Conventionally, actuarial work was most commonly associated with insurance activities and pensions, but now, the actuaries are in increasing demand from other correlated sectors, including business management, corporate investment/ finance banking and healthcare.
Actuarial consultancy, a branch of the profession of actuaries, works mainly within the specialist consultancies and professional services companies. The actuarial consultants offer a complete variety of facilities to their customers.
Job description
The responsibilities of an actuarial consultant may include giving advice on pensions (calculating contributions and designing schemes), HR management, general insurance, acquisitions and mergers, risk management, financing projects and corporate recovery. Actuarial consultants supervise the general commercial and economic environment, specify besieged outcomes and evaluate risks, and develop suitable solutions that examine the impact and experience.
Trainee actuarial consultants might opt for focusing on the environment of consultancy as it is likely to put forward more speckled work, giving the chance to handle different types of clients and probably to travel, while working at customer sites.
Entry requirements
Actuarial science degrees are proffered by a number of universities across the world. An actuarial science post graduate diploma is also offered. Though there isn't any compulsion for an actuarial science degree, it can bring about exceptions from some fellowship exams and permit fast tracking all the way through qualifications. It offers a good basis in the profession of actuary, and also in other areas like statistics, economics and accounting.
Other popular degrees for the new entrants in this profession include:
• Economics
• Statistics
• Physics, chemistry and sciences
• Mathematics
• Computer science
Some employers might regard as graduates with non numerate degrees; nevertheless the candidates must know how to express a complex of understanding and numerical ability.
Career development
Once qualified, the actuary consultants can quickly move into the senior level directorship or management roles. At this stage, less amount of time is used up on the technical facets of the actuarial job and additionally on the general management of business and consultation.
It is anticipated that approximately 50 percent of the actuary consultants presently work in the fields other than the traditional fields including genetics, climate change, energy infrastructure and supply. These fields have provided the skilled actuary consultants an opportunity to progress and diversify their profession in various sectors of the industry.
Salary
The average annual salary of an actuary consultant in May, 2006 was $82,800. The initial annual salary for a graduate of actuarial science in 2007 was $53,754.
Within the employing organizations, the qualified actuarial consultants hold the posts of significant esteem and responsibility, often with demonstration at board rank at appropriate salaries. This profession is considered to be stable, with most of the actuarial consultants staying in this field all through their working years.
