CAS Course on ProfessionalismCAS Course on Professionalism (formerly DISC)
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.
Code of Professional Conduct & ASOPs
- Apply the Precepts of the Code of Professional Conduct to realistic professionalism scenarios.
- Identify applicable ASOPs and their key requirements for a given actuarial assignment.
- Recognize conflicts of interest and appropriate disclosure obligations.
- Determine appropriate escalation and resolution steps for professionalism concerns.
Case studies & discussion
- Analyze realistic professionalism case studies involving competing stakeholder interests.
- Apply the Code and ASOPs to justify a recommended course of action.
- Evaluate alternative resolutions to a professionalism dilemma and their consequences.
- Articulate professionalism reasoning clearly in a discussion-based format.
Overview
A required interactive course (not an exam) taken after passing the ACAS exams, built around case studies applying the Code of Professional Conduct, the ASOPs, and the ABCD counseling and discipline process.
- Duration
- 1.5–2 days
- Questions
- Case discussions, no scored exam
- Style
- In-person or virtual seminar
- Credit
- Required for ACAS
Syllabus map
Key formulas
No formulas — but memorize the 14 Precepts of the Code, the structure of an ASOP (scope, definitions, analysis, communication), and the ABCD process (request for guidance, inquiry, counseling, public discipline recommendation).
Study strategy
Read the Code and ASOPs 1, 23, 41, 43 before attending.
Prepare one real professional dilemma to discuss.
Common traps
Assuming a supervisor's instruction relieves you of Precept 1 responsibility.
Forgetting that ASOP 41 disclosure obligations apply to informal communications too.