CAS Exam 6-USRegulation & Financial Reporting (United States)
Syllabus learning objectives
Paraphrased from the CAS syllabus so the study-plan builder and practice sets track the topics you will actually be examined on. Weights are the official topic ranges.
Insurance regulation & law
- Describe the U.S. state-based system of insurance regulation, including rate, form and market conduct oversight.
- Distinguish prior-approval, file-and-use and other rate regulatory regimes.
- Identify key insurance contract law principles (utmost good faith, insurable interest, indemnity).
- Describe the role of the NAIC in coordinating multi-state regulation and model laws.
Government & industry programs
- Describe residual market mechanisms (assigned risk plans, FAIR plans, reinsurance facilities) and their pricing implications.
- Describe federal and state government insurance programs (e.g., NFIP, workers compensation state funds, terrorism risk programs).
- Assess the interaction between guaranty funds and insurer insolvency.
- Evaluate the actuarial implications of participating in shared/residual market mechanisms.
Financial reporting, Schedule P, IRIS, RBC
- Interpret Schedule P triangles and reconcile them to reserve and reserve-development calculations.
- Compute and interpret IRIS ratios used by regulators to flag financially troubled insurers.
- Compute Risk-Based Capital charges and the resulting regulatory action level.
- Describe the relationship between statutory financial statements and solvency monitoring tools.
Statement of Actuarial Opinion & professionalism
- Describe the required components and types of opinion (reasonable, deficient, no opinion) in a Statement of Actuarial Opinion.
- Apply relevant ASOPs (e.g., ASOP 36, ASOP 43) to reserve opinion work.
- Identify Actuarial Opinion Summary and Risk of Material Adverse Deviation disclosure requirements.
- Apply the Code of Professional Conduct to actuarial opinion scenarios involving conflicting stakeholder pressures.
Overview
Exam 6-US is a reading-heavy exam on U.S. insurance regulation, statutory accounting, the Annual Statement (with Schedule P as the centerpiece), IRIS ratios, risk-based capital, and the appointed actuary's Statement of Actuarial Opinion under ASOP 36 and 43.
- Duration
- 4 hours
- Questions
- 30 written-answer items
- Style
- Computer-based written answer
- Credit
- Required for ACAS
Syllabus map
Key formulas
Schedule P one-year development for prior AYs (Part 2)
RBC ratio : no action; 150–200% Company Action; 100–150% Regulatory Action; 70–100% Authorized Control; Mandatory Control.
IRIS 11–13 one-year and two-year reserve development to prior surplus (unusual if ); estimated current reserve deficiency to surplus ().
Statutory vs GAAP SAP expenses acquisition costs immediately (no DAC), non-admits certain assets, and discounts few reserves.
Premium deficiency reserve
Study strategy
Outline every paper in the syllabus into lists (purposes, criticisms, steps) — this exam rewards memorized structure.
Build Schedule P fluency: know which Part gives incurred, paid, bulk+IBNR, and claim counts, and how to derive development from them.
Practice writing an actuarial opinion's required sections (identification, scope, opinion, relevant comments) from memory.
Use flashcards for the numeric thresholds (IRIS ranges, RBC action levels, materiality standards).
Common traps
Confusing accident-year and calendar-year figures when reading Schedule P.
Forgetting that Schedule P is net of salvage/subrogation and includes DCC but not A&O in Parts 2–4.
Mislabeling opinion types (reasonable, redundant, inadequate, qualified, no opinion).
Treating the SAO and the Actuarial Report as the same document.