Society of Actuaries

Membership: the soa is a membership organization with more than 34,861 members worldwide, making it the largest professional association of Actuaries in the world. As part of its mission, the soa provides rigorous and comprehensive education and testing to its members as part of the process of earning their credentials. Soa-credentialed members are equipped to provide important and valuable expertise and advice on a variety of risk management and financial security issues, including developing pension plans for businesses and public entities, consulting on building secure health and life insurance systems and providing risk management advice on an enterprise-wide level to many types of commercial organizations.

Continuing education: the soa conducts various events and professional development opportunities to ensure continued professional growth and excellence for its members. Soa members are required to meet a defined level of continuing education annually in order to maintain their credential. This requirement assures that all soa members, even those who initially earned their credential years earlier, stay current on the latest actuarial practices, knowledge and research - and the ever-evolving societal issues that require actuarial expertise. This lifelong learning supports Actuaries as they provide expert advice and relevant solutions for financial, business and societal problems.

Preliminary education: soa's examinations include core topics common to all actuarial disciplines to ensure that all soa members have broad knowledge of risk management and financial security issues that face businesses and individuals. Candidates for soa membership also take exams that are specifically focused on a particular area of practice to ensure that they have the detailed knowledge to provide to the organizations and public the highest level of expertise in their chosen practice. This comprehensive and rigorous educational system develops Actuaries who are able to deliver expertise with the high standards that meet the needs of individuals, commercial and public organizations and the public at large, relieving public or governmental organizations from having to provide such educational oversight.