Description: The objective of this statement of principles is to articulate the current understanding of the significant principles that form the scientific framework underlying all areas of actuarial practice. The intended audience includes practicing actuaries, researchers and others, such as representatives of standard-setting organizations. This articulation is not immutable and should be revised if changes arise in our understanding of the key concepts and phenomena relevant to actuarial science, or if a better expression of the ideas is developed. This statement is the culmination of an effort that begin with the October 1991 draft by the SOA Committee on Actuarial Principles entitled “Principles of Actuarial Science. After incorporating numerous comments, that statement was published in Transactions of the Society of Actuaries XLIV, 1992.

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

Description: The 2016 Transition Rules for ASA Candidates provides the transition credit candidates will receive if they have completed a current requirement by July 1, 2018. Candidates who have completed requirements under previous systems have them first moved to the current system using previous transition rules and then moved to the new system.

Description: Leadership is not confined to managerial roles. It can be manifested and nurtured even as an individual contributor. In this session, we will delve into the concept of Growth from three distinct yet interconnected perspectives.

Description: A typical course has some "hard" parts. These "hard" parts are the places where weaker students begin to fail, lose interest, and give up. The paper introduces a metric by which to evaluate each course topic. High metric values indicate "hard parts" of courses. The paper recommends spending more course time on hard parts and less course time on easy parts. The paper also recommends using disclosure: Tell students - this part of the course is "hard" and they may feel uncomfortable which is why more time is being spent on it." This approach to hard parts works! Failure rates are significantly reduced, while retention, satisfaction, and student scores improve.

Description: Providing ways to master the art of soft skills and embracing agility to propel actuarial success in today's market.

Description: One group of actuaries devoted an entire SOA meeting morning to developing their communication knowledge and skills. Titled “Actuaries Can Communicate,” the workshop was designed to: identify ways to communicate more effectively as an actuary, develop individual communication competence and practice communication skills central to the work of an actuary.

Description: This article continues the Passing the Torch Interview Series. Linda Liu and Amanda Jacques invite Simon Curtis, currently president of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) and recently joined Deloitte as a partner in their Toronto office after a long career at Manulife. Simon shares with us his career experience and talks about the changes and challenges facing the actuarial profession.

Description: Cassie He and Linda Liu, two actuarial students, invite Mark Freedman, the President-Elect of SOA to share with us his experience as an actuary, the challenges and opportunities facing actuaries and the outlook for the profession as SOA president.

Description: Article about how Toastmasters can benefit actuaries in several competencies areas.