From the Executive Editor

In preparing for this October edition I learned how hard it is to get people to write articles with an October 15 deadline… for the life of me I don’t understand why that’s the case! Despite everyone’s busy work schedules, I did manage to gather some interesting content for this newsletter. If you see me at the ASPPA conference next week, drop your eyes because if we make eye contact I am going to ask you to write an article for the November edition!
 
Last week the Society of Actuaries issued an update to the Mortality Improvement Scale MP-2014. The updated scale, titled Scale MP-2015, was created to incorporate more recent historical mortality improvement data that has become available since the development of MP-2014. This got me thinking about the upcoming ASC 715 disclosure season and the questions about this new mortality table that will come from auditors. One of the things we have learned at my company is that the best way to manage ASC 715 disclosures is to be extremely proactive about the process. I asked one of my colleagues at Summit, Glenn Soderstrom, FSA, JD, to write an article about how this process is best managed, and Glenn’s article is here.
 
A frequent discussion on the ACOPA list serve is the scenario: “I took over this plan from another actuary who is being really uncooperative. What can I do?” Kurt F. Piper, MAAA, ASA, FSPA, is a frequent contributor to the list serve, and since Kurt has served on the ABCD, I thought I’d ask him to pen an article on this topic. Kurt’s article is here.
 
Our Executive Director Judy Miller has written a very interesting blurb about the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, here. As Judy points out, this law change is relevant for all pension actuaries as it destroys the basic premise that benefits once accrued can never be reduced. Her article is here.
 
David Lipkin, MSPA, FSA, pointed me to an article on the BBC website about why all over the world women live longer than men. David thought it would be interesting reading for actuaries, so here’s the link to the article: http://flip.it/IOvZE. 

Enjoy your quiet time after the 10/15 deadline.

And remember: All of this month's articles are posted on the ACOPA Monthly home page, along with all articles from past issues.