Academy representatives attended actuarial meetings on two continents in late September, visiting China and Romania. At the invitation of the Chinese Actuarial Association (CAA), and the Actuarial Association of Europe (AAE), representatives offered insights into how the U.S. actuarial profession is structured and carries out its professionalism and public policy work. See a full write-up in the September Actuarial Update.
Academy President Mary D. Miller provided an update on the Academy’s development of the online U.S. Qualification Standards Attestation Form to the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force, Health Actuarial Task Force, and Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Task Force at the NAIC Summer National Meeting. Miller also demonstrated a prototype of the online form at the professionalism breakfast for regulators that the Academy hosted on Aug. 15, highlighting the progress on the form, which will help actuaries document how they meet the U.S. Qualification Standards requirements for signing NAIC annual life, health, and property and casualty statements of actuarial opinion.
This professionalism webinar provides the first analysis of the results of the Academy’s survey on “Key Ethical Concerns Facing the Actuarial Profession: Perceptions of Members of the American Academy of Actuaries.” Attendees asked thought-provoking questions and shared insights on the top perceived ethical issues and means of mitigating such issues as they interacted with seasoned panelists—Vice President of Professionalism Kenneth Kent, former VP of Professionalism Karen Terry, and Academy Assistant General Counsel Sheila Kalkunte.
The Academy has released a report outlining potential ethical concerns facing U.S. actuaries today. The report, which is based on survey responses from more than 3,300 Academy members, shows that the highest perceived concern by a clear margin was “responding to pressure from principals and/or management to select inappropriate assumptions used in pricing or reserving.” Read the full report here.
The Applicability Guidelines for Actuarial Standards of Practice were updated to include the new ASOP No. 49, Medicaid Managed Care Capitation Rate Development and Certification. The ASOP was developed to establish guidance for actuaries preparing, reviewing, or giving advice on capitation rates for Medicaid programs, including those certified in accordance with 42 CFR 438.6(c), and takes effect for opinions and certifications issued on or after Aug. 1, 2015.
Registration is now open for the 2015 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, to be held Nov. 9-12 in Arlington, Va. See why so many of your peers find this seminar the most succinct and effective way to acquire the required basic education and continuing education to be qualified to sign NAIC annual statement actuarial opinions.
This seminar is the primary source of instruction for actuaries who wish to be qualified to issue actuarial opinions for either the NAIC Life and A&H Annual Statement or the NAIC Health Annual Statement but may not have met the basic education requirements set forth in Section 3.1.1 of the U.S. Qualification Standards (USQS). Register early: Seats are limited and will fill up quickly.
Keith Passwater, chairperson of the Committee on Qualifications (COQ), presented to the NAIC Life Actuarial (A) Task Force (LATF), in response to the task force’s request for assistance with the question of certification for actuarial responsibility in principle-based reserving (PBR), and of continuing education (CE) requirements for PBR actuaries. The COQ carefully considered the U.S. Qualification Standards, and determined that those standards already address PBR qualifications, albeit in a generalized manner. The COQ report also cites reference materials to aid actuaries in keeping up with CE related to PBR.
Nominations are now open for the Jarvis Farley Service Award, the Robert J. Myers Public Service Award, and the Outstanding Volunteerism Award. Learn more and submit your nomination(s) for a deserving colleague and/or respected mentor for the award that best suits his or her service to the actuarial profession and the Academy.
Committing on an annual basis to professional objectivity is required to perform volunteer work for the Academy. That’s why the Academy today emailed each volunteer a request to submit a conflict of interest (COI) acknowledgement and continuing education (CE) attestation. Interested parties must also acknowledge the COI policy. To comply, follow the instructions in the email or on the membership page under “COI and CE Acknowledgement.” Click here to read Vice President for Professionalism Ken Kent’s article in January’s Actuarial Update on why volunteers need to (and must) acknowledge the Academy’s conflict of interest (COI) policy.
The Committee on Qualifications chair along with another committee member discuss a greatly expanded and detailed revision to the committee’s Frequently Asked Questions on the U.S. Qualification Standards, including topics such as statements of actuarial opinion, practicing in more than one area, continuing education, and other qualification matters. The newly expanded FAQs are available here.
The May 2014 update of ASOP No. 6, Measuring Retiree Group Benefits Obligations and Determining Retiree Group Benefits Program Periodic Costs or Actuarially Determined Contributions, included a number of changes that have practical implications for actuaries. This webinar provides an overview of the changes, reviews aspects of the U.S. Qualification Standards, and explains how data recently made available by the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) pertains to the new requirements for developing age-specific costs.