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: This article discusses the calculation of mean reserves in certain cases where terminal reserves are negative and proposes a minimum reserve formula which produces adequate mean reserves in all cases.

Description: The author explores reasons why blocks of business may become legacy blocks and discusses ways to decrease the likelihood of legacy blocks in the future.

Description: Reports on the Florida winter meeting of the NAIC’s Life and Health Actuarial Task Force, LHATF, regarding an agreement that was reached on an approach to be taken to reconstitute the Standard Valuation Law, SVL, applicable to life insurers.

Description: This article describes the mortality tables that the Board of Governors of the Society of Actuaries is recommending to the NAIC as successors to the 1958 CSO Table

Description: This article provides a formulaic method of comparing unit reserves on different valuation bases. This enables a duration-by-duration comparison of the components of the calculation on two different valuation bases. This can be done ignoring taxes or assuming taxes are recognized in calculating the expected return on capital in pricing.

Description: The author notes “the last major change in the Valuation and Non-forfeiture Laws occurred during the 1940's when the work of the Guertin Committee resulted in the adoption by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners NAIC of the Standard Valuation and Non-forfeiture Laws. While there have been a number of amendments to these laws since their adoption, both insurance department and company actuaries have concluded that there is need for a general overhaul of these standard laws to make them more responsive to today's business and regulatory needs.” The article goes on to discuss recent developments, recommendations, and legislative action, including the work of the Society of Actuaries Special Committee on Valuation and Non-forfeiture Laws, and the NAIC Technical Task Force.

Description: Documents the error in the Smoker/Nonsmoker CSO Tables accepted by the NAIC, and the expected approval of the NAIC to accept use of both the erroneous and the correct mortality rates for all regulatory purposes.

Description: This article describes the effect of different valuation interest rates and levels of surplus on income tax paid by life insurance companies via Phase 1 of the Federal Income Tax Act of 1959.

Description: August Zilmer 1831-1893, a Prussian actuary best known for the development of preliminary term valuation, also made some observations on life insurance accounting that seem quite contemporary. Zillmer also wrote the first comprehensive German actuarial mathematics text in almost a century.