Description: This article is aimed to cover the following: 1) Provides an assessment of income volatility under Long Duration Targeted Improvements (LDTI) for several key types of long duration contracts along with select illustrations, and compares against those under current GAAP, 2) Discuss areas where accounting policies or methodologies can influence income volatility, and 3) Show how a company's management reporting can be adapted to help explain income variances under LDTI.

Description: Adjusted earnings has long been a fundamental KPI for investors to assess the core financial performance of a company. As a non-GAAP measure, there is a divergence in practice of how individual companies define adjusted earnings and what activities management views as “core” to their business. The arrival of US GAAP LDTI has led insurers to revisit their existing adjusted earnings framework as the new standard introduces additional “accounting noise” that if left unadjusted obscures the true underlying drivers of performance. This article provides key insights on the influence US GAAP LDTI has had to the adjusted earnings calculation, highlights changes from the pre-LDTI framework, and showcases key themes observed from public insurers 2023Q1 10-Q filings.

Description: The introduction and effective application of US GAAP LDTI have increased the scrutiny of those reviewing the updated financial results. That is because LDTI has resulted in significant changes in actuarial reserving and deferred acquisition cost (DAC) models for long-duration contracts, including significant changes to data, assumptions and required disclosures. In light of the changes, greater reliance has been put on companies’ model risk management (MRM) teams and model validations to assess the conceptual soundness and accuracy of their companies’ actuarial models and to assess that the underlying data and process utilized are suitable and appropriate. This article covers a brief background on model validation, walk through a sample LDTI-focused model validation framework/test plan, then provide insights on common LDTI-related validation observations based on the authors' prior validation experience.

Description: Discusses the top concerns of U.S. insurers regarding the recent IASB Exposure Draft entitled Insurance Contracts and the FASB Exposure Draft entitled Preliminary Views on Insurance Contracts.

Description: Article discussing insurance accounting developments from October - December2008.

Description: This article reviews the developments with the Financial Accounting Standards Board, FASB, and the International Accounting Standards Board, IASB, in the third quarter of 2011. Issues discussed include disclosures and risk adjustment for reserves and insurance liabilities including objective and confidence level disclosure and techniques and inputs.

Description: An update on the SOA's financial reporting research projects.

Description: Proposal to the NAIC and state regulators to recalibrate life insurance reserve and capital standards to ensure the life industry successfully withstands the historical low interest rate environment.

Description: A description of the current state of the Insurance Capital Standard under development by the IAIS, focusing on liability valuation.

Description: Provides an update, as of September 2022, on Financial Reporting Section sponsored research projects in process and those recently completed.