As the old year winds down and a new year begins, you might resolve to get a good start on fulfilling your continuing education (CE) requirements. CE can help you keep up with demands and changes that occur in your work environment and enables you to remain qualified to issue statements of actuarial opinion. The Academy provides a wide range of professionalism resources to help you understand and meet your professionalism CE requirements easily, efficiently, and economically.

The Academy’s professionalism webpage should be your first stop, as it features links to the following professionalism resources:

  • The Code of Professional Conduct identifies the professional and ethical standards required of actuaries who practice in the United States. Members may also request a pocket-size copy of the Code via a link on this page for easy reference.
  • The U.S. Qualification Standards (USQS) set the requirements for actuaries issuing statements of actuarial opinion in the U.S. Through this page, you can also access and print an infographic on CE and the FAQs on the USQS. If the FAQs don’t answer your question, you may submit a question to the Committee on Qualifications.
  • The Actuarial Standards Board’s (ASB) actuarial standards of practice (ASOPs) contain binding guidance that identifies what an actuary should consider, document, and disclose when performing an actuarial assignment. The ASB Boxscore, a quarterly newsletter with progress reports on new and revised standards that you may subscribe to free of charge to stay informed about the ASB’s work on ASOPs that may affect your work, is housed on the ASB website.
  • The applicability guidelines, published by the Council on Professionalism, can suggest which ASOPs may apply to a particular assignment.
  • Professionalism webinars are archived and available at no cost to Academy members. They allow you to earn professionalism CE credit by listening to recordings and reviewing materials on a wide range of topics, including actuarial communications, common questions on the USQS, Precept 13, and new and revised standards of practice. For upcoming professionalism webinars on cutting-edge topics, watch for our quarterly webinars presented by recognized experts that allow you to earn “organized” CE credit.
  • Professionalism discussion papers are thoughtful, detailed pieces. They presently include papers on international practice, Precept 13, conflicts of interest, materiality, and the role of the actuary in selecting and applying actuarial models, among others.

Professionalism grounds all the work of the Academy and infuses the other resources that address public policy issues and developments in every practice area. The Academy’s main monthly newsletter, Actuarial Update, covers policy developments and Academy news in all practice areas, while HealthCheck and the Enrolled Actuaries Report focus on health and pensions, respectively. Other Academy newsletters include PBA Perspectives, featuring updates on the implementation of the principles-based approach for life insurance; Retirement Account, covering developments affecting retirement plans; and StateScan Quarterly, highlighting state legislation of interest to Academy members. The Academy’s flagship magazine, Contingencies, provides a bimonthly look into the world of the actuary, examining insurance, casualty, health, pension, and financial and risk management through a variety of feature stories and columns.

So, as the old year passes and the new one begins, we encourage you to explore these resources—not just to make the most of your Academy membership, but to stay abreast of developments that affect your work.

(Featured in the December 2016 Actuarial Update.)