|
|
|
Random Sampler
Have You Attended a Working Party?
by Mary Frances Miller, CAS President-ElectThe International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is in the process of developing an international accounting standard for insurance. A key principle in the standard is that insurance liabilities should be accounted for on a fair-value basis. Companies that are listed on European Union exchanges will have to adopt the new standards by 2005. Those of us who practice in the U.S. are insulated from the IASB standards for the time being by U.S. GAAP and SAP, but FASB has committed to working toward convergence with the IASB, so fair valuing of insurance liabilities for publicly traded companies is lurking just over our horizon.
A working party of the U.K.'s General Insurance Research Organizing (GIRO) committee has developed a very readable discussion, which can be downloaded at www.actuaries.org.uk/files/pdf/sessional/sm030324.pdf. This short paper summarizes where the IASB is going and what the implications are for property/casualty insurers. It is a good example of the results that can be achieved quickly by a working party formed for a specific research purpose.
Each year, GIRO forms voluntary working parties to address interesting research topics. During the GIRO convention each fall, members are invited to propose topics and to join groups of interest. The working parties are then asked to report on their findings at the next year's convention. As might be expected, some of the groups don't really get off the ground. Others produce very fine results. Some groups disband after one project. Others continue on sometimes with a change in membership.
The CAS has employed a similar format when challenged with research projects of immediate significance, usually at the request of the AAA. Our typical approach to research, however, is not collaborative in nature. CAS call paper programs generate efforts from individual researchers centered on a theme, but lacking feedback from the other participants. Although the CAS Forum was intended to be a way for researchers to expose ideas and generate discussion, there are very few follow up pieces from the membership. Only a small number of papers are submitted through the rigorous evaluation process for publication in the Proceedings, and reviews of Proceedings papers have also fallen to insignificant numbers in recent years.
In order to stimulate more interaction in our research process, the CAS plans to test a working party approach to generating new research. These "research working parties" will be like collective call paper task forces: collective so the collaboration happens in the crafting of the research product itself; call paper because it will be focused on a specific research topic; and task force because it will have a finite life span.
Our trial balloon went up at the "Research Working Party Kickoff" breakout session at the 2003 Risk and Capital Management Seminar. Attendees were introduced to the working party concept, invited to propose topics, and signed up to participate. Those not attending this session also found sign-up sheets available near the registration desk during the seminar. All CAS members now have the chance to join the working parties through the CAS Web Site. Each working party will be invited to present its findings during the 2004 Risk and Capital Management Seminar, where a new round of groups will be formed.
We will also try a similar session at the 2003 CLRS, and if all goes well, at the 2004 Ratemaking Seminar. If you have a topic that you've always wanted to address, consider proposing a working party. Not sure how you might contribute, but interested? Join a group. Try it. You'll like it.
