Description: The financial reporting of insurance is necessarily a complicated process because of numerous and stringent regulatory requirements, the inherent difficulty in estimating both the probability and cost of long-term contingent events, product diversity, and new products, such as equity-linked annuities. This literature guide provides the user with a summary of representative sources of current general information for continuing education purposes.

Description: Generally accepted accounting principles 'GAAP' are those that apply to external financial reporting of publicly owned business enterprises. The principles that constitute GAAP vary between stock and mutual insurers, from product class to product class, and according to the purchase status of the business. This paper highlights additional reading materials that provide concise information regarding GAAP principals.

Description: This literature guide provides a basic grounding in policyholder dividends and other nonguaranteed elements in individual life insurance and annuities in Canada and the U.S. Participating insurance is most often offered by mutuals in the U.S. and by both mutual and stock companies in Canada.