Webcast Questions and Answers
Education Webcast May 2, 2012
Questions and Answers Chartered Enterprise Risk Management (CERA) questions
The Enterprise Risk Management module must be completed and the Enterprise Risk Management exam must be passed. Those who complete the Operational Risk module (even if after July 1, 2012, when the ERM module is released) receive credit for the ERM module and those who have passed the Advanced Finance and ERM exam receive credit for the ERM exam. Note that the July 1 2012 deadline for completing the Operational Risk module only applies to non-FSAs wanting to earn a CERA under the old rules Several actuarial organizations signed a treaty that allows qualifying members to offer the CERA designation. A common set of learning objectives has been adopted, but organizations are free (within the terms of the treaty) to select their own source material and testing methods. More information is at www.ceraglobal.org. That depends on what was done to earn the ASA. All credits earned must first be translated to the current system and then all missing components of the CERA pathway need to be completed. If you need assistance in determining what you currently have, contact Brett Rogers, SOA Registrar at brogers@soa.org. Yes, the GI portion of the case study, the GI-specific readings and the option of choosing the GI extension will all be available for the Fall 2012 exam. The selection is made at the time of exam registration. Prior to that date candidates will have had access to the ERM case study and the reading extensions for all tracks. Yes, all requirements must be met by July 1, 2012 in order to use the old requirements. You will have to complete the Corporate Finance VEE and the Fundamentals of Actuarial Practice Course to earn your CERA. Your completion of the Operational Risk module will transfer to the ERM module. Yes, but you will be held to the new CERA requirements. Yes, credit will transfer. The ERM material in FAP has been updated, but there was a substantial amount of such material in the previous version. If you are in the process of working through the prior version of FAP, you can finish it and transfer the credit to the new version. The Operational risk module should be sufficient. The four-hour full version of the ERM exam must be completed. Because the granting of the CERA is governed by the global treaty, all recipients must demonstrate knowledge of the full set of learning objectives. No. Each track’s two-hour exam is specially designed for that track. Most tracks will include some risk management on that exam, but it will likely be more tailored to risk management in that track. That is up to the CAS to decide. Under the CERA global treaty, each organization determines the pathway to its CERA (with approval of the CERA Global Association). The CAS has the option to submit this exam for approval as part of its pathway to CERA. There are no restrictions on the practice-area extension selected for the ERM exam. It does not need to match the track selected for fellowship. However, all other components of fellowship must meet the requirements of a single track. General Insurance Track questions Yes, the SOA has rules about who can work on curriculum and exams. Non-members with appropriate background/designations may contribute. With the curriculum begin unsettled, we cannot be certain which current components will be used. One option is to complete the ERM module and ERM exam and earn a CERA. The module most likely to be used in the new track is the Financial and Health Economics module. The SOA is committed to ensuring that FSAs completing the GI track will be qualified to sign opinions. Whether it will be the full track or specific portions is yet to be determined. The decision of which route is best is a personal decision. This is yet to be determined. The SOA gives credit for equivalent exams offered by other actuarial organizations. It is likely that the SOA will give credit for portions of the CAS system that are deemed equivalent. New FSA Exam Structure questions Courseware is a study aid, but not a study module. It will help you work through the various readings in a proper order and help you understand how each reading relates to the learning objectives. There will also be some supplemental material that can be tested on the exam. Courseware does not replace your obligation to read the source material. Yes, curriculum committees are instructed to make the amount of reading proportional to exam time. The curriculum committee determined that this was the best choice to leave out for those desiring a CERA. Yes, for all tracks the last offering of the 6-hour exams will be spring 2013. There will be three-hours in the morning and two-hours in the afternoon, each preceded by a fifteen minute read-through. The ERM exam will be in one session, with a read-through. The slides indicated that the ERM exam can be taken at any time. This is difficult to display in a diagram. We recommend that FAP and the ERM module be completed prior to taking the ERM exam. Those on tracks other than Corporate Finance and ERM can take that exam when it best fits their plans. The Retirement Benefits and Individual Life and Annuity tracks will continue to offer some exams with Canadian and U.S. versions. Starting in fall 2013, the Group and Health track will also do so. For most of its exams and modules, the SOA does not enforce pre-requisites. So FSA modules can be taken at any time. Our recommendation is to first complete FAP. A major difference will be that the Life Products (LP) and the Life Risk Management (LRM) will not be country distinct, that is, there will be only one version for use in both Canada and the US. The LP exam will still cover products and features, but with less focus on the product development process. The LRM exam will cover asset liability management and other risk evaluative and management approaches. The FSA requirements will be similar, though there will be one more examination to pass. For actuaries who were planning to complete the VEE requirements and the FAP course, the CERA pathway is shorter with the six-hour AFE exam being replaced with the four-hour ERM exam. All exams of four-hours or longer will have case studies. It is not clear to us how numbering exams makes the process easier to understand. What number would the ERM exam get? How will modules be numbered or fit in. We could certainly assign numbers to each component, but that would provide less information. Those seeking a CERA must always complete the ERM module (or its predecessor). The option is only for candidates seeking an FSA but not a CERA. Yes, and there is no expiration date. Under the current system, the recommended order is to take the DP exam prior to the CSP exam. There is no specific recommendation as to when the EA exams should be taken under the current system, i.e. the EA exams can be taken at any time. DP and CSP exam questions are set with the intent of being completely independent of the content on the EA exams. For the system in effect in fall 2013, the recommended order is EA-2L, EA-2F, and then the five-hour Design and Accounting exam. The SOA Board has yet to approve a fee structure for the new exams. The current recommendation is Financial and Health Economics module, Health Foundations module, the two exams, then the Pricing, Reserving and Forecasting module. The new recommendations are the same except that the ERM module may be substituted for the Health Foundations module, and, whichever is selected, the ERM or the Health Foundations module may be taken at any time. |