Professionalism Counts, June 2026
Because principals and other stakeholders make critical decisions based on actuarial services, actuaries bear a special responsibility. You must not only take appropriate steps to ensure that your actuarial communications are clear and appropriate to the circumstances and the intended audience, but you also must take reasonable steps to prevent them from being misused or misinterpreted.
It’s important to recognize that outside parties may use your actuarial communication in unintended ways that could inappropriately influence third-party actions. Annotation 8-1 of the Code of Professional Conduct reminds actuaries to “recognize risks of misquotation, misinterpretation, or other misuse of the Actuarial Communication” and to take reasonable steps to present the communication clearly and fairly, limiting its distribution and use as appropriate.
A common form of misuse occurs when a single element—such as a graph, table, or isolated conclusion—is taken out of context. Stripped of its accompanying qualifications, assumptions, and narratives, the information can easily misrepresent the intent of the original actuarial communication, leading to decisions based on fundamentally misleading information. To prevent these harms, Precept 8 explicitly requires you to take reasonable steps to ensure that your services are not used to mislead other parties.
The baseline defense against misuse is ensuring that your communication satisfies Precept 4 by being clear and appropriate to the circumstances and intended users. Defining the intended use and intended audience and cautioning against use of the work product by third parties can also be helpful—if you clearly state that the work is only to be used for a specific purpose and audience, it may discourage inadvertent misuse and misinterpretation.
Including language that limits distribution, such as stating that the work may only be used in its entirety or only with the actuary’s consent, can also reduce the chance of misuse. The Academy discussion paper The Actuary’s Relationships with Users of a Work Product suggests including language that explains the nature, scope, intended use, and intended audience of the work product; warns against other uses of the work product or reliance on the work product by other audiences; and discourages the reader from using the work product without the advice of a qualified actuary.1
So far, we’ve focused on unintentional misuse. While standard disclaimers are often sufficient to prevent inadvertent misinterpretation, they may fail if you have reason to believe a principal intends to intentionally misuse your work. In such cases, the honesty and integrity requirements of the Code’s Precept 1 must guide your actions. The annotations to Precept 1 strictly forbid providing actuarial services if there is reason to believe those services may be used to violate or evade the law or used in a manner that would be detrimental to the reputation of the actuarial profession. Furthermore, you may not engage in any professional conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. Thus, if you reasonably anticipate intentional misuse and cannot resolve the matter through direct consultation with the principal, you may need to decline or withdraw from the engagement.2
What should you do if you discover after the fact that your work has been misused or misinterpreted? While the Code focuses its mandate on upfront, preventative measures— generally protecting the actuary if clear limitations were built into the original communication—you may still want to take corrective action.3 Depending on the severity and circumstances, advising the principal of the error, issuing a clarified statement, or requesting that the misleading presentation be corrected can mitigate ongoing harm.
Ultimately, taking robust steps to prevent the misuse of your work protects your professional standing. On a broader scale, avoiding the distortion of actuarial findings safeguards the public, protects the reputation of the profession, and reinforces long-term trust in actuarial work.