Description: What does “accountable” mean? You will see how the accountability culture can transform spectators into protagonists following the Four Steps to Accountability.

Description: Describes the characteristics employers look for in actuaries-with the theme that all start with the letter C.

Description: This article highlights the importance of communicating concisely and effectively through email and other written forums, and when/when not to use written vs. other forms of communication.

Description: This article discusses the implications of the competition actuaries face from “financial engineers.”

Description: Fun look at life outside of the actuarial profession

Description: In the midst of the financial crisis, a group of actuaries, representing the Joint Risk Management Section, the Investment Section, the International Network of Actuarial Risk Managers, and the Enterprise Risk Management Institute International published an extensive list of articles entitled, “Risk Management: The Current Financial Crisis, Lessons Learned and Future Implications”.

Description: This article gives a summary of the articles to be presented in the Spring 2013 issue of the the AoF newsletter. It also introduces some of the new initiatives and programs underway in 2013.

Description: This presentation proposes a solution to the student actuarial paradox “I mastered the syllabus but failed the exam,” by utilizing the two-dimensional syllabus vehicle which pedagogically focuses on the two dimensions of content and problem difficulty. This presentation advocates the PMR characterization of three levels of problems difficulty: Plug-ins (easy), Monkey-wrench (intermediate), and Research-type(hard) questions. PMR was developed by examining difficulty levels in SOA exams, and problems of various software vendors. The author's students routinely score high on the SOA FM exam; it is hoped that these methods will assist other instructors in their quest for good pedagogy. Very briefly: “Plug-ins,” refer to multi-part problems, for example, calculating the price of an annuity that is first increasing and then level; “Monkey-wrench” problems specifically refer to plug-in multi-part problems where one component is a monkey-wrench, an issue the candidate has not previously encountered. It might be a non-typical modeling or it might be a non-typical algebraic simplification or it might be an unexpected integration of distinct modules in a manner that the candidate has not yet seen. “Research-type questions” refer to problems requiring some type of experimentation for example, looking at initial cases, seeing a pattern and then applying methods

Description: Describes Six Sigma and how actuaries can use it.