Description: Issue 38 of Actuary of the Future newsletter, November 2015

Description: Discusses the section 6694 tax return preparer penalty regime and examines how it might potentially apply to other professionals, such as actuaries, who assist those traditionally considered to be tax professionals.

Description: Results of an industry survey on life insurance companies' efforts to implement the recently adopted Life Risk-Based Capital Phase II Instructions, which include new requirements for variable annuity contracts. Adopted by the NAIC on October 14, 2005, the new requirements are effective for year-end 2005. Also discusses a summary of the requirements set forth in the instructions.

Description: The article is Part 1 of two articles that provide a case study for the development of a profitability and risk dashboard. The sample dashboard provides distilled information regarding actual to expected (A/E) ratios for key risks, agent quality scores and customer value scores. The dashboard would also provide the value of new business written, surplus strain, debit balances, and expected losses on debit balances at different levels, down to the agent level. A product mix index is provided, together with visual comparisons of key metrics to the company's business plan. The Part 2 article will add information to the dashboard regarding risk margins, target capital, and company value.

Description: Investing in and taking care of employees can result in many-faceted positive results, for your team and for your firm. We first state the case for "taking care of employees," then exhibit several practical methods for showing you care for your employees.

Description: In the absence of a generally accepted guide to actuarial principles and practices for pension plans, a new professional firm offering actuarial consulting services has both the freedom to establish and the burden of establishing the professional policies by which it will be guided. Our thinking about the practical and professional necessity of annual valuations is reflected in this paper. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1972, Vol. 24, Pt. 1, No. 69 AB.

Description: Presentation at June 1980 SOA meeting. Discussed the responsibility of the actuary on self-funded group insurance plans and how this might differ for consultants as opposed to insurer staff, and provides specific case studies.

Description: How including the intent and rationale of the tax law in system specifications can lead to better software system designs.

Description: The objective of this statement of principles is to articulate the current understanding of the significant principles that form the scientific framework underlying all areas of actuarial practice. The intended audience includes practicing actuaries, researchers and others, such as representatives of standard-setting organizations. This articulation is not immutable and should be revised if changes arise in our understanding of the key concepts and phenomena relevant to actuarial science, or if a better expression of the ideas is developed. This statement is the culmination of an effort that begin with the October 1991 draft by the SOA Committee on Actuarial Principles entitled “Principles of Actuarial Science. After incorporating numerous comments, that statement was published in Transactions of the Society of Actuaries XLIV, 1992.

Description: This article studies the syllabus as a dynamic, interactive teaching tool that informs and is informed by both solutions of complex course problems and student difficulties with these problems.