Description: FASB's Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 97 contains wide-sweeping changes to the preparation of GAAP financials for insurance companies. The focus of this article will be on the ramifications of the interest rate FASB has decided to use to amortize deferred acquisition costs.

Description: The Actuary Vol. 22, No. 2. This article discusses how the the choice of basis for measuring Interest Rate Spread impacts pricing and accounting for interest sensitive products.

Description: This article describes the Investment Year Method for allocation of general portfolio investment income and demonstrates the equivalence of a fixed index or declining index system.

Description: This article discusses international proposals for accounting reform that would establish a global common measurement approach for the large majority of life insurance and annuity products.

Description: The purpose of the article is to summarize the results and conclusions of the C-1 Risk Task Force Report prepared for the Committee on Valuation and Related Areas. A key question: Is the risk to insurance companies of defaults on junk bonds sufficient to justify increasing required surplus levels?

Description: This article summarizes statutory reporting and the Pinciple-Based Initiative that the Academy, the industry and the regulators have been working on in the U.S. It addresses whether a principles-based approach will simplify reporting regulations and make them more flexible.

Description: This article discusses the discount rate that should be used under GASB 45. Public employers now find themselves in a similar situation to private sector employers in the early 1990's in that GASB 45 requires them to measure liabilities including post-retirement medical liabilities using accrual accounting.