25 Years Ago in The Actuarial Review

by Walter C. Wright

Matt Rodermund registered this complaint in the October 1977 issue of The Actuarial Review:

Probably many of our readers have not seen a preview of the 1977 casualty and property annual statement. They have a surprise in store...Not with the schedules. Not with the statements. Page 5 of the statement will present a new schedule asking for cash flow data...So old pages 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11—pages that have been part of our insurance culture since 1949—have been renumbered...We're appalled that this so-logical format has been altered, to no particular advantage...The accountants don't care what page the numbers are on, as long as the totals balance.

Some of us remember page 14 when it was on, yes, page 14. In 1997, it moved to page 15, with the title "Exhibit of Premiums and Losses (Statutory Page 14 Data)." In 2001, it moved to page 24 as the "Exhibit of Premiums and Losses (Statutory Page 14)." Clearly, Matt, the problem has been solved. When an exhibit moves to a new location nowadays, the original page number moves along with it—in the title!