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At each meeting of the North American
Actuarial Council,
each organization submits a report detailing the current projects of their
association. The following is the most recent report filed by the Conference of
Consulting Actuaries.
Conference of Consulting Actuaries
Organizational Update – February 2010
The Conference’s recent and upcoming activities are as
follows: Meetings
April - The American Academy of Actuaries and the
Conference of Consulting Actuaries host the thirty-fifth annual Enrolled
Actuaries Meeting, April 11-14, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in
Washington, DC.
The program features sessions in several formats, covering a
wide range of topics, with
sessions focused on the Pension Protection Act and regulations issued since its
enactment, professionalism, and various sessions with government representatives
on
the panel. Additional issues relevant to Enrolled Actuaries and other pension
professionals are also presented. The meeting includes an exhibit of products
and
services geared to Enrolled Actuaries.
October – The Conference of Consulting Actuaries’
Annual Meeting, for consulting
actuaries in all practice areas, is scheduled to be held at the Westin Mission
Hills Resort
in Rancho Mirage, California from Sunday, October 24 through Wednesday, October
27. As a member of NAAC, you and your guest are invited to attend as our guests
with
your registration fee waived – please come and join us. Details on the meeting
will be
available in mid June.
Seminars
April 11
Professional Standards/ABCD Hearing Seminar will be
held on Sunday, April 11
from Noon - 5:00 PM at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC.
Code of Professional Conduct, ASOPs, Qualification Standards, and EA Regulations
–
pension actuaries are surrounded by professional standards. How can we be sure
that
we are meeting all of these requirements? How do standards benefit us and our
clients?
Are our standards serving their purpose? What can I and/or my employer do to
mitigate
exposure? What happens if we make a mistake?
The presenters at this session use a mock ABCD hearing to
provide insight into the
Code, ASOPs, and Qualification Standards to provide an exciting overview of our
profession. Current and former ABCD members portray a subject actuary,
investigator,
and the ABCD chair in a live hearing. Audience members get to discuss their
views and
possible decisions. This seminar is a great opportunity to get an update on
professional
standards, while seeing the workings of issues before the ABCD. Consider
attending
this informative, retirement benefits focused seminar on professional standards
and
ethics.
April 14
Public Plan Seminar will be held on Wednesday, April 14
from 2:00 - 6:00 PM,
following the Enrolled Actuaries meeting at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in
Washington, DC.
Public plans continue to get an increasing amount of attention
and have recently been
the subject of several large scale reports and discussions. Speakers at this
seminar
examine the funding issues and other challenges currently facing public pension
plans
in the US. Presenters then focus down on how a disciplined review of funding
policies
and financial disclosures might both reveal some causes and provide some
solutions to
those challenges. Included in the discussion is the following:
• Current funding levels and the extent to which these levels
may place burdens on
future taxpayers;
• Criticisms being voiced concerning public pension plans;
• Causes of public plan underfunding;
• Proposed changes in liability disclosures;
• Asset smoothing;
• Discount rate review; and
• Alternatives available to address challenges facing public pension plans.
This half day seminar expands your knowledge and gives you
adequate background in
the public plans as presenters from various sides of the issues explain what is
happening and present their views of relevancy. This seminar is an excellent way
to
spend a few extra hours after the EA Meeting being brought up-to-date about what
is
happening in the public arena.
April 14 – 15
Pension Symposium: Retirement Security – Where Are We
Headed? Private and
Public Sector Challenges and Forecasts is held on Wednesday, April 14, 2:00
- 6:00
PM & Thursday, April 15, 8:00 AM – Noon.
The clichéd three legged stool of retirement security in the
US is wobbly at best. As the
nation continues to focus its policy efforts on health care reform, can
retirement security
reform be far behind?
Each year for the past seven years, we’ve set aside an extra
day immediately following
the Enrolled Actuaries Meeting to dive deeply into some of the key retirement
issues of
the day. This year’s Pension Symposium promises to be another provocative event
in the
series as we explore the challenges of providing retirement security in the
years ahead.
The Symposium consists of four sessions – two on Wednesday afternoon and two on
Thursday morning. The format of the Symposium is designed specifically to
encourage
participation and discussion among attendees. Panelists in each session will
provide background and context to set the stage for the open discussion of these
important
topics. The panelists will be drawn from employers, union groups, lobbyists,
Congressional Committee staff s, think tanks, the Administration, consulting
firms, etc.
The seminars four sections are as follows:
Section 1 - The Future of Retirement Policy in the US;
Section 2 - The Challenges of Private-sector Retirement Security;
Section 3 - The Challenges of Government-based Retirement Security; and
Section 4 - What Can and Should the Actuarial Profession Have to Say About
Retirement Security in the US?
As in the past, the Pension Symposium is limited in attendance
(first come, first
served!) so as to promote dialogue and the sharing of opinions among attendees.
In
each of four coordinated sessions, our panels of expert participants are invited
to limit
their prepared remarks so that we can get right to the discussion.
Seminars following our Annual Meeting in Rancho Mirage,
California
Two seminars are in the planning stages to be held in
conjunction with the Conference
Annual Meeting at the Westin Mission Hills Resort in Rancho Mirage, California.
Professional Standards – October 27 – 28, 2010
Public Plans Seminar – October 27 – 28, 2010
Audiocasts
The following audio casts are scheduled:
Public Plan Issues* Feb. 10, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
Frozen Plans* March 10, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
Professionalism – TBA* April 7, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
Healthcare Reform Updates* TBD, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
PPA Updates: PPA Today, Where It’s Headed, and How It Relates*
May 12, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
Public Plan Update* June 9, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
Professionalism – TBA* July 14, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
Accounting Hot Topics* Sept. 8, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
International Non-Pension* Oct. 13, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM
ET
Professionalism – TBA* Nov. 10, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
Legislative Update* Dec. 1, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
Professionalism – TBA* Dec. 15, 2010 - 12:30 - 1:45 PM ET
*All audio casts are cosponsored by the American Academy of
Actuaries.
Healthcare Reform Task Force
The Conference is providing support for members as Congress
moves to enact
healthcare reform. In addition to frequent (weekly during the run-up to the
passage of
the House and Senate bills) conference calls, discussion of proposed
legislation,
evaluation of costings by CBO, CMS and others, and analysis and evaluation by
consulting firms, the Conference is hosting a library of documents in the
members only
section on the Conference website.
Public Plans Committee
In May of 2009 the CCA approved formation of the Public Plans
Committee. The
Committee was established to provide actuaries working in the public plans arena
a
place to gather and discuss issue specific to their work. The Committee is off
to a fast
start and we are looking forward to its continued contributions toward advancing
actuarial practice in the public plans arena.
Generation Bridge Committee
In 2009, the Conference established this new committee. This
Committee’s goals are
varied, including but not limited to the following:
• Look at other ways to attract and meet the needs of the next generations of
actuaries
-- Means of communications used, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, etc.
-- Means for obtaining CE
-- Professional tools used at your desk, i.e., websites, other professional
memberships, publications you consult, twittering, Linked In, Facebook, etc.
• Identify subject matter from recent SoA/CAS exams and/or exam modules that
would be of interest to experienced consultants; summarize the materials to
provide
a high level overview (for example the FE module or CERA curriculum; how life
contingencies are taught today)
• Provide a bridge between the experienced consultant and the recently
credentialed
actuary
• Other ideas as identified by the Committee
Continuing Education Requirement for Membership
Maintenance
The Conference’s mandatory continuing education program is
into its seventh year. The
program was revised in 2008 to incorporate the CE component of the American
Academy of Actuaries’ Qualification Standards (QS) released in the summer of
2007,
with three modifications to the Standard’s requirements.
The CCA’s revised program was effective January 1, 2008, with
compliance
acknowledged through payment by the member of their dues.
CE/CPD Tracking Tool for Members Released
In January of 2008, we released our member CE/CPD tracking
tool. Each member’s
record was pre loaded with his/her CE/CPD earned through participation in CCA
hosted
events held in 2006 and 2007. In addition, when members participate in CCA
hosted
events, all of that information is automatically loaded into the member’s
individual
record.
In 2009 we made some additional upgrades to the program, among
them was adding a
catalog of CPD events. We periodically receive information from the Society of
Actuaries on their CPD events that are included in this catalog. Members may
select
SoA events they attended and add these to their individual file.
Web Sites
For details on any of this information, please visit our
websites at
http://www.ccactuaries.org and
http://www.actuarialcpd.org.
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