Sample Questions
Question 1
Easy
For a U.S. property-casualty insurer, who satisfies the definition of a "Qualified Actuary" permitted to sign the Statement of Actuarial Opinion (SAO)?
Solution
D is correct. The NAIC SAO instructions define a Qualified Actuary by a three-part test: the actuary (i) meets the basic education, experience, and continuing-education requirements of the Specific Qualification Standard for NAIC P&C statements of actuarial opinion, (ii) has obtained and maintains an Accepted Actuarial Designation (an FCAS whose basic education includes Exam 6-US, an ACAS whose basic education includes Exam 6-US and Exam 7, or an FSA through the general insurance track with the specified U.S. exams), and (iii) is a member of a professional actuarial association that requires adherence to the Academy's Code of Professional Conduct and the U.S. Qualification Standards and participates in the ABCD. The American Academy of Actuaries, the CAS, the SOA, the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and the ASPPA College of Pension Actuaries all qualify. No single credential, membership, or appointment mechanism confers eligibility by itself.
Question 2
Medium
In preparing the Statement of Actuarial Opinion, the appointed actuary relied on a separate qualified actuary's analysis of the insurer's workers' compensation reserves. Under the applicable standards, what does the SAO require regarding that reliance?
Solution
C is correct. When the appointed actuary makes use of another actuary's analysis for a material portion of the reserves, the NAIC SAO instructions require that the other actuary be identified by name, credential, and affiliation within the OPINION paragraph, and ASOP No. 36 permits the appointed actuary to use that work only when, in the actuary's professional judgment, it is reasonable to do so. Disclosing whether a review of the other's underlying analysis was performed, and its extent, is encouraged by AOWG Regulatory Guidance rather than mandated. Crucially, the appointed actuary who signs the SAO retains responsibility for the entire opinion; reliance does not carve out the segment or shift accountability to the other actuary.
Question 3
Hard
An Appointed Actuary is drafting the December 31 Statement of Actuarial Opinion for a domestic property and casualty insurer and is deciding which of the year's events must be addressed in a specific relevant comment. Which situation, standing alone, requires such a comment?
Solution
D is correct. A cession limited to claims that have already occurred is retroactive reinsurance, and its statutory treatment differs sharply from prospective cover: gross loss reserves stay unchanged, the ceded amount is recorded as a write-in contra-liability, and any resulting surplus gain is segregated as special surplus until recoveries exceed the consideration paid (SSAP No. 62R). Because the reserve presentation the actuary opines on is affected without any reduction in the gross reserve lines, the NAIC Annual Statement Instructions require a relevant comment describing the retroactive cession and its effect on the opinion. The reliance choice is a scope-section matter: the actuary identifies data providers and reliance there, and routine data reliance carries no separate relevant comment. A change in Appointed Actuary is handled through the company's notification to the domiciliary commissioner and the accompanying letter about any disagreement, not through the opinion's comment section. One-year development of 6% of prior year-end surplus sits well under the 20% level at which the actuary must explain adverse development, so no comment is triggered. A method refinement calls for a comment only when the change in methods or assumptions is significant, which an immaterial effect on the indicated reserves is not.
