The limited attendance seminar will be a hands-on workshop that will teach the basic concepts of DFA through case studies and the application of actual data. Attendees will become familiar with the fundamental interrelationships of DFA in a small group, classroom environment. This workshop will immediately precede the DFA Special Interest Seminar, allowing individuals to learn the basics and then attend the Special Interest Seminar where more technical approaches and broader concepts will be covered. Class size and total enrollment may be limited to guarantee sufficient individual attention.

The target audience for this seminar are actuaries and other financial professionals who have an interest in, but not necessarily experience with, DFA. A working knowledge of the basic principles and terminology of casualty actuarial science will be assumed.

The seminar will cover the following topics:

• Explanation of what DFA is and what it can do
• History of DFA-types of analyses for banking institutions, life insurers, and property and liability insurers
• Comparison of scenario testing and stochastic simulation approaches in DFA
• Review of the major published articles on DFA for property-liability insurers
• Discussion of common DFA issues, including accounting, interest rates, correlations among assets and liabilities and among lines of business, parameter selection, the underwriting cycle, and catastrophes
• Detailed description of the public-access DFA model that has been developed by Miller, Herbers, Lehmann, & Associates, Inc., that is available over the Internet (www.mhlconsult.com)
• Hands-on workshop using this DFA model on a representative insurer, including sensitivity testing
• Supervised use of this DFA model in applying data provided by participants
• Discussion of reports that can be generated from DFA, and how the results can be interpreted and incorporated into business strategies (for example, changing growth rates and entry/exit decisions)
• Overview of future enhancements to DFA, including the need for additional types of insurance data, empirical studies to improve parameter estimation, and additional potential applications of DFA techniques

The seminar will consist of approximately eight hours of instruction, plus an evening workshop during which the participants will use the DFA model on their own. For this session, each participant will need to bring a personal computer (notebook-size or larger) that is loaded with Microsoft Excel (version 5.0 for Windows 95 or higher). For individuals without a portable computer, the CAS can arrange for a rental at an additional cost.

Prior to the seminar, individuals who register for the course will be provided with a selection of articles on DFA, documentation on the DFA model to be used in this course, and instructions on how to download the DFA model and any necessary software. Before the seminar, they will also be encouraged to collect the input data required for applying the DFA model to their own company, if they are employed by an insurer. This data will facilitate participants' obtaining realistic hands-on experience at the seminar. Reading this material and collecting company information before the seminar will enhance the learning experience, but will not be a prerequisite for the seminar.

Instructors

Depending on the enrollment size for this workshop, the faculty will be composed of members of the following team:

Stephen P. D'Arcy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Richard W. Gorvett, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Shawna S. Ackerman, MHL/Paratus Charles C. Emma, MHL/Paratus Thomas E. Hettinger, MHL/Paratus Brett M. Nunes, MHL/Paratus Robert J. Walling, MHL/Paratus

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Photo Credit: Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau