Description

A focused course, tailored for you

Actuarial Model Governance Under IFRS 17

Build the assumption governance framework your insurance clients can defend to auditors and regulators.

The assumption sign-off reopens two weeks before the reporting close. The rationale for the CSM movement is listed as model-derived. There is no documented basis that satisfies the external auditor, no assumption change log, and no formal approval trail. The engagement leader inherits the rebuild.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

At a large actuarial advisory practice, the engagement risk is not in the model. It is in the layer between the model and the signed-off disclosure. Most insurance clients can run their IFRS 17 models. Very few have the assumption governance infrastructure that lets an auditor, a regulator, or a board audit committee follow the chain from assumption changed to documented rationale, formal approval, CSM impact, and disclosure entry. The gap is not technical. It is procedural, and it shows up as a reopened sign-off, a qualified opinion, or a Prudential Authority query letter that requires retroactive documentation of rationale that was never formally recorded.

What you walk away with

Build a documented assumption change governance process your clients can sustain beyond the engagement.
Produce a CSM waterfall workpaper that passes external audit without rework.
Run a model validation protocol that meets the Prudential Authority's expectations for internal model review.
Write the IFRS 17 transition methodology memo for full retrospective and fair value approaches.
Deliver a regulatory narrative for PA submissions that pre-empts standard queries on assumption basis.

The 12 modules

Module 1. IFRS 17 Measurement Model Selection

Covers the decision framework for choosing between the General Measurement Model, the Premium Allocation Approach, and the Variable Fee Approach for each insurance product portfolio. Walks through the PAA eligibility test and the VFA criteria, and shows how to write the model selection memo in a form that satisfies both an external auditor and the Prudential Authority. Includes a decision tree template and a sample selection memo.

Module 2. Assumption Setting from Evidence to Sign-Off

Builds the assumption basis from first principles for mortality, morbidity, lapse, and expense categories. Covers the hierarchy of evidence: experience study data, industry tables, and management judgement overlays. Shows how to document the source and credibility weighting for each assumption, and how to produce a formal assumption basis statement that can be reviewed and approved independently of the model output.

Module 3. Assumption Change Governance

Covers the quarterly assumption review cycle from trigger to sign-off. Builds a formal assumption change log that records what changed, the evidence reviewed, who proposed the change, and who approved it. Shows how to defend assumption changes to an external auditor when the basis is expert judgement, and how to structure the narrative so the rationale is traceable rather than reconstructed after the year-end close.

Module 4. CSM Reconciliation and Audit Evidence

Builds a CSM waterfall that traces from opening balance to closing balance, attributing movements to new business, insurance service, experience variances, assumption changes, and financial components. Shows how to separate assumption-driven CSM movements from model recalibration artefacts, covers what the external auditor needs to sign off the reconciliation without a finding, and provides a structured workpaper template.

Module 5. Risk Adjustment Quantification and Disclosure

Covers practical approaches to calibrating the risk adjustment under IFRS 17, including confidence interval methods and cost-of-capital equivalents. Shows how to document the methodology, calibrate the parameter, and link the risk adjustment to the disclosure note. Covers how to communicate the risk adjustment quantum and period-on-period movement to non-technical stakeholders including the board audit committee and external auditors.

Module 6. Model Validation Protocols for Actuarial Models

Applies a structured model risk management framework to life and non-life insurance actuarial models. Covers model scope definition, documentation standards, challenger model tests, back-testing protocols, and validation sign-off. Shows how to produce a model validation report that meets the Prudential Authority's expectations for internal model review, and what a regulator considers adequate validation evidence versus surface-level checking.

Module 7. Transition Methodology Documentation

Covers the three IFRS 17 transition approaches: full retrospective, modified retrospective, and fair value. Shows how to document the transition methodology decision, including the impracticability assessment where full retrospective is not applied. Walks through the workpaper structure for comparative period restatements and covers common audit findings in transition workpapers, including undocumented hindsight adjustments and inconsistent portfolio groupings.

Module 8. IFRS 17 and SAM Dual Reporting

Covers the divergences between IFRS 17 valuations and SAM technical provisions, including discount rate differences, risk margin treatment, and contract boundary definitions. Shows how to document the reconciliation between the two valuation bases and manage the dual-reporting workload. Addresses the risk of SAM assumptions bleeding into IFRS 17 best estimates and how to build a clean assumption separation protocol for engagement teams.

Module 9. Disclosure Controls and Financial Reporting Integration

Covers the quantitative and qualitative IFRS 17 disclosure requirements. Builds a disclosure controls checklist that links model outputs to note disclosures and management commentary. Shows how to prepare disclosures that are internally consistent with the actuarial report and the CSM reconciliation, and how to manage last-minute disclosure changes when assumption revisions occur close to the reporting date.

Module 10. Regulatory Narrative for the Prudential Authority

Covers what the Prudential Authority examines when reviewing an insurer's IFRS 17 assumption basis and model governance. Builds the regulatory narrative for PA submissions, including pre-emptive responses to standard queries on longevity concentration, lapse sensitivity, and model uncertainty. Shows how to manage an on-site PA review and how to frame assumption governance documentation for a regulatory audience rather than an audit audience.

Module 11. Peer Review Protocols for Actuarial Assumptions

Covers how to design an actuarial peer review process that is independent enough to catch material errors and documented enough to satisfy an external auditor. Defines what a peer review should cover versus what it typically covers in practice. Builds a peer review sign-off template and shows how to use the peer review finding log to pre-empt external audit issues before they escalate to formal findings.

Module 12. Practical Templates for Advisory Delivery

Delivers twelve ready-to-use templates built for live client engagements: assumption change log, model validation checklist, CSM waterfall workpaper, peer review sign-off sheet, transition methodology memo, PA submission narrative guide, assumption basis statement, risk adjustment methodology note, disclosure controls checklist, experience study summary, model scope definition form, and assumption sensitivity testing log. Each template includes worked examples drawn from realistic insurance portfolio scenarios.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

IFRS 17 reporting close approaching and the assumption rationale documentation is not audit-ready.

PA review letter received; client needs to produce assumption governance evidence within 30 days.

External auditor raises a finding on CSM reconciliation traceability; engagement leader needs a framework to resolve it before sign-off.

New IFRS 17 advisory engagement starting; need to scope assumption governance from day one rather than reconstructing it at year-end.

What you get with this course

12 written modules covering assumption governance, CSM reconciliation, model validation, regulatory narrative, and disclosure controls.
Downloadable assumption change log, model validation checklist, CSM waterfall workpaper, peer review sign-off sheet, transition methodology memo, and PA submission narrative guide.
Hand-built implementation playbook tailored to your current engagement context, delivered alongside course access.

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Course access provisioned within 24 hours.

Hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Before and after

Before

Assumption rationale is reconstructed at year-end from model output, CSM movements are attributed to model run differences, and the auditor or PA raises a finding that requires a post-close remediation effort.

After

Assumption changes are documented in real time with a formal approval trail, the CSM waterfall is traceable from opening balance, and the external auditor signs off without rework or a follow-up finding.

What happens if you do not address this

Each IFRS 17 reporting cycle that closes without a governance framework locks the client into a reconstruct-at-year-end pattern. The second or third cycle is harder to defend, not easier. A PA query on assumption basis, once received, requires retroactive documentation of rationale that was never formally recorded, and the engagement team absorbs that cost.

Who it is for

Actuarial and quantitative risk professionals at large or mid-tier advisory firms, working with life, non-life, or health insurance clients. Specifically: principals, directors, or senior managers who own client delivery on IFRS 17 reporting engagements, model validation mandates, or SAM actuarial function reviews. This course is written for the engagement leader who must stand behind the assumptions and the governance layer in front of an auditor or regulator, not for the junior analyst running the model.

Who this is NOT for. Actuaries working exclusively in a corporate insurer role rather than advisory. Finance or accounting professionals without an actuarial or quantitative background. Anyone not currently engaged in IFRS 17 advisory, model validation, or insurance regulatory work.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Eight to twelve hours across the 12 modules, plus template customisation time per engagement.

Why $199 is the right number

The standard approach is to build assumption governance documentation from scratch per engagement, or to rely on a firm-wide template not designed for IFRS 17 specifics. This course provides the governance layer and the templates in a form that is immediately deployable on client engagements, without the three-to-six week build time of a bespoke framework.

FAQ

Is this relevant if my clients are using a vendor actuarial system?

Yes. The governance layer sits above the model. Vendor systems produce the numbers; this course covers how to document the assumptions that feed those numbers, validate the outputs, and present the rationale to auditors and regulators.

Is this for life insurance or non-life?

The core assumption governance framework applies to both. Modules 7 (transition methodology) and 8 (SAM dual reporting) are written primarily for long-term insurance; module 6 (model validation) covers both life and non-life actuarial models.

Will this work for an actuarial practice outside South Africa?

The IFRS 17 content applies globally. The SAM-specific modules are most relevant for South African practices but the frameworks are adaptable to Solvency II and equivalent regimes in other markets.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.