Casualty Actuarial Society

Casualty Actuarial Society
Casualty Actuarial Society logo
Formation	1914
Type	Professional body
Headquarters	Arlington, VA
Location	United States of America
Membership	5650 as of November 12, 2012 (2012-11-12)[1]
Official languages	English
President	Wayne Fisher
Website	http://www.casact.org/

The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) is a professional society of actuaries whose goal is "the advancement of the body of knowledge of actuarial science applied to property, casualty, and similar risk exposures."^[2] Its members are mainly involved in the property and casualty areas of the actuarial profession.^[3]

The two levels of CAS membership are Associate (ACAS) and Fellow (FCAS). Requirements for these levels of membership include a comprehensive series of exams.^[4] Topics covered in the exams include statistics, mathematics, finance, economics, insurance, enterprise risk management, and actuarial science.^[5] Another class of CAS membership, Affiliate, includes qualified actuaries who practice in property-casualty insurance but do not meet the qualifications to become an Associate or Fellow.^[4]

History

The society was founded in 1914 and originally named the Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Society. The present name was adopted in 1922. The society's first president was I. M. Rubinow, who played a key role in its formation. There were 97 founding members of the society.^[4]

The CAS was at first primarily concerned with problems of workers compensation insurance, which was introduced in the U.S. in the early 20th century. Eventually members of the society worked on all types of property-casualty insurance, including coverages for automobiles, homes and businesses. The society has now grown to over 5,600 members.^[1] Although the majority of members live and practice in the United States, there are CAS members in more than 25 countries around the world.^[6]

Members of the CAS are employed by insurance companies, reinsurance companies, insurance brokers, educational institutions, ratemaking organizations, state insurance departments, the federal government, independent consulting firms, and non-traditional employers.^[1] There are a number of regional affiliates of the CAS, along with several special interest sections.^[7][8] As of November 12, 2012 (2012-11-12), there are 4,015 Fellow, 1,614 Associate, and 21 Affiliate members of CAS.^[1]

Examinations

The CAS requires all candidates to qualify through a series of rigorous actuarial exams covering all aspects of actuarial practice. Passing the first seven components, the Course on Professionalism, the Validation by Educational Experience (VEE), and two online courses qualifies an actuary for the Associateship designation; passing three additional exams is required to become a Fellow.^[9] The exam process usually takes a long time to complete, often near a decade,^[10] due to the low pass ratios and the difficulty of the syllabus material.

A number of the earlier exams are conducted jointly with the Society of Actuaries (SOA), and a relatively few actuaries have qualified as members of both the CAS and the SOA.

The subject matter covered on each of the VEE and nine other CAS components is as follows:

Validation by Educational Experience exams

Three exams for economics, corporate finance and applied statistics.

Preliminary exams

The first five components, known as "Preliminary Exams" consist largely of core mathematics related to actuarial science including probability, statistics, interest theory, life contingencies, and risk models. Exams 1, 2, & 4, recently renamed P, FM, and C, are common to both the SOA and the CAS. However, while both of the modeling component's examinations of the SOA, which as of 2007 is given in two parts (Exams MLC and MFE), is accepted by the CAS, the reverse does not hold.^[5]

This joint sponsorship allows students to work on some of the initial requirements before they choose a specific discipline to pursue. The syllabus has a tendency to be adjusted regularly, which makes comparing exams from different 5-year blocks somewhat difficult.^[5]

Upper-level exams

Publications and research

The society's members publish a large number of research papers on various aspects of property-casualty actuarial science. The society's oldest and most prestigious research publication was the annual Proceedings of the Casualty Actuarial Society. Beginning in 2006 the Proceedings no longer contained research papers but only administrative material in combination with the Society's Yearbook. Research papers are now published in a twice-yearly journal called Variance, and in other formats. This research material is maintained in an extensive, searchable online database at the society's web site.

Meetings and administrative structure

The society holds two general meetings each year for the presentation of research papers and discussions about actuarial topics. Several other meetings, specializing in topics such as ratemaking, predictive modeling, loss reserving, or reinsurance are offered each year, along with a series of limited attendance seminars. Each of the regional affiliates also holds regular meetings.

Most members of the CAS (like most members of the SOA) are also members of the American Academy of Actuaries, the U.S. umbrella group for actuaries of all specialties. A smaller number are members of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, the national organization of the actuarial profession in Canada.

The governing body of the society is the 15-member board of directors, elected by members who hold the Fellowship designation. The administration of the society is conducted by a President elected by the Fellows and seven board-elected Vice-Presidents responsible for administration, admissions, international activities, marketing and communications, professional education, research and development, and risk integration and enterprise risk management.^[11] These elected officials oversee a large number of task forces and committees composed of society members and others. The largest single committee is the Examination Committee, consisting of more than three hundred society members, who are responsible for writing and grading the CAS actuarial exams.^[12] A professional support staff works for the society and is located in Arlington, Virginia.

See also

• American Academy of Actuaries
• Society of Actuaries
• List of learned societies

External links

• Casualty Actuarial Society
• Be An Actuary website
• Actuary.NET News
• Actuarial News
• Actuarial Outpost

References