CAS Continuing Education Record Review

In order to maintain our integrity as an association of professionals and verify the accuracy of the CAS database, the CAS’ CE policy requires the annual review of CE records for a portion of the membership.

The review is conducted by the CAS Continuing Education Compliance Working Group (CECWG) which reviews a small percentage of the members who stated they have complied with the CAS CE policy at the end of each reporting cycle.

The following sample of the CAS membership will be reviewed
All new members of the CAS Board of Directors,
All new members of the CAS Executive Council,
A sample of members who sign Statements of Actuarial opinion accompanying NAIC annual financial statements submitted in the prior year, and
A sample of one percent (1%) of the remaining CAS membership, which includes new 2023 Associates.

Members may be selected for the 2025 Continuing Education Record Review. If you are selected, you will be notified in February 2025. Members selected for the review will be contacted via the email address listed in their CAS membership account. Instructions will be provided on the documentation required from the member.

 

Assigned Reviewers & Reviewees

When conducting this review, members of the CECWG will be anonymously assigned to members selected for the review. Both the reviewer and the reviewee will not know each other’s identity. Reviewers will not know who the members are, what organization they work for, or the services they provide. The Chairperson of the CECWG will only learn the identity of a selected member, if necessary, but otherwise will also see only anonymous records.

How to Submit Compliance Records

The review takes place on the CAS CE Record Review platform to facilitate the review process between the reviewer and the reviewee anonymously. The platform captures the member’s CE information in an easy-to-follow submission process.

Please note that CE record submissions are only accepted through the CE Record Review platform. We will not be accepting submissions by email or mail.

Compliance Log Best Practices

CAS members should maintain a log of their CE activity to document that they have met the continuing education requirements. A sample CE log is a provided should members need guidance on how to track their CE.

A great CE log has the elements that make it easy to review by the auditors. As outlined in our CE Policy, that includes:

  • Information that sufficiently demonstrates compliance with the continuing education requirements by which the actuary asserts compliance.
  • For example, under the US Qualification Standard, this information includes:
    • The date of the activity
    • A brief description of the activity
    • The sponsoring organization
    • The number of credits earned
    • Whether the credit was self-study or organized and the subcategory for which the credit applies (i.e., professionalism, bias, job-relevant topics or business and management skills). Members will not be required to retain any proof other than this log of CE activity.
  • Logs that are maintained for a period of at least six years following the calendar year of activity. Members may wish to retain the log beyond the six-year required period, dependent on specific external reporting requirements and circumstances unique to the actuarial services that were provided, or if required by the Recognized National Standard the member is utilizing.
How to Prepare Your CE Log

You’ll be required to submit your CE log. The only acceptable form for CE logs are Excel files.

Prior to submitting your log, you’ll be required to follow a few steps to remove any information from your Excel CE log that identifies you, particularly in the meta-data (i.e., author, last modified by, etc.) for this review.

Please remove identifying information from the meta-data off your CE log (Excel) by following these steps BEFORE you submit your CE log:

  1. Make a copy of your CE compliance workbook and use the copy to prepare your Excel spreadsheet records for submission for the CAS CE review.
  2. The CAS CECWG will need your record for the CE earned in 2024.  If hours are carried forward from 2023, then that record is also needed.
  3. Click File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document
  4. Make sure all items are checked for inspection, then click Inspect

The next step may not be reversible so be sure you are modifying the copy you will send for review.

  1. Click Remove All next to the results that contain identifying information.
  2. Close the Document Inspector window and Save the workbook.

If you are satisfying the U.S. Qualification Standards, we highly recommend using this Sample CE Log for Appointed Actuaries spreadsheet as a template. Even if you are not an Appointed Actuary, the format is highly recommended for all to use. Easy to follow instructions are included within. Items in Columns J and K pertain to Appointed Actuaries, while the rest pertains to all practicing actuaries. Submitting the sample spreadsheet referenced above will help make the review process more efficient.

A great CE log has the elements that make it easy to review by the auditors. As outlined in our CE Policy, that includes:

  • Information that sufficiently demonstrates compliance with the continuing education requirements by which the actuary asserts compliance.
  • For example, under the US Qualification Standard, this information includes:
    • The date of the activity
    • A brief description of the activity
    • The sponsoring organization
    • The number of credits earned
    • Whether the credit was self-study or organized and the subcategory for which the credit applies (i.e., professionalism, bias, job-relevant topics or business and management skills). Members will not be required to retain any proof other than this log of CE activity.
Communications with Assigned Reviewer

Your assigned reviewer will have access to your records from April – May and thus, they may be reaching out to you to seek clarification during this timeframe.

Within the CE Record Review platform, you and your assigned reviewer will have the opportunity to communicate back and forth anonymously via the “Messages” feature. If your reviewer has any questions regarding your CE log, they will ask you questions within Messages. When a message is sent, it will automatically trigger an email notification to the email address listed on your CAS account. To facilitate this process, we encourage you to respond to your reviewer as soon as possible within the platform.

Notifications of Review Completion

After completion of our review, you will receive an emailed letter from ce-review@casact.org, indicating the outcome in June.

Questions?

Should you have any questions about satisfying the CE requirements of a National Recognized Standard by the CAS CE Policy, please first consult with that organization as referenced above. Links to each organization are available under the Recognized National Standards heading.

Please contact ce-review@casact.org if you have any questions about the content on this page.