Professionalism Counts, August 2024

Is Your CE on Track?

As summer turns to fall, now is a good time to check that you are on track to meet your continuing education (CE) requirements for the year. Under the Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuarial Opinion in the United States (USQS), you must earn 30 hours of relevant CE each year. (And remember, an hour is defined in the USQS as 50 minutes.)

Relevant CE

CE that is relevant to one actuary is not necessarily relevant to another actuary, even in the same practice area. Thus, the USQS requires you to determine whether a particular CE opportunity is relevant to you. To be relevant under the USQS, the CE must:

1. broaden or deepen your understanding of one or more aspects of your work;
2. expose you to new and evolving techniques for addressing actuarial issues;
3. expand your knowledge of practice in related disciplines that bear directly on your work; or
4. facilitate your entry into a new area of actuarial practice.

Professionalism, Bias, and Organized CE

The USQS also requires you to earn CE in specific categories. Of the 30 hours required annually, 3 must be related to professionalism, 1 must be on bias, and not more than 3 hours may be related to general business skills. The USQS explains each of these categories in further detail:

1. General business skill topics include content that assists in developing client relationship management skills, presentation skills, communication skills, project management, and personnel management.
2. Bias topics include content that provides knowledge and perspective that assist in identifying and assessing biases that may exist in data, assumptions, algorithms, and models that impact actuarial services. Biases may include but are not limited to statistical, cognitive, and social biases.
3. Professionalism topics include content that assists in understanding and applying the Code of Professional Conduct, actuarial standards of practice (ASOPs), and related actuarial professionalism guidance. Professionalism CE includes studying, reviewing, or providing input on an exposure draft of an ASOP; studying or reviewing the Code; attending an actuarial professionalism webinar; and serving on the Actuarial Standards Board or a professionalism committee.

In addition, at least 6 of the 30 hours must be in the form of organized activities, which involve interaction with actuaries or other professionals working for different organizations. Organized activities are required to ensure that you are exposed to different points of view. Some examples of organized activities are conferences, seminars, webcasts, in-person or online courses, and committee work. In-house meetings can satisfy the requirements for organized activities by using outside speakers.

You may also earn CE independently, by, for example, reading actuarial literature, writing professional papers or articles, listening to recordings of relevant webinars, attending relevant in-house meetings, studying for actuarial exams, drafting actuarial exam questions, or preparing to speak or lead a discussion at a CE activity.

CE Requirements for Issuing NAIC SAOs

If you wish to issue one of the three NAIC statements of actuarial opinions (SAOs) that fall under Section 3 of the USQS, a few more requirements must be satisfied. First, you must complete at least 15 hours of CE that is directly relevant to the topics listed in section 3.1.1 for the statement you plan to issue. Second, at least 6 of those 15 hours must be in the form of organized activities. These 15 hours of CE may be included in (and are not in addition to) the 30 hours required under the general standard.

Academy CE Resources

If you have questions about CE, the Academy provides several excellent resources to help answer them. The first place to look is the USQS themselves. If your question is not answered there, the next place to look is the FAQs on the U.S. Qualification Standards, which has a large section on CE. Finally, you may submit your question to the experts at the Committee on Qualifications.

Upcoming CE Opportunities

The Academy is offering plenty of opportunities to earn CE this fall, including the Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar, the Academy’s annual meeting Envision Tomorrow, the Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, and the Seminar on Effective P/C Loss Reserve Opinions. Several policy and professionalism webinars are also in the works—keep an eye on your inbox for more information.