Professor David Knox 300-310 Actuarial Principles first semester Four hours per week of lectures and/or tutorials On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• Discuss the actuarial control cycle and explain the purpose of each component within it;
• Explain the importance of the main features within the general environment in Australia as they affect medium to long term commercial decisions;
• Analyse the main features of particular risk-based products and the implications of the general business environment for the provider of these products;
• Assess the risks relevant to particular commercial situations and suggest how they can be handled;
• Discuss alternative designs of policies which may be suitable to provide protection to consumers in respect of a range of financial risks;
• Explain the advantages of using models, describe the main features of the models required for decision making purposes and how they should be used to establish and test the best solution for the client's problem;
• Discuss the assumptions that need to be used in the pricing and ongoing management of financial products.

Insurance markets and products; underwriting and risk assessment; policy design; actuarial modelling; actuarial assumptions and feedback. A three hour end-of-semester examination (80%) and class assignments not exceeding 3,000 words (20%).