Experienced practitioners lead a review of the government responses to questions posed in the IRS Gray Book and PBGC Blue Book, highlighting the practical implications of the answers. Any new information developed since the 2010 Enrolled Actuaries Meeting is also discussed.

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Leaders of the five US-based actuarial professional organizations discuss major recent and emerging developments in the US actuarial profession. The moderator directs a series of questions at the panelists and opens the floor for questions from the audience. Potential areas of discussion include concerns with and possible solutions to the current ABCD disciplinary process, training consulting actuaries to meet changing client needs, the importance of the CERA designation, public policy advocacy, and the impact on our profession of maintaining multiple actuarial organizations.

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A diverse panel of pension professionals discuss the latest developments affecting retirement plans on the legislative, regulatory and legal fronts. Among the topics that may be covered are: PPA; 2010 legislation; guidance from the IRS, DOL, and Treasury; and recent court decisions.

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As employers are faced with ever increasing costs and new challenges from Healthcare Reform, many are seeking innovative and effective approaches to improve the quality of healthcare while controlling costs. An employer and an MD discuss innovative and potentially market-changing employer and provider partnerships to control costs. Learn about leading-edge approaches such as medical home, domestic travel surgery and effective programs for managing prescription drugs.

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A consulting firm no longer needs to have walls. In fact, a consulting firm may be put together to handle a single project and include people from all over the world. Speakers at this session discuss their past experiences with formal and informal alliances between consultants. They also address current trends that may shape the future of the consulting business.

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GASB issued their Preliminary Views document June 15, 2010 with comments due on September 17, 2010. The proposed changes in accounting disclosures are expected to be dramatic and no longer directly relate to the funding of a plan. This discussion covers some of the more controversial aspects of these proposed changes.

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What are the different roles of the global actuary? Why would an organization want a global actuary? How might U.S. GAAP and IFRS convergence impact the global actuary? Come to this session and learn about the various roles of the global actuary, how these roles can be expanded, IFRS conversion, and the recently issued IAS 19 exposure draft.

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Are people adequately prepared for retirement? How much retirement income is enough? What are the implications to our clients and their business if people are not prepared? Speakers at this session look at the retirement income needs today in light of changes with company sponsored pension plans, the recent market declines, Healthcare Reform, and the continuing uncertainty around social security. What risks and associated costs do our clients need to manage?

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The panelists discuss recent legislation – both MIPPA and Healthcare Reform – that will significantly impact the Medicare program in many ways. Speakers analyze the changes in Medicare Advantage (MA) funding and discuss the impact on the breadth of products available and the new incentives for MA plans to focus on "quality." Also addressed are the many changes in Medicare Part D and the associated Retiree Drug Subsidy program, which are widely expected to facilitate a notable marketplace shift in the delivery of prescription drug plans to retirees. Finally, the panelists consider the impact on those many retirees (who have traditionally looked to their employers for guidance) who will be required to make complex coverage choices on their own.

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What makes consulting to not-for-profit plans a unique challenge in 2010 and beyond? Attendees gain a further understanding of the critical difference in consulting to not-for-profits and how new rules and regulations are adding additional complexities and challenges. Topics include new 403(b) regulations and “public trust” as decision-making criteria.

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All defined benefit plan sponsors addressed the question in recent years: continue their defined benefit plan or move to a defined contribution approach. One speaker’s firm chose to keep the plan and one chose to move to a DC plan. What drove their ultimate decisions?

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The speakers provide the latest regulations and rules on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and any other legislation affecting health plans from the last year. How do these issues affect your clients?

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You manage internal projects/teams and just earned your FSA. Having played a secondary role in client meetings, now learn what it takes to get clients to turn to you. At the end of this session attendees have additional skills to become your clients’ trusted advisor.

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Public sector plans used a single discount rate expected to reflect the long-term return of investments; however, actual returns may significantly deviate from the long-term return assumption. Speakers at this session focus on new ways actuaries can manage the disconnect between the volatility of the market returns and a static deterministic discount rate and communicate this disconnect to their clients. Stochastic present values and projection valuations are discussed.

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The terms "moral hazard" and "morale hazard" are raised more frequently regarding actuarial issues. The panelists aim to offer a new perspective on the meanings of these terms and the significance of the concept to actuaries on both sides of the pond, with speakers from the US and UK. Speakers investigate areas where moral(e) hazard might arise in pension arrangements as well as more general examples. This session is provided with cooperation from the International Association of Consulting Actuaries (IACA) and the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA).

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In addition to the plan administration complexities that are triggered when PPA benefit restrictions kick in, there are myriad notifications and communication issues that arise due to restrictions. The speakers focus on how plan sponsors implement benefit restrictions and communicate with participants regarding the restrictions.

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The retiree medical environment continues to experience rapid change, particularly in the wake of Healthcare Reform. As a result, employers continue to evaluate their options with respect to plan sponsorship and subsidization. Speakers at this session consider employer options for both pre-Medicare and Medicare retiree benefits and their potential impact on retirees. In addition speakers outline possible future trends in this environment where change seems to be the only constant.

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This informal session on multiemployer plan topics features experienced practitioners from the IRS and private practice. Panelists share concerns and exchange ideas in a mutual-brainstorming roundtable discussion in a safe and friendly environment.

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Join a non-trivial pursuit of knowledge every pension actuary should know in a fun and light-hearted atmosphere.

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Employers implementing health prevention, disease prevention, disease management, and consumer directed issues often struggle to evaluate the value of the program. Learn about approaches employers and researchers use to determine the value added by these programs.

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Expert witness assignments are exciting and profitable; however, they can also be difficult, controversial, and time consuming. Speakers discuss the keys to success in this area based on their experiences in expert witness assignments.

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Procurement, strategic sourcing, purchasing – call it what you wish – becomes more involved in the purchase of professional services, including actuarial work. They bring a different perspective to the purchasing process and have significant influence. This session, led by a strategic sourcing executive on the buyer side, offers the chance to learn more about why clients buy our services and how you can more effectively work together.

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Learn about North America outside the U.S. The panelists discuss the current state of employee benefits in Canada and Mexico. They also address any relevant funding and accounting issues that relate to their countries. This is a great opportunity for U.S. consultants to better understand what their clients face just across U.S. borders.

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Plan sponsors are changing their qualified plans, proxy disclosure and 280G calculations have expanded. 409A affected design, and shareholders are now more active in scrutinizing executive pay. What has happened to nonqualified plans? Speakers at this session focus on prevalence and emerging practices to help consultants prepare for these important engagements.

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Speakers at this interactive workshop discuss the results from the Society of Actuaries’ market research into Untapped Opportunities for Health Actuaries and how to use these findings to explore new and challenging business opportunities. Come and share your own experiences in non-traditional areas and with different types of clients; or to pick the brains of those who have. Be prepared to brainstorm on leveraging actuarial skills for the betterment of society as well as your bottom line.

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Many plan sponsors chose to freeze their defined benefit plans and are now left with a long term obligation to continually manage. Speakers at this session look at what clients are doing to analyze, plan and monitor their road to exit. Actual client experiences are discussed. Attendees learn approaches and options (both currently available and evolving) for planning, assessing, monitoring, and implementing frozen plans. Panelists use client experiences to explore what clients are doing to analyze, plan and monitor their road to exit.

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During this session plan sponsors present their efforts to provide world class retirement benefits through a DC-only structure. Speakers focus their discussion on both design and delivery ideas such as:

• Pre-tax, After-tax and Roth 401(k);
• Matching and non elective contributions;
• Automation (enrollment, savings rate escalation, rebalancing);
• Investment choices;
• Financial guidance and advice;
• Retirement income solutions/guarantees;
• Employee communications; and
• Measures of success for the plan(s).

Panelists discuss best practices for working with Retirement Committees, measuring and monitoring success, and DC plan management in a global context.

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Moving financial responsibility to plan participants means moving administrative burdens as well. In this session speakers discuss the types of problems that arise with account-based plans and what's being done to address those problems. They also investigate recent trends and successes in the CDHP marketplace.

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This interactive session enhances your leadership skills by teaching the difference between leadership and authority to benefit yourself as well as your team members. At the end of the session, attendees understand the unique challenges of leadership within professional services and consulting firms, particularly for actuaries. Attendees work through brief case studies, including examples of effective and ineffective leadership for those situations, and identify resources and on-the-job activities to further develop leadership effectiveness.

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The GASB Preliminary Views have endorsed a level cost approach for public pension plans. This has accelerated discussions of what are model practices for funding and expensing policies based on level cost methods, asset smoothing and UAAL amortization. Is the current wide range of practices still appropriate; and if not then what practices should be permitted or encouraged? This session is an open discussion of a comprehensive framework for the level cost model, including related disclosures of cost, funded status and funding policies.

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In this session the panel investigates the main issues and potential solutions when undertaking a global M&A deal, with a portion of the session focused on the UK. The subjects covered range from the big ticket financial items to the people-related items that can have a significant impact on the success of the deal post acquisition.

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Following the market crash of 2008 and current low interest rates, most plans are poorly funded. Economists predict higher rates are coming and higher funded percentages will follow. Should plan sponsors fund more now or wait and see? Can consultants provide better service by knowing more about a client’s competing needs for the company cash? The presenters lead the audience through various scenarios.

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Speakers at this session provide attendees with the ability to raise their issues and questions to a panel of retiree medical practitioners – and a room full of experts. Topics expected to be discussed include:

• How do I reflect the provisions in the health reform bill in my valuations?
• How high can healthcare costs go? How are actuaries using the SOA-Getzen model?
• Should employers be doing anything with their retiree benefit offerings because of health reform?
• So what's up with the VEBAs negotiated by the auto industry?

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Come to this interactive session with your questions for the PBGC. Representatives from the PBGC share their advice and counsel on current happenings and upcoming issues. The panelists leave time for attendees to share applicable experiences and to ask their burning questions.

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Private sector defined benefit pension plans are continuing to die a slow death. What are we as representatives of the actuarial profession/retirement community doing about it? Are we talking to Congress trying to help them understand that without a major shift in retirement policy, corporate defined benefit plans will continue to disappear? Are we explaining what the death of defined benefit plans means for the retirement security of the average American worker? Have we created any new and effective plan designs that might help save defined benefit plans?

Despite some minor initiatives in these areas, generally the answer is NO. In fact, too many of our best and brightest actuaries and the leaders of our profession are focused on the details of PPA – discussing how to apply multiple interest rates and different credit balances and creating our own ever growing alphabet soup of pension acronyms. Instead of staying mired in the details, we need to take a step back and focus on the bigger issue of how we as a profession can save private sector defined benefit pension plans.

This session features three actuaries who approach this challenge from three different perspectives:

1. Ken Porter from the perspective of a broad-based employee benefits organization and preeminent advocate of employer-sponsored benefit programs in Washington, D.C.;
2. Frank Todisco from the perspective of the American Academy of Actuaries -- the voice of the actuarial profession on public policy and professionalism issues; and
3. Jim Holland from the perspective of a consulting actuary as well as a longtime IRS veteran and one of the nation's leading experts on the pension provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA.

This is an open and interactive session in which no idea is a bad idea. Our goal is to get the actuarial profession motivated to create a real action plan to save defined benefit pension plans.

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In the last decade, numerous plan designs and features were proposed and implemented under the banner of consumerism. These features have generally included incentives or disincentives geared toward changing employee or member behavior. Attend this session to learn which features really work to change employee behavior along with those that may not work as well or may even create unintended consequences.

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Did you ever wonder what clients and executives who buy/use our services value and expect from their advisors? This session provides that chance. Senior HR and other executives who use actuarial (and other services) share their thoughts and opinions on these topics in an interactive setting.

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This workshop is a continuation of the discussion from the previous session on public plans (30 - Public Plan Workshop #1: The Level Cost of Services Model). In addition to the level cost model and related disclosures, topics may include assumption setting, DROP valuations and new tier plan design and funding.

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Speakers at this session provide a look at peer review requirements in Canada, the UK, and the US. What, if any, requirements are in place currently? What requirements are being considered? Also, what requirements (or at least best practices) should be considered? This session is provided with cooperation from the International Association of Consulting Actuaries (IACA) and the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA).

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The IASB released an exposure draft earlier this year that potentially changes the way employee benefit plans are accounted for in the future. With the objective of accounting standard convergence, the FASB will consider the same changes. The speakers discuss the proposed changes in the exposure draft and how the proposal may impact the way companies manage their pension and other postretirement benefit plans.

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Speakers at this session discuss states’ approaches to cover the uninsured under Federal Healthcare Reform. Speakers describe the different decisions that states must make over the next several years regarding their public programs (Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program and state-only funded programs), the state-run insurance exchanges, and provide an update of state activities to date. Speakers also touch on key takeaways from existing state expansions that may help states move forward. The session concludes with a discussion of how states’ decisions affect employers’ offer of coverage and other actuarial implications of states’ efforts to implement Federal reform.

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Your client is reducing the workforce. What are the effects on company financials? Will the reduction trigger a partial plan termination? What are the notification obligations to PBGC, what liabilities to PBGC might be faced, and how do you address them? These are some of the questions scheduled for discussion by PBGC and private practitioners.

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Absent explicit IRS or DOL guidance, how can we consult with our clients? The panel of representatives from the IRS, ABCD, and ASB discuss the ethical issues involved, and how to access guidance to protect you from litigation.

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This is an excellent opportunity for attendees to ask questions and discuss important developments with representatives of the IRS. Don't miss your chance to (possibly) get answers to some questions that have been troubling you.

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What’s new and promising in the world of improving the health of employees and retirees? Learn about new wellness approaches emerging from research into stress, obesity and metabolic syndrome. Included is a case study of how one employer achieved a 2:1 ROI in one year.

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Enterprise Risk Management is arguably the fastest growing actuarial practice. The increasingly risk-aware public is ever more hungry for insight into risk – be it specific (e.g., pension risk), company-wide (e.g., enterprise risk), or across the economy (e.g., systemic risk). Speakers at this session explore the various ways that retirement and employee benefit actuaries can use their training and experience in areas OUTSIDE their normal comfort zone. Our thesis is that, regardless of our area of specialization, actuaries have much to contribute to their clients risk management endeavors.

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There's more to GASB 45 than you may think. Speakers focus the discussion on some areas that consultants may be missing. This includes technical reviews regarding: the development of acceptance and lapse rates, per capita costs including consideration of cross-subsidies and the use of community ratings, roll forward calculations, and how the new health reform laws may impact this area of practice. Presenters also consider the current ASOP 6 requirements and discuss what if anything beyond ASOP 6 the profession should be considering, particularly for the many unfunded OPEB plans.

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The panelists cover a variety topics pertaining to the pension environment in the UK, including current trends, changes in treatment of taxation of pension benefits for high earners, and the importance of a sponsor covenant for funding.

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Your client just merged its underfunded plan into its overfunded plan. What does this mean? What is the presumed AFTAP? Is the plan required to pay quarterlies and if so, how much? What about 4010 reporting? Come discuss these and other outstanding issues surrounding merging plans.

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Comprehensive federal health reform legislation passed in early 2010, but that is still the beginning rather than the end of the process. Panelists address next steps for employers and health plans to address the implementation of health reform provisions. Speakers also address areas that may be incomplete or that need to be addressed with further reforms on a state or federal level.

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What are the steps and the approaches companies can follow to remove risk related to their DB plan? Panelists discuss strategies geared to tailoring risk, including when to get rid of the plan.

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Panelists provide attendees with an understanding of the ins and outs of non-discrimination testing, DC cross-testing, and new comparability testing.

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Speakers at this session focus on what is and is not working related to plan design for Rx benefits. Presenters discuss which designs are encouraging the right behavior and how designs are impacting costs and utilization.

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Hear what is new and what exactly is happening after the events of the past year. Topics include 2010 updates, proxy rules, the impact of PPA, and new legislation.

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Mounting public-sector retirement costs represents one of the greatest financial challenges, as well as one of the most significant budget issues for state and local governments today. In fact, the unsustainable growth in public pension funding requirements could easily crowd out opportunities for governments to invest in education, public safety, economic development, and health care. The inability to make these investments will likely harm the government’s citizens and potentially jeopardize the government’s ability to sustain economic growth.

Continuing to defer retirement costs to future generations is unfair and arguably irresponsible. Government policymakers must address this challenge by developing sound funding policies for public pension systems and then having the discipline to consistently follow them. Finding the necessary resources and the discipline to fund public pension systems will require creative and proactive thinking as well as the buy in from numerous constituencies including labor, system members, rating agencies, retirement system Boards, politicians, etc.

Come hear John Filan, the former Budget Director of the State of Illinois discuss these issues from the perspective of a real insider who was responsible for trying to “fix” Illinois’ pension funding crisis. This is a “must attend” session for any actuary who is concerned about the sustainability of public retirement systems.

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The panelists discuss global governance of employee benefit plans. Which practices work best from a global perspective? What is best left to local managers? Hear the perspectives and experiences of global actuaries from both the corporate and consulting side of global benefits.

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Come to this informative session to hear about and share what your clients are doing with DC plan investment options given the market activity, introductions of target date funds, emerging market equity options and related fiduciary issues. The speakers also address what investment and payment options or products might develop in this area as companies look to make their new DC plans look like their old DB plans. You will leave this session understanding the current landscape of DC investment options along with a look at what might be coming as more employers emphasize DC plans as their sole retirement vehicle.

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Attend this workshop for a lively and interactive discussion of what 2010 Healthcare Reform legislation got right, got not so right, or still might need to be addressed in the future. This is an open discussion of health reform topics of interest to attendees facilitated by members of the CCA Health Reform Community.

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After a brief discussion about how the ABCD operates today, a variety of different scenarios are discussed.

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