Mid-Atlantic (MAIAF)

Chair
Konstantinos ‘Gus’ Tsakos
Vice President of Audit and Compliance
City of Philadelphia, Department of Aviation
Gus.Tsakos@phl.org
215-863-3823

Immediate Past Chair
John Sysak (Retired)
johnsysak65@gmail.com

Vice Chair
Julia Jebo Grant
Senior Analyst, International Affairs and Trade
U.S. Government Accountability Office
jebograntjp@gao.gov
202-512-9828

Federal Representative
Ingrid Harris
Program Director, Office of Financial Audits
U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General
Ingrid.Harris@oig.dot.gov
202-450-7637

State Representative
VACANT

Local Representative
Maxene M. Bardwell, CPA, CIGA, CIA, CFE, CITP, CRMA
Assistant Inspector General
WSSC Water, Office of Inspector General
Maxene.bardwell@wsscwater.com
301-206-8300

Single Audit Chair
Layna Holmes-Butler, CPA, CGFM
Accounting Professional
laynahb@lmh-bcpa.com

Executive Director
M. Morning F. Washburn
Executive Director
WashburnM@gao.gov
(202) 997-5524

Adopted May 1, 1974 and Amended October 1, 1995
ARTICLE I–NAME AND PURPOSE

The Mid-Atlantic Intergovernmental Audit Forum is a consortium of audit executives from the District of Columbia and the States of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. The primary purpose of the Forum is to improve coordination and cooperation in governmental auditing. It will have no decision-making authority to bind the Federal, State, or local Governments represented; however, all members actively support a policy of coordination and cooperation.

ARTICLE II–OBJECTIVES

The Forum shall have the following objectives:

A. To provide a Forum where audit executives can identify, define, and solve common auditing problems.

B. To maintain and improve the competency of audit staffs through training and professional development.

C. To stimulate and foster the acceptance, utilization, and interchange of audits among the various audit organizations in order to avoid duplication of effort and achieve maximum audit effectiveness.

D. To promote the acceptance, uniform interpretation, and implementation of generally accepted governmental auditing standards.

E. To encourage research of intergovernmental audit problems, both within the Forum structure and, where appropriate, in collaboration with other professional organizations.

F. To increase the Forum’s sphere of influence by communicating with other professional organizations and interested segments of the audit community.

ARTICLE III–ACTIVITIES

To further its objective, the Forum

A. shall hold general meetings, establish committees, and sponsor group discussions;

B. may develop and formally promulgate position statements with respect to specific intergovernmental audit issues;

C. shall provide a means of communication with the National and other regional audit forums, professional organizations, public interest groups, and others who are involved with activities addressed by the Forum; and

D. shall encourage other groups, who may contribute significantly to the advancement of Forum objectives, to participate in Forum activities.

ARTICLE IV–MEMBERSHIP

The principal of each Federal, State, and local organization whose role is to audit governmental organizations, programs, activities, and functions is eligible for voting membership and shall be invited by the Chairman to join the Forum.

Representatives from professional accounting firms and State societies having an interest in governmental auditing are entitled to non-voting associate membership in the Forum. One associate membership shall be available to each such firm or society.

Executives desiring to be members, full or associate, of the Forum shall submit the prescribed application form to the Chairman. Membership applications will be reviewed using established criteria by the Membership Committee, who will make recommendations to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is the final authority on all matters pertaining to membership.

Each member will officially designate, in writing, an alternate who shall attend meetings when the regular member is unable to attend. The alternate shall be fully empowered to act on behalf of and instead of his principal at all Forum Business Meetings.

ARTICLE V–MEETINGS

Forum meetings shall be held at least two times a year, which extends from July 1 to June 30, at such time and place designated by the Chairman. To the extent practicable, responsibility for arranging a suitable meeting place for the Forum shall alternate among the Federal, State, and local Government representatives. Committee meetings may be called, as necessary, by the Chairman of the respective group.

ARTICLE VI–VOTING

All members of designated alternates shall have the right to vote when in attendance at duly called meetings. No agency or organization may have more than one vote. In addition to charter amendments as provided in Article XIII, the Executive Committee may approve instances where voting can take place by mail ballots.

All votes are determined by majority vote of those members voting, except that if all members of one level of Government (Federal, State or local) oppose the matter, it shall not be approved.

ARTICLE VII–OFFICERS

The officers of the Forum shall be a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman shall be elected, in accordance with the criteria set forth in ARTICLE IX and shall serve two years. The Chairman, who is the principal executive of the Forum, shall preside over all meetings and shall be primarily responsible for promoting and managing achievement of Forum objectives. In the absence of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman shall perform the duties of the Chairman and shall succeed him in case of a vacancy. The Vice-Chairman also serves as Chairman of the Membership Committee.

ARTICLE VIII–EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Forum shall include a permanent position of Executive Director, which is to be filled from the staff of the General Accounting Office. Such designation or changes shall be made by the Norfolk Regional Manager. The Executive Director shall be a non-voting ex-officio member of all committees and shall be responsible to the Chairman for managing Forum activities, which includes both administrative and financial matters.

ARTICLE IX–ELECTIONS

Elections shall be held annually before the beginning of the Forum year (July 1). Generally, elections shall be held at the Forum meeting nearest to but before that date.

The officers to be elected Forum-wide are the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, who shall be elected in even-numbered years. Candidates for these positions shall be recommended by a Nominating Committee or shall be nominated from the floor during the general meeting.

Representatives from Federal, State, and local Governments shall be selected during odd-numbered years. The members from the respective groups shall separately caucus and select one individual and an alternate who shall serve as their representatives to the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE X–COMMITTEES

The Forum shall operate through various standing and ad-hoc committees. The standing committees are: Executive Committee, Membership Committee and Single Audit Committee. The ad-hoc committees are determined by the Executive Committee and must include but not be limited to the Nomination Committee, which shall nominate members for the position of Chairman and Vice-Chairman. The Forum Chairman shall appoint the Chairman of the Single Audit Committee and all ad-hoc Committees. The term of the Chairman of the Single Audit Committee shall be the same as that of Forum Chairman. All Committee Chairman or their designated representatives shall present an oral and a written report at each Forum meeting.

A. Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is responsible for the operations of the Forum and, except for those instances requiring Forum vote or otherwise provided, shall make all decisions for the Forum. Such an instance requiring Forum vote would be a tie vote among Executive Committee members.

The Executive Committee shall be comprised of the following members

(1) Forum Chairman, who shall chair the committee;

(2) Forum Vice-Chairman;

(3) One representative each from the Federal, State, and local Government members;

(4) Chairman of the Single Audit Committee

(5)Chairman of each ad-hoc committee (nonvoting); and

(6) Executive Director (nonvoting)

B. Membership Committee

The Membership Committee is responsible for recruitment, establishment of criteria, review of applications, determination of category, and review of a member’s status as defined in ARTICLE IV. The Membership Committee makes recommendations to the Executive Committee.

The Membership Committee shall consist of the Forum Vice-Chairman, as Committee Chairman, and no fewer than two additional members to be chosen by the Vice-Chairman.

C. Single Audit Committee

The Single Audit Committee is responsible for encouraging a common understanding of the provisions of the Single Audit Act and related OMB requirements and for exploring and surfacing issues related to Single Audit.

The Chairman of the Single Audit Committee shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Forum. Membership is open to all Forum members.

ARTICLE XI–REGISTRATION FEE

A registration fee for each function shall be established by the Executive Committee and shall be used for meeting and operating expenses.

ARTICLE XII–RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL AUDIT FORUM

A National Intergovernmental Audit Forum exists to bring together Federal, State, and local audit executives at the directorate level to discuss and resolve intergovernmental audit problems. The Mid-Atlantic Intergovernmental Audit Forum has no direct relationship with the National Forum; however, it will

(A) provide a summary of its accomplishments and current work plans;

(B) recommend courses of action as a result of its activity, and

(C) refer problems that it believes should be resolved on a national scale.

State and local representatives from the Mid-Atlantic area to the National Forum shall be those persons chosen to represent those respective groups on the Mid-Atlantic Forum’s Executive Committee.

ARTICLE XIII–DISSOLUTION

In the case of dissolution of the Forum and liquidation of its affairs, any money of other assets remaining after the payment of all obligations shall be distributed to another nonprofit audit organization designated by the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE XIV–AMENDMENTS

This Charter may be amended by a 2/3 (two-thirds) majority vote. Such voting must be accomplished by mailed ballot to all members and the results shall be based upon those members who return a completed ballot by the specified date. If all members of a group (e.g., Federal, State, or local) unanimously oppose an amendment, it shall not be approved. Unanimous opposition would require that all members of the group in question shall have returned by the specified date a completed ballot indicating opposition.

The proposed amendment must have been put on an official meeting agenda for discussion prior to any vote and should be distributed at least 10 days prior to the meeting.