From the Leadership Council

We wanted to provide an update on a couple of ACOPA projects.

First, we are working on a comment letter to the Actuarial Standards Board on the proposed revisions to ASOP 21, Responding to or Assisting Auditors or Examiners in Connection with Financial Audits, Financial Reviews, and Financial Examinations. This proposed ASOP was issued by the General Committee of the Actuarial Standards Board and a special task force to revise ASOP 21. Comments are due to the Actuarial Standards Board by Dec. 31, 2015. However, ACOPA plans to submit comments on Dec. 14, 2015, because of the year-end rush and holidays. All ACOPA members are welcome to submit comments to Judy Miller via email at [email protected], and also let Judy know if you would like to participate in the conference calls to work on actually drafting the text of the comment letter. It is important that ACOPA comment on how proposed ASOPs affect pension actuaries, particularly those who work in the small plan marketplace.

Second, ACOPA GAC is working on a comment letter to the IRS concerning additional Section 430/436 guidance.

Third, ACOPA is working on comments to the International Actuarial Association (IAA) on their proposed new syllabus for fully qualified actuaries. A lot of the time, we focus on ACOPA’s role within the American Retirement Association and ASPPA, but ACOPA is one of the five U.S.-based actuarial organizations and a member of the IAA. Currently, FSPAs are considered fully qualified members of IAA. ACOPA has two general concerns about the new proposed syllabus:

• In the past, it was not necessary for an organization’s syllabus to cover all elements of the IAA syllabus. It appears that the proposed syllabus would now be viewed as a minimum syllabus that must be covered by education and/or examination.
• Some of the topics on the proposed syllabus are not particularly relevant to pension actuaries.

We understand that the American Academy of Actuaries has similar concerns.

Thanks to all of the ACOPA volunteers who are working on the above and other ACOPA projects.

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