Professionalism Counts, September 2026
Family lore has it that many grandparents drank a glass of Guinness every evening. Why? Because “Guiness is good for you.” That advertising slogan lasted for decades but was retired as advertising regulations were tightened and the effects of alcohol on health became better understood. Today, sellers of alcohol generally do not extoll its health benefits; indeed, alcohol often comes with a warning label.
After consumers were misled or even harmed by advertising, governments stepped in to require truthful advertising. Today, we see fine print below advertising claims or hear it read rapidly at the end of an ad in an effort to meet the requirements of those laws. Yet questions still frequently arise about the veracity of claims made in ads.
The actuarial profession’s Code of Professional Conduct addresses this issue directly. Under Precept 11, “An Actuary shall not engage in any advertising or business solicitation activities with respect to Actuarial Services that the Actuary knows or should know are false or misleading.”
Furthermore, Annotation 11-1 clarifies that advertising and solicitation encompass all forms of communication–including oral statements—that might directly or indirectly influence anyone evaluating a need for actuarial services or selecting a specific actuary or firm.
Like many other precepts of the Code, Precept 11 is closely tied to Precept 1, which requires an actuary to act with honesty and integrity, and to uphold the reputation of the profession. False or misleading advertising, while possibly helping to gain clients in the short term, will in the long-term harm the actuary, their firm, and the profession. In the age of social media, reputations can be damaged almost instantaneously. Regaining the trust and reputation squandered in such an incident is difficult and takes a long time.
Precept 11 comes up at the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD) several times a year. Between 2021 and 2025, 16 inquiries and 4 requests for guidance concerned Precept 11. Over the years, issues addressed in ABCD inquiries have included:
- Falsely advertising professional credentials in actuarial organizations or on business websites.
- Misrepresenting status as a currently licensed Enrolled Actuary to clients and the Internal Revenue Service.
- Disseminating false or misleading claims to plan sponsors while disparaging a competitor’s services and competence.
- Distributing client solicitation materials that imply competing actuaries lack necessary professional skills and methodologies or otherwise unfairly discredit the profession.
Requests for guidance centered on reviewing the Code when a competitor may be making false or misleading representations in marketing materials.
As ABCD member Ken Kent noted in a 2020 “Up to Code” piece, actuaries work in competitive environments and face pressure to find new clients and expand into new areas.1 Despite this pressure, Kent stressed that the actuary’s advertising has to be honest and not misleading, even if technically true. Actuaries might want to review their advertising with a critical eye, asking themselves the following questions:
- Can I substantiate my marketing statements?
- Do I have evidence to back up any claims made in the marketing materials?
- Is each statement accurate?
- Even if each statement is accurate, is the overall message misleading?
- Has information or context been omitted, resulting in a misleading message?
“If you find yourself making representations that are not honest, impinge on your integrity, or risk eroding the trust of the public, then you have a responsibility to make changes to ensure that public statements of your abilities and those of your company are accurate, can be substantiated, and do not mislead,” Kent wrote.
For the actuarial profession, honest advertising is particularly important. As a self-regulated profession, actuaries must constantly earn and maintain the public’s trust, thereby earning the right to remain self-regulated. Truthful advertising fosters trust between actuaries and their clients and between actuaries and the public. Actuaries who advertise honestly uphold not only their own reputation, but that of the entire profession.