When Lord Morris was reviewing the profession, I wrote to him.
When Lord Morris was reviewing the profession, I wrote to him. I explained that in my career there would have been little or no difference in my saying "I qualified as an actuary" rather than "I am an actuary". That career was as a manager in insurance, where actuarial knowledge made decision-making easier. So be careful in what you require of members in future and for CPD.
Now we seem to be developing as a technical and advisory profession rather than one in which we develop people for senior managerial roles. The exams have become more technical. The proportion of members working in consultancy has grown substantially.
We will be lesser and have less influence if we concentrate on technical skills and not on the decision-making they facilitate. Surely we will contribute more to society if we use our skills to implement change rather than advise others to do so. While the James Brook article in the July edition of The Actuary (bit.ly/29T3XBG) is on the right lines, I suspect not enough readers will find it relevant and more will look closely at the IFoA's research proposals.
Ian Reynolds
11 July 2016
