Description: 1999 SOA Annual Meeting, San Francisco. This panel analyzed the choices between purchasing actuarial software and developing the software in-house. Topics discussed: 1. Determination of software needs. 2. Evaluation of software packages. 3. Combining in-house developed software with commercial software. 4. Modifying commercial software to the needs of the organization. 5. Staffing and training for in-house developments versus staffing and training for installation of purchased software.

Description: Presented at September 1995 Valuation Actuary Symposium. This session talks about the Long-Term Care Insurance Valuation Task Force report.

Description: A summary of the risk that the use of spreadsheets pose, along with key controls to reduce the risk.

Description: A disscussion of actuar R, an R package for actuarial science, and its facilities in the fields of loss distribution modeling, risk theory and credibility theory.

Description: This article reviews the database program, MS Access, as a solution to actuaries in small companies to access information themselves rather than relying on information system personnel. The article describes how to set up the process and also uses of the information.

Description: This article looks at trends in direct marketing with an emphasis on new technology for the internet and software for Straight Through Processing.

Description: Actuarial systems access and change controls are hot topics these days as modeling continues to increase in complexity and as new modeling regulations may begin to crest over the horizon. Many companies are currently in the process of either formalizing their actuarial system access and change control protocols, or are reevaluating and strengthening their existing control processes in response to identified deficiencies or in conjunction with new actuarial system implementations. With these undertakings in mind, this article discusses a number of valuable components commonly incorporated in formal systems access and change control protocols. Also discussed are leading practices identified in the SOA publication “Actuarial Modeling Controls: A Survey of Actuarial Modeling Controls in the Context of a Model-Based Valuation Framework (December 2012)”, and from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.