresentations of the financial statements.
• As of Tuesday, February 12th, 2025, we have requested access to the financials from the entire Executive Board and have been met with silence.
o At that time, we also requested the Treasurer to grant the President of AWMA full access to both the bank and QuickBooks as the President is the acting legal representative of the organization. Link for context.
o The acting members of the auditing committee should also always have read only access to all of these items as part of our role to the organization to act as internal auditors.
• The IRS treats nonprofit violations has their highest priority due to the nature of the business, so reports are taken very seriously and handled swiftly.
We are all volunteers who should be working to protect the best interests of the AWMA and its membership.
We implore you to see reason and provide us with the access required to fulfill our role to the membership without having to resort to measures outside of the organization.
Respectfully,
Rebecca Wadsworth, Christina Hansel, and Tyler Peabody
The AWMA Auditing Committee
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