Description: Full version of The Actuary, December 1996, Vol. 30, No. 10.

Description: Presenters examine some of the difficulties created by the absence of worldwide generally accepted accounting principles. Topics covered: 1. The need for worldwide Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, accounting, and reserving standards. 2. The work being done by the International Accounting Standards committee and the International Organization of Securities Commissions.

Description: Table of contents and acronym list for A Comprehensive Guide to Measuring and Managing Life Insurance Company Expenses

Description: The Society of Actuaries Research Institute’s Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program is pleased to release a collection of essays addressing the impact of inflation on retirement and retirement-related issues.

Description: Exposure to cigarette smoke has had and will continue to have a huge effect on mortality. Significant differences in smoking prevalence rates by gender have contributed to differential levels and rates of improvement in mortality and are expected to continue to influence mortality improvement differently over the next several decades. This paper compares smoking prevalence and cessation by gender and their effect on smoking-attributable and, in turn, all-cause mortality. A summary of mortality attribution approaches used to evaluate the effect of smoking and projections of mortality rates by gender is also provided.

Description: Table of contents and acronym list for A Comprehensive Guide to Measuring and Managing Life Insurance Company Expenses

Description: Dealing with more known unknowns? More scary knowns? Or unknown unknowns? What is the next unthinkable? What future events should actuaries actively be modelling and keep us up at night? The Catastrophe & Climate Strategic Research Program of the Society of Actuaries Research Institute (SOA) put forth a call for essays exploring these risks. The Program Steering Committee selected these essays submitted by Sam Gutterman and Max Rudolph to publish, and are awarding them each a prize of $500. The Catastrophe & Climate Strategic Research Program Steering Committee congratulates the authors and is happy to publish the winning essays on the SOA website.

Description: The ORSA should be more than a compliance requirement -- its process should be an integral element of a company's governance and risk and strategic planning process used by both management and the board on a regular feedback loop basis. Similar to that used for ERM, it along with a carefully constructed set of metrics should serve as the springboard to be used to identify, control and mitigate short- and long-term risks, as well as to enable exploitation of opportunities to add shareholder and policyholder value. Risk can represent an opportunity from which insurers can leverage their knowledge and risk management capabilities to find and maintain a competitive edge. Part of the essay collection "Risk Metrics for Decision Making and ORSA"

Description: This collection of articles and essays will look at the impacts of excessive heat on mortality, morbidity, property damage, and other costs, and the contribution from climate change factors, as well as the applications to actuarial practice and quantification of risks resulting from excessive heat.

Description: This document is composed of the questions and comments received to date on the initial report of the SOA’s research report on Financial Reporting for Insurance Contracts Under Possible Future International Accounting Standards.