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Versatile Career Opportunities
There are currently over 1000 actuaries in active
employment in Australia. About 33 per cent of
these actuaries work in life insurance, 18 per cent
work in general insurance and 18 per cent are
engaged in superannuation, with the remainder
employed in finance and investment, management,
government service and within universities. There
are more than 300 Australian qualified actuaries
working overseas.
Career Examples for Actuarial
Graduates
Banking and Finance
Capital and Risk Management
Energy and Environment
Financial Planning (Retail)
Financial Reporting and Performance Management
General Insurance
Health Insurance
Investments / Asset Management
Life Insurance: Product Pricing, Design and
Distribution
Superannuation
Valuations of insurance liabilities,
financial instruments
Potential Private Sector
Employers
Banks:
ANZ, Westpac, NAB, Commonwealth Bank,
Macquarie Bank, Deutsche Bank.
Business Consulting Firms:
Mercer HR Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Actuarial, KPMG Actuarial, Finity Consulting, Rice
Warner Actuaries, Taylor Fry Consulting Actuaries,
Ernst & Young.
Financial Service Providers:
AIG, AMP, Aviva, AXA Australia, CGU Insurance,
Russell Investment Group.
Reinsurers:
Munich Re, Swiss Re.
Government Based Employment:
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA),
Australian Government Actuary’s Office,
Victorian WorkCover Authority.
The Institute of Actuaries of Australia maintains an
up to date listing of current employers of Actuaries.
This list can be found at www.actuaries.asn.au.
Starting on the Career Path
To qualify as an actuary, a student must pass (or
be exempt from) three parts of the professional
accreditation as prescribed by the Institute of
Actuaries of Australia (IAAust). The first two parts
can be undertaken as a part of the Bachelor of
Commerce (Honours) degree at the University of
Melbourne.
If you complete relevant subjects at the University
of Melbourne, and perform sufficiently well, you
will be recommended for exemption from the
corresponding subjects offered by the Institute
of Actuaries of Australia. Should you receive
exemption from all corresponding subjects you will
be exempt from both Part I and Part II by the end
of your honours degree. Successful completion of
Parts I and II of the IAAust requirements earns you
the Associateship of the Institute of Actuaries of
Australia (AIAA). However, if you do not obtain the
mark needed to achieve exemption you do not need
to repeat the subject. As long as you achieve a
pass mark or above the subject will still be credited
towards your Bachelor of Commerce degree.
Part III of the professional accreditation is set
by the Institute of Actuaries of Australia. These
examinations are held in May and October each
year and are undertaken after university, while a
person is working full time.
The length of time taken to qualify varies from
student to student. The qualification can be
achieved in a minimum of five years, but the
average time to gain full accreditation is between
seven and eight years.
What Would I Study?
At first year level students in the Centre for
Actuarial Studies take introductory subjects in
microeconomics and macroeconomics, accounting,
mathematics and actuarial studies. These subjects
provide a foundation for your future studies. They
also serve to give you a knowledge of the general
economic and business environment in which
actuarial problems are found. At second year level
you will take subjects in probability and statistics.
These two subjects are fundamental to your future
success in actuarial subjects and will give you the
confidence to model random phenomena using
mathematical techniques.
During your second year you will also take two
subjects in financial mathematics. In these subjects
you will learn how to model the expected cash
flows that arise from a variety of financial contracts
including loans, bonds and basic insurance
contracts. You will also learn how to account for the
uncertainty in future earnings rates and projected
cash flows. Your second year of study will also
include subjects in intermediate macroeconomics
and business finance.
During the first two years of study students will also
take two non-mathematical subjects taught outside
the Faculty of Economics and Commerce to satisfy
the breadth component of the BCom degree.
The third year of the actuarial program is the most
highly prescribed with seven actuarial subjects to be
studied. The subjects you will take in your third year
form the backbone of your technical training as an
actuary. The third year subjects cover the technical
side of pricing and valuation for both life insurers
and general insurers, the construction and use of
life tables and survival models, and model portfolio
theory. What you learn in your third year will set you
apart from other Commerce graduates as you will
begin to appreciate what makes actuarial studies so
unique and so valuable.
A fourth year of study (Honours) is available to
students who perform sufficiently well in their third
year of undergraduate study. For more detailed
information about the prestigious Honours year in
Actuarial Studies see page 11.
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