Two questions: 1) Can an associate member sign out FRS17 disclosures. 2) Will an associate member be able to sign out the disclosures under FRS102 (when it replaces FRS17 - along with many other standards - in Jan 2015).
Hi jfitz, This one is definitely more of a "pension practice" query than a "Subject SA4" query and as the SA4 tutors are no longer pensions practitioners I would hate to tell you the wrong answer to this ... ... so I'd better not attempt to, and direct you to one or more of the following sources who could probably better help: (a) the standards themselves (b) your colleagues at work, including your employer's policies on who can/cannot sign off reports* and (c) the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries' Professional Support Service http://www.actuaries.org.uk/regulation/pages/professional-support-service-0 * as these may be "stricter" than requirements imposed by the standards Hope this helps Best wishes Stuart Stuart Underwood ActEd Tutor
As Stuart pointed out you won't get this on an SA4 exam, and your employer, client, client's auditor may impose a higher requirement than the standard, and you should probably check with them. Otherwise, a glance through FRS 102 says something along the lines of "an independent actuary is not required". (I'm not sure whether they mean you can omit the independent part or the actuary part.) IAS 19 says it encourages, but does not require, an entity to involve a qualified actuary. Presumably this means that anyone can prepare the figures. Generally the entity and its auditors take responsibility for the accounts (you don't usually find an actuary's signature in the accounts for example.) If you're an associate of IFoA you have professional obligations to ensure you are sufficiently qualified for any work that you do. It's probably best to check with the profession if you're in doubt.
