Accounting Commons^™

Organizational Control Systems: Matching Controls With Organizational Levels, Rajaram Veliyath, Heather M. Hermanson, Dana R. Hermanson

Faculty Articles

Companies today face a number of risks, such as environmental liabilities, losses from misuse of derivatives or harassment suits, which underscore the need for better control systems. Clearly, there is a tradeoff between having too much versus too little control. However, in addition to the amount of control, the mix of controls is important in maintaining the right balance within an organization. A framework is proposed that should help managers determine the appropriate matching of control types and control levels in their organizations. The matching is discussed for both traditional companies and modern, information-age companies.

Annual Report 1996-1997, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Sec Practice Section. Public Oversight Board

AICPA Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Aicpa Committees, 1997-98: Officers, Board Of Directors, Council, Boards And Committees, State Cpa Societies, Dates Of Board, Council, And Annual Member Meetings, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

AICPA Committees

No abstract provided.

Final Report From The Aicpa/Nasba Joint Committee On Regulation Of The Profession, Aicpa/Nasba Joint Committee On Regulation Of The Profession, National Association Of State Boards Of Accountancy, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

AICPA Committees

No abstract provided.

A New Approach For Determining Claim Expense Reserves In Workers Compensation, Kay Rahardjo

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper describes a new approach for determining a reserve for claim expenses. While the discussion focuses on workers compensation claims, the methodology is equally applicable to other lines of business. The approach also can be applied to the calculation of the reserve for all claims (including IBNR claims) and the reserve for claims reported to date (excluding IBNR claims). In addition, a methodology for pricing claims-handling services is discussed. The implications of pricing claims-handling services on a handle-to- conclusion basis versus pricing claims-handling services on a limited time handling basis are examined. Finally, the paper discusses a methodology for …

Providing Pensions For U.K. Employees With Varied Working Lives, Deborah R. Cooper

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Several different working lives are investigated, including employees with breaks in employment, part-time employment, and temporary employment. The pensions that could be provided to the different employees by final salary, revalued career average, or money purchase pension schemes (plans) are calculated and compared. Some of the weaknesses in a final salary pension scheme (the treatment of deferred pensioners and cross subsidies between different groups of member) are considered. Possible alternative benefit structures are considered to address the problems.

Fuzzy Underwriting: An Application Of Fuzzy Logic To Medical Underwriting, Per-Johan Horgby, Ralf Lohse, Nicola-Alexander Sittaro

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

One of the most difficult issues in the medical underwriting of life insurance applicants is diabetes mellitus. Compiling the prognosticating parameters for diabetic applicants results in a complex system of mutually interacting factors. In addition, neither the prognosticating factors themselves nor their impact on the mortality risk is clear cut. We show how a fuzzy inference system can be used in underwriting diabetes mellitus. A fuzzy inference system can cope with the imprecise nature of medical parameters by converting them into fuzzy sets and aggregating them using mathematical techniques. The fuzzy underwriting system presented goes further than previous applications of …

Seeking The Profitability-Risk-Competitiveness Frontier Using A Genetic Algorithm, Ronnie Tan

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Monte Carlo simulation is used to develop a flexible framework to measure the profitability, risk, and competitiveness of any insurance product. A genetic algorithm is then used to seek the optimum asset allocations that form the profitability-risk-competitiveness frontier and to examine the profitability, risk, and competitiveness trade-off's. We also show how to select the appropriate asset allocation and crediting strategy in order to position the product at the DeSired location on the profitability-risk-competitiveness spectrum.

Comments On Some Parametric Models For Mortality Tables, Kam C. Yuen

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Parametric models for the entire age pattern of mortality have been suggested by Heligman and Pollard (1980) and Carriere (1992). The former is designed to fit the classical mortality pattern while the latter is supported by a statistical theory. Insights into their papers motivate us to consider a variation of the Heligman-Pollard model. We also apply these models to the 1993 Hong Kong Assured Lives Mortality Tables as well as the 1991 Hong Kong Female Life Table. This paper is not intended to construct a better parametric model for mortality tables; the main purpose is simply to provide insights into …

Accelerated Death Benefits, Viatical Settlements, And Viatical Loans: Options For The Terminally Iii, Paula Schmidt

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

There are three options available for terminally ill insureds who are interested in accessing all or part of the face value of their life insurance policies: through the life insurance company (accelerated death benefits), through a viatical company (a via tical settlement), or through a via tical loan company (a via tical loan). This paper explores the definitions and tax regulations, calculations, and the claims process associated with accelerated death benefits and via tical settlements and loans.

Actuarial Model Assumptions For Australian Inflation, Equity Returns, And Interest Rates, Michael Sherris

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Though actuaries have developed several types of stochastic investment models for inflation, stock market returns, and interest rates, there are two commonly used in practice: autoregressive time series models with normally distributed errors, and autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) models. ARCH models are particularly suited when there is heteroscedasticity in inflation and interest rate series. In such cases nonnormal residuals are found in the empirical data. This paper examines whether Australian univariate inflation and interest rate data are consistent with autoregressive time series and ARCH model assumptions.

Pricing Earthquake Exposure Using Modeling, Debra L. Werland, Joseph W. Pitts

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper demonstrates a practical methodology for determining a statewide rate level indication for the earthquake insurance and for determining more equitable territorial relativities within a state. The methodology is based on the output from a certain commercially available earthquake modeling software package. The methodology addresses some of the complex issues involved in pricing earthquake insurance exposure and potential regulatory acceptance. The paper also features a section dealing with the net cost of reinsurance in the proposed direct rates. A final consideration is the treatment of a model's output when it is believed the modeled results art' less than fully …

Dynamic Immunization And Transaction Costs With Different Term Structure Models, Eliseo Navarro, Juan M. Nave

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

A bond portfolio selection model is developed in a dynamic framework using different term structures, but without transactions costs. We show that the optimal portfolios are consistent with Khang's dynamic immunization theorem, i.e., the optimal path consists of making portfolio duration equal to the investor's horizon planning period. The model is then extended to include transaction costs. The resulting optimal portfolios are no longer consistent with Khang's dynamic immunization theorem. In fact, the strategy for constructing the optimal portfolio consists of initially choosing a portfolio with a duration that is smaller than the horizon planning period.

The Right To Underwrite? An Actuarial Perspective With A Difference, Thomas A. Moultrie, Guy R. Thomas

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

For a long time underwriting has been a part of the actuarial canon. With increasing frequency, however, challenges are being issued against the right of insurance companies to underwrite applications for new bUSiness, arguing that certain aspects of the practice are undesirably discriminatory. We explore the role of the actuary in the underwriting process and the challenges that are being set for the profession (as opposed to the life insurance industry) as a result of this role. As the distinction between the interests of the actuarial profession and the interests of the life insurance companies has become increasingly blurred, we …

Discussion Of T.A. Moultrie And R.G. Thomas's ''The Right To Underwrite? An Actuarial Perspective With A Difference", Charles L. Trowbridge

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This interesting but controversial paper studies a subject I too have seriously considered. Nearly a decade ago I was commissioned to prepare a monograph that appeared in 1989 under the auspices of the Actuarial Education and Research Fund under the title Fundamental Concepts of Actuarial Science. 1 Chapter VII of this work, "Classification, Selection, and Antiselection," claims that the cluster of ideas surrounding these three words form a fundamental actuarial concept. I have recently reviewed this monograph (hereinafter FCAS) and am struck by the dissimilarities between the two treatments. The authors of "The Right to Underwrite?" (RTU) were unaware of …

Journal Of Actuarial Practice, Volume 5, No. 2, 1997, Colin Ramsay , Editor

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Articles:

With Different Term Structure Models • Eliseo Navarro and Juan M. Nave

A New Approach for Determining Claim Expense Reserves in Workers Compensation • Kay Rahardjo

Pricing Earthquake Exposure Using Modeling • Debra L. Werland and Joseph W. Pitts

Actuarial Model Assumptions for Australian Inflation, Equity Returns, and Interest Rates • Michael Sherris

Comments on Some Parametric Models for Mortality Tables • Kam C. Yuen

Editor - Colin Ramsay, University of Nebraska. Associate Editors: Robert Brown, University of Waterloo ○ Cecil Bykerk, Mutual of Omaha ○ Ruy Cardoso, Actuarial Frameworks ○ Samuel Cox, Georgia State …

Employee Benefit Plans Industry Developments - 1997; Audit Risk Alerts, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

High-Technology Industry Developments - 1997/98; Audit Risk Alerts, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

Master Of Accounting A Degree Program For Professionals In Accounting, Nova Southeastern University

Huizenga Undergraduate Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Accounting Trends And Techniques, 51st Annual Survey, 1997 Edition, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Accounting Trends and Techniques

No abstract provided.

Consumption Taxes: An Examination, Joshua E. Richardson '97

Honors Projects

The current in orne tax system fails to achieve several of these goals. This paper will examine three alternatives to the income tax: a national sales tax, a value added tax, and a personal expen iture tax. The three taxes create the same tax on an item of consumption through different methods. These options will be discussed in comparison to the current income tax on the basis of administrative efficiency, equity, economic consequences, and transitional difficulties.

Measuring Risk-Based Capital, Karen Anderson '97

Honors Projects

In order to assure policyholders that their benefits will be available when they are needed, the National Association ofInsurance Commissioners (NAIC) has begun regulating insurer capital through the Risk-Based Capital (RBC) Model Act for life insurance companies. The Model Act helps state insurance regulators plan to preserve and protect adequate insurance capital levels and maintain insurer solvency. The RBC requirements provide for a ratio which assesses the level of risk that is associated with an insurance company's assets. The purpose of the NAIC's RBC calculation is to develop the minimum amount of surplus needed given the risks assumed by the …

Common Interest Realty Associations Industry Developments - 1997/98; Audit Risk Alerts, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

Journal Of Actuarial Practice, Volume 5, No. 1, 1997, Colin Ramsay , Editor

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

ARTICLES

Providing Pensions for U.K. Employees with Varied Working Lives • Deborah R. Cooper

Seeking the Profitability-Risk-Competitiveness Frontier Using a Genetic Algorithm • Ronnie Tan

Fuzzy Underwriting: An Application of Fuzzy Logic to Medical Underwriting • Per-Johan Horgby, * Ralf Lohse, and Nicola-Alexander Sittaro

Accelerated Death Benefits, Viatical Settlements, and Viatical Loans: Options for the Terminally III • Paula Schmidt

The Right to Underwrite? An Actuarial Perspective With a Difference • Thomas A. Moultrie and R. Guy Thomast

Discussion of T.A. Moultrie and R.G. Thomas's ''The Right to Underwrite? An Actuarial Perspective With a Difference" • Charles L. Trowbridge

Editor …

Cost Measurement, Roger A. Lohmann, Nancy Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This article, which originally appeared in the 1997 Supplement to the Encyclopedia of Social Work is an overview and introduction to cost concepts as they are used in social work and human services. A few important ideas and concepts that have come into the picture since the original publication have been added to this version.

The Impact Of Computer-Assisted Communication Techniques On The Accounting Profession, Jennifer Ellwanger

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Computers have made a tremendous impact on society in the last twenty years. They have affected practically every aspect of life; therefore, it isn't surprising that computers have impacted the accounting profession. The computer has changed the way accountants prepare tax returns and financial statements, and has influenced every other accounting process (Khani and Zarowin, 1995). Computers may also impact the way accountants communicate with clients and their coworkers. This study examines the impact of computer technology on communication in the accounting profession.

Prior research has reported what technologies are available and which ones are being used by accountants. A …

Senior Auditors' Reaction To Premature Sign-Off By A Staff Member, Amy L. Slabaugh

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The research presented in this paper is an extension of research completed by Kaplan (1995), who examined senior auditors' reporting intentions upon discovery of premature sign-off of an audit step by a staff member. His research found that audit seniors do not always formally report the discovery of premature sign-off, even though firms have formal policies requiring such reporting (McNair 1991). In Kaplan's (1995) research, an experiment was conducted in which subjects were asked to respond to a hypothetical scenario in which an audit staff member prematurely signed off on a required audit step. His study manipulated two situational variables: …

Uniform Cpa Examination, 1997 Edition, Selected Questions & Unofficial Answers Indexed To Content Specification Outlines, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Examinations Division

Examinations and Study

No abstract provided.

Compilation And Review Alert - 1997/98; Audit Risk Alerts, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Auditing Standards Division

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

Checklists And Illustrative Financial Statements For Defined Benefit Pension Plans : A Financial Accounting And Reporting Practice Aid, June 1997 Edtion, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Accounting And Auditing Publications, Linda Delahanty

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.