Description: A summary of a preliminary report from the Committee on Valuation and Related Problems, on guidelines for quantifying balance sheet items in an insurance enterprise.

Description: A discussion of funding arrangements that can reduce the costs of providing medical coverage through lower reserves or state tax savings, instead of through cutting benefits.

Description: Book review of The Fundamentals of Pension Mathematics by Barnet E. Barin. Mr. Griffin supports the text as a valuable contribution in particular his analysis of gains/losses by source during the transition to utilizing computers for pension valuation.

Description: Book review of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen.

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: Brief description of articles contained in the newsletter.

Description: How can actuaries tailor their work to a target audience? This article explores success stories and key considerations when preparing work for others.

Description: An overview of the formation of the Committee of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics, initiated by the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Government Statistics, in response to the need for statistical advisory committees to government agencies to promote better data collection and dissemination, contracting, forms clearance, planning, coordination, monitoring, staffing, and strengthening of agency functions.