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New Qualification Standards Applicable to
All CCA Members and the CCA’s Revised
Continuing Education Requirement

The American Academy of Actuaries recently approved Qualification Standards (including a Continuing Education Requirement) for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuarial Opinion in the United States. This standard is effective as of January 1, 2008. All CCA members are required to adhere to this new standard and we believe that the new standard affects all of our active members. The new standard calls for 24 hours effective this first year (credits typically earned in 2008) and 30 hours each year following of annual continuing education including 3 hours of professionalism and 6 hours of “organized activities,” i.e., taking place outside the work site or with a presenter that is from another organization or employer. Full information and the new standard are available at the Academy website http://www.actuary.org/qualstandards/.

Please note: The QS apply to all actuaries who are members of one of the U.S. –based actuarial organizations and who issue Statements of Actuarial Opinion (SAOs) in the United States, and to members of any actuarial organization that is not U.S.-based but requires its members to meet the Qualification Standards when practicing in the United States.

How does the new QS affect the already in place CCA continuing education requirements?

CCA Board Revises Membership’s Required Continuing Education Program

As you know, in 2004, the Conference of Consulting Actuaries (CCA) instituted a mandatory Continuing Education (CE) Program with an annual requirement to maintain active membership in the CCA. This Membership approved program was put into place to recognize the importance of CE to all active members. By instituting this requirement, the CCA played a significant role in raising the bar within the profession to require such a program in order to maintain membership.

Our 2004 program was a well thought out program and was closely modeled by the American Academy of Actuaries’ Committee on Qualifications for the CE component of the new Qualification Standards (QS) recently issued and effective January 1, 2008 (http://www.actuary.org/qualstandards/qual.pdf).

As a result of the new QS, the CCA’s Board of Directors at the October Board meeting basically incorporated the CE component of the QS for its Members, with the following three modifications to the Standards’ requirements:

1. The Conference requires the 30 CE hours be met annually, regardless of signing a Statement of Actuarial Opinion (SAO) or not, for every member performing one hour or more of actuarial services each calendar year (the individual takes retired status in years where no actuarial services are preformed and appends a – R to his/her designation during that year).
2. No exemption is applicable to Enrolled Actuaries, as described in Section 2.2.8 of the QS; and
3. There is no reduced 24-hour continuing education requirement prior to 2009, as described in Section 2.2.3 of the QS; therefore, the number of required hours of continuing education each year is 30 hours.

The CCA’s revised program is effective January 1, 2008, with compliance acknowledged through payment by the member of their 2009 dues. [Note that for 2007 the previous requirements remain unchanged.]