The Academy forms the Pension Assistance List (PAL), a program that serves the public in providing professional services to consumers who have questions about their pension plans.
In December, immediately after its formation, the Academy issues its own Guides to Professional Conduct (a precursor to today’s Code of Professional Conduct), which covered the topics of: professional duty, nature of the member’s responsibility to the principal, relationship with the principal, impartiality, independence, advertising and publicity and relations with other members, remuneration and use of titles.
The Academy begins a state-by-state effort to further accreditation efforts; two volunteers work in each state, one on insurance regulations and one dealing with pension issues.
In an attempt to facilitate the development of uniform standards of conduct within the actuarial profession, a Joint Committee on Professional Conduct is created to coordinate activities among the professional conduct committees of the Academy and the four other U.S.-based actuarial organizations and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. This effort yielded a uniform format of Guides among the organizations but differences still remained.
The Academy Board establishes procedures for appointing Academy disciplinary boards, requiring they be composed of members who are not serving on the Investigating Committee, Prosecuting Committee, or the Board of Directors, and that they be named by the president. Disciplinary boards were empowered to hear evidence relating to charges and to make findings with respect to such evidence. Said findings shall be reported to the Board for appropriate action.
In response to a request from U.S. Rep. John H. Dent, the Academy provides comments relating to the definition and role of the actuary on pension plan certifications in discussion on H.R.2, which would become law as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in 1974.
Since the mid-1970s, NAIC blanks and instructions have referenced membership in the Academy as a qualification for signing statutory statements of opinion.