Assisting our clients select actuarial assumptions that will best match future experience is one of the most important responsibilities of actuaries. At the same time, actuaries need to understand the importance of the actuarial standards created by our profession regarding assumption selection and follow them diligently.

The speakers at this session examine the selection of actuarial assumptions from three different perspectives:

• The first speaker reviews the process for completing actuarial assumption studies, including a discussion of the ASOPs covering the selection of economic and demographic assumptions;
• The second speaker follows up with a short summary of the new SOA Mortality Tables and discusses implementation issues associated with the adoption of a new mortality assumption; and
• The third speaker discusses the selection of actuarial assumptions from the auditors' perspective—i.e., what support the audit team looks for in terms of signing off on the appropriateness of the client’s actuarial assumptions.

Speakers