The Academy and the Web of Professionalism

In a four-part series in Contingencies, Academy President Tom Wildsmith examines the infrastructure of actuarial professionalism and how the Academy is instrumental in supporting that infrastructure and the U.S. actuarial profession. Wildsmith terms this infrastructure a “web of professionalism,” and the series explores how the Academy developed these foundational documents and bodies to provide the professionalism framework for the profession:

1. The Code of Professional Conduct binds Academy members to the highest standards of conduct, recognizing that all members have a moral responsibility to all the many people who may depend on their work.
2. The U.S. Qualification Standards provide actuaries with the guidance needed to meet the ethical obligation to practice competently and responsibly.
3. Through the Actuarial Standards Board, the Academy has promulgated 50 actuarial standards of practice covering all areas of actuarial practice.
4. Through the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline, the Academy provides the basic disciplinary framework for the profession.

“The Academy was founded so that the U.S. actuarial profession could earn the public’s trust,” Wildsmith writes. “Our primary mission is to ensure that U.S. actuaries—both individually and collectively—provide the public with the professionalism it deserves.”

The series was redesigned as a standalone publication. Read it here.