CAS Case Competition Toolkits – A New Resource Available To Run Your Own Competitions On Campus!

The CAS has made it easier than ever to run an actuarial case competition for university students! With the help of practicing actuaries and some serious volunteer time, the CAS has developed two case competitions, complete with toolkits that offer you guidance and templates to run your own case competition.

If you don’t have experience with case competitions, you may be wondering why an actuarial student would benefit from participating in one. Others of you may already know that case competitions offer an excellent opportunity to gain practical experience as well as hone your analytical, leadership, and presentation skills. On top of that, employers will surely notice the addition to your resume.

Interested in learning more about the case competition materials we have to offer? We currently have two sets of materials for you to choose from.

The first competition, released last spring, focuses on an Auto Safety Features Case Study. The case challenges students to investigate whether a university that is replacing its aging fleet of autos should replace them with vehicles containing certain safety features. The case introduces concepts of loss development triangles, frequency and severity, and quantifying the financial benefit of new car safety features. Arizona State University and the University of Texas at Austin both ran the Auto Safety Features Case Competition last spring, and the Actuarial Students National Association (ASNA) selected the case for last year’s annual convention competition in Niagara Falls. You can read about these competitions in the Jul/Aug issue of the Actuarial Review.

The NEW competition released this month centers around a Workers Compensation Reserving Case Study. The case asks students to estimate the liabilities associated with all of a company’s workers compensation policies ever written, taking into consideration a catastrophic event that occurred at the company. The case focuses on reserving and introduces concepts of IBNR, loss development, severity, and ultimate costs.

The case competition toolkits offer a full set of materials to help universities plan and run their own case competition.

The Auto Safety Features Case Competition Toolkit contains:

• Case Competition Guidelines (University Facilitated)
• Introductory Presentation
• Case Study – Auto Safety Features Case Competition
• Case Study Data Workbook
• Judge Rubric
• Judge Grading Sheet
• Flyer Template
• Award Certificate Template

The Workers Compensation Reserving Case Competition Toolkit contains:

• Case Competition Guidelines (University Facilitated)
• Introductory Presentation
• Case Study – Workers Compensation Reserving Case Competition
• Case Study Data Workbook
• Judge Rubric
• Judge Grading Sheet
• Flyer Template
• Award Certificate Template

If you are interested in organizing a case competition for your actuarial club, or would like to bring the idea up to your professors to facilitate a competition for your classmates, let us know. The CAS is available to provide support and guidance with your competition, including volunteer recruitment and event promotion.

The CAS University Engagement Committee’s Case Competition Working Group, chaired by Erin Olson, FCAS, developed the CAS Case Competition Toolkits.