Description: From a panel discussion session at the Spring regional meeting of the Society of Actuaries held in Atlanta, Georgia, May 24-25, 1999 Panelists discuss problematic aspects of applying GAAP to insurance products, challenges in producing GAAP financials, and various ways in which mutual companies are integrating this new reporting basis into their management process. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 25, No. 1.

Description: SFAS 157, Fair Value Measurements, defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value and expands disclosures. This article briefly summarizes SFAS 157 and then turns to the computation of a fair value liability and the use of risk margins, with some expanded discussion of the cost of capital method for establishing the risk margin.

Description: This panel discussion session explored alternative methods for accounting recognition of the costs of policyholder dividends. The theoretical bases, as well as the impact on anticipated earnings patterns, are discussed. Implementation issues are also discussed. Discussion of participating products in the UK and accounting methods used for them is also included.

Description: This session at the SOA 2003 Washington, DC Spring Meeting is a debate on the pros and cons of three alternative reporting methods -Embedded [Economic] Value, Fair Value and U.S. GAAP - as measures of shareholder-value creation and as pricing tools. Each speaker describes his preferred method, emphasizing the uses and advantages of the method, and critiques the other methods.