Description: In the U.S. in the late 1980’s, the Internal Revenue Service was taking steps to try to institute explicit boundaries for the actuarial assumptions being used in 'funding' valuations to determine the appropriate contribution levels for small pension plans. This article was written in the context of that environment, to defend the rights of actuaries to their professional judgement. The courts eventually supported this perspective.

Description: After an initial SOA Board review of the proposal in March 2016, there were further meetings of the Task Force and additional feedback received from employers and actuarial associations. There was approval of the transition rules and Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA) requirements by the Education Executive Group.

Description: Candidates, educators and employers need to know about the changes to the Validation by Education Experience (VEE). The changes to the VEE requirements start July 1, 2018. Before discussing them, it is important to understand some basics about VEE.

Description: This article is about the challenging role of the actuary in business and how Canada's resolution to this challenge can benefit the profession as a whole.

Description: Discusses the direction for actuarial research in the areas of experience studies, theory, and practice.

Description: This newsletter’s nominee for the most spectacular American at last summer’s International Congress is Prof. William S. Jewel1 of the University of California, Berkeley, who, as Mr. Hazelcorn reports in this issue, introduced the Congress subject, Generalized Models of the Insurance Business. Prof. Jewel encouraged actuaries to be receptive of, and tolerant towards, new methods, models, and paradigms.

Description: This is a short poem regarding actuarial predictions.

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

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: Noteworthy Reads has a simple aim—to inform our readers of good sources on models; specifically, to point out sources beyond what we can include in a newsletter. Noteworthy Reads will select a few and provide mini-reviews.