Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
470941683
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2020
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3125279200
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,004,312
Expenses
$10,468,710
Assets
$24,190,455
Liabilities
$9,379,378

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GRAHAM MCMAHON MD MSSC (PRESIDENT, CEO AND SECRETARY)
  • KATHLEEN REGNIER MA MBA (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • GRAHAM MCMAHON MD MSSC (PRESIDENT, CEO AND SECRETARY): $969,590 total reported compensation
  • KATHLEEN REGNIER MA MBA (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT): $438,806 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER DUNLEAVY MSA CPA (SVP, FINANCE AND OPERATIONS): $297,007 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To assure and advance quality learning for healthcare professionals that drives improvements in patient care, maintenance of competence and incorporation of new knowledge to improve quality medical care for patients and their communities.

What it reported doing in 2025

Education includes live, web-based and teleconference education provided to accredited cme providers and recognized organizations. In 2025, through its learning management system, accme academy, accme provided multiple on-line education resources to its community of providers and recognized organizations. Also in 2025, accme presented 1 accreditation workshop designed to teach about accme standards for cme and the review process for accme accreditation, as well as an annual meeting for cme providers and other stakeholders to share and learn about best practices in cme and accreditation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 57
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.7%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 87%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.9%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.31; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.1%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.7% of revenue deployed · 87% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $9.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $970K · 25 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $863K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.