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.

Description: Describes a process for identifying relevant industry experience to credibility-weight with relevant company experience to set modeling assumptions and margins.

Description: Describes a process for identifying relevant industry experience to credibility-weight with relevant company experience to set modeling assumptions and margins.

Description: July 2017 issue of The Stepping Stone by Leadership & Development Section. practical information for actuaries, trends that impact section, section activities

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: Models are useful in illustrating various facets of complex phenomena, but they are inherently limited.

Description: This article covers the importance of a system peer review within the systems change control process and offers suggestions for creating more robust controls.

Description: On October 30, 2015, the SOA Assumption Development and Governance Group, an informal discussion group consisting of nearly 200 interested actuaries with topics pertaining to actuarial assumption development and governance, organized an industry discussion call on end-to-end assumption documentation practices. The purpose of this call was to generate a large list of ideas for best-practice assumption documentation. More than thirty companies were represented in the call, including direct insurers, reinsurers and consulting firms. This article is the work product of the discussion written by Laurie Li and Alex Zaidlin.

Description: On October 30, 2015, the SOA Assumption Development and Governance Group, an informal discussion group consisting of nearly 200 interested actuaries with topics pertaining to actuarial assumption development and governance, organized an industry discussion call on end-to-end assumption documentation practices. The purpose of this call was to generate a large list of ideas for best-practice assumption documentation. More than thirty companies were represented in the call, including direct insurers, reinsurers and consulting firms. This article is the work product of the discussion written by Laurie Li and Alex Zaidlin.

Description: Metadata for entire issue

Description: February issue of The Stepping Stone

Description: Challenge to actuarial business as usual in re public pension plans with a focus on setting actuarial standards of practice

Description: The next evolution of actuarial systems in the U.S. will likely be a move toward a single system solution. This article defines a single system solution and illustrates how models can be shared across actuarial functions, the potential benefits of a single system solution, and describes potential mitigation strategies to address typical actuarial concerns.

Description: The Stepping Stone issue 60, November 2015

Description: The October/November 2015 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: The Modeling Platform

Description: The August/September 2014 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: The February/March 2014 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: The December 2013/January 2014 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: In the summer of 2012 the SIC decided the time was right to find out what current practices were with respect to Asset Adequacy Testing. This article summarizes the survey process and results obtained. The purpose of the survey was twofold: first, to educate actuaries prior to year-end work about current AOMR practice reflecting changes since the American Academy of Actuaries’ (AAA’s) 2004 Practice Note had been issued; secondly, to provide enough information such that an update of that practice note could be done should the AAA decide a revision to the note was desired.

Description: The April/May 2013 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: Overview of a recent visit to silicon valley and how the learnings from this trip can be applied in an insurance setting.

Description: The October/November 2012 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: The authors suggest that mastering 'star performer' skills and work strategies is simply a matter of learning and practicing the outlined techniques. From The Stepping Stone, February 2012, Issue No. 45.

Description: Feature article highlighting readers’ responses to a previously published hypothetical workplace dilemma where unlocking assumptions resulted in an unexpected DAC writedown.

Description: A summary of the responses to the article “Stochastic Cherry Orchard”. A situation where a subordinate actuary was asked by his superior to reduce the number of scenarios run on a UL valuation in order to meet a time deadline.

Description: Summary of recent SOA-sponsored research on Enterprise Risk Management practices as applied to health insurers, self-insured plans, and health finance professionals.

Description: The author has gathered a variety of resources, general theories, and specific practices concerning spreadsheet errors and their avoidance.

Description: Discussion of the investigation of the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries in the United Kingdom relating to the events surrounding the closure to new business on December 8, 2000 of the UK’s Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Description: This article highlights the role of the regulatory actuary and gives advice to company actuaries when making state filings.

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

Description: Book review on Standards for Discussion and Presentation of Errors in Survey and Census Data by the American Statistical Association, Washington, D.C., 1975. The material will be of interest to actuaries and of help in preparing their own study reports. The guidelines discuss some relatively simple means of presenting error estimates for published data.