How to Choose an Actuarial Support Provider in the USA

Actuarial work in the USA comes from consulting actuarial firms, benefits consultancies with their own actuaries, third-party administrators, independent consulting actuaries and a small number of in-house staff at large employers and insurers. The profession is compact: BLS counts about 31,200 jobs for actuaries in 2025, with a median annual wage of $130,000 in May 2025. Support providers that prepare data, models and workpapers for a signing actuary work alongside those firms, and Finbryn is one of them.

Keep three terms apart. A valuation is the calculation. A certification is a signed filing, such as the Schedule SB that goes with Form 5500 for a single-employer defined benefit plan. A statement of actuarial opinion is signed by an actuary who is subject to the Code of Professional Conduct and meets the Academy's qualification standards. Different signers can apply to each, which is why "who signs" comes before price.

This guide ranks no one. It gives twelve checks, each with a way to verify it and the primary source behind it, all opened on 2026-10-08.

Checks 1 to 4 settle who may sign. Checks 5 to 12 settle whether the work behind the signature is sound.

1. Which signature your work needs. For a single-employer defined benefit plan, the 2025 Form 5500 instructions say "An enrolled actuary must sign Schedule SB," and Schedule MB for multiemployer plans carries a similar requirement. A stamped or machine-produced signature isn't acceptable. Financial reporting valuations follow a different path. Your auditor reviews the valuation and decides what more it needs, and the Academy's qualification standards govern actuaries who issue opinions. *Verify:* write down the report or filing and its due date, name who must sign it, then ask every candidate to confirm the same in writing.

2. Enrolled actuary status. The IRS defines an enrolled actuary as "any individual who has satisfied the qualifications set forth in the regulations of the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries" and been approved to perform actuarial services under ERISA (IRS FAQ, reviewed August 7, 2026). Enrollment belongs to a person. The Form 5500 instructions say an enrolled actuary "is by definition an individual and not a firm," and 20 CFR 901.2(a) lets an entity provide those services only through an enrolled actuary who is its employee, partner or consultant. Enrollment renews every third year (20 CFR 901.11(d)). *Verify:* find the signer on the IRS roster of active enrolled actuaries, current as of September 15, 2026, and match the enrollment number to the one entered on your Schedule SB.

3. Qualification and designations. The Academy's qualification FAQ says the US Qualification Standards apply to "members of the five U.S.-based actuarial organizations that have adopted the Code of Professional Conduct," call for 30 relevant continuing education hours, and expect a statement of actuarial opinion signed by the actuary to carry an acknowledgement of the actuary's qualifications. *Verify:* ask the signer for that qualification statement and for the awarding body of each designation, whether the Society of Actuaries, the Casualty Actuarial Society or the Academy. Confirm each one with the body itself, not through the provider.

4. Standards of practice. The Actuarial Standards Board publishes the ASOPs. Five matter here: No. 4 on measuring pension obligations, No. 6 on retiree group benefits, No. 23 on data quality, No. 41 on actuarial communications and No. 56 on modeling. ASOP No. 41 says an actuarial communication "should clearly identify the actuary responsible for it." *Verify:* ask which ASOPs the report will cite and request a redacted sample report so you can read the disclosures before you sign.

5. Data review and your part in it. ASOP No. 23 defines a review as "an examination of the obvious characteristics of data to determine if such data appear reasonable and consistent for purposes of the assignment," says a review "is not as detailed as an audit of data," and adds that the standard "does not require the actuary to perform an audit of the data." The census stays your responsibility. *Verify:* ask what data checks run and who on your side signs off on census accuracy before the valuation runs.

6. Models and who reviewed them. ASOP No. 56 says "the actuary should evaluate model risk" and that an actuary who relies on a model built by others "should disclose the extent of such reliance." It applies to work performed on or after October 1, 2020. *Verify:* ask who built the model and who reviewed it, and whether those are two different people.

7. Independence from your auditor. For an SEC audit client, Rule 2-01(c)(4)(iv) of Regulation S-X lists actuarially-oriented advisory services that determine amounts recorded in the financial statements as impairing independence, unless it's reasonable to conclude the results won't be subject to audit procedures. Helping a client understand the methods, models, assumptions and inputs behind an amount is carved out. The AICPA's Plain English Guide to Independence (2025) lists "appraisal, valuation, or actuarial services" among the nonattest services its independence guidance addresses. *Verify:* if your audit firm or an affiliate offers the work, ask for its written independence analysis before you engage it.

8. Recourse. The Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline handles complaints about alleged violations of the Code of Professional Conduct, and its complaints page says "you do not have to be a member of an actuarial organization to make a complaint." Its jurisdiction follows the signer's membership in one of the participating organizations. *Verify:* ask which organizations the signer belongs to, and ask for a certificate showing professional liability coverage. A certificate is a document. A promise isn't.

9. Personal and health data. Census files carry names, birth dates and pay. Health plan work can involve protected health information. Under 45 CFR 160.103, a business associate includes a person who provides actuarial services to a covered entity where the service involves disclosure of protected health information to that person. 45 CFR 164.502(e) permits that disclosure only if the covered entity obtains satisfactory assurance that the business associate will safeguard the information. *Verify:* ask whether identified health data is needed at all. If it is, ask for the business associate agreement before any file moves.

10. Calendar and scope. The Form 5500 instructions put the filing deadline at the last day of the 7th calendar month after the plan year ends, which is July 31 for a calendar-year plan. *Verify:* ask for a plan-year calendar that shows when your data is due, when the draft reaches the signer and when the signed schedule comes back, plus a written in-scope list that says whether census cleanup, data reruns and auditor questions are included. The 2026 retirement plan limits reference lists other dated deadlines.

11. How the price is built. Actuarial fees usually follow the work: a fixed fee per valuation or filing, with hourly rates for questions and extra charges when late or corrected data forces a rerun. BLS puts median pay for actuaries at $130,000 (May 2025). Dividing that by the 70.0 percent wage share BLS reports for private-industry employer costs (June 2026) gives about $185,714 for a full-time hire, an illustration that leaves out software and review time. *Verify:* get the fee basis, the number of data submissions included and the rerun trigger in writing.

12. Records and the exit pack. ERISA section 107 (29 U.S.C. 1027) requires records supporting filed reports to be kept available "for a period of not less than six years after the filing date." *Verify:* for every valuation, ask for the signed report, the census and asset data as received, the assumption and method memo, the model or workpapers in a format you can open without the provider, and a log of any data changes.

Cost figures appear only where an agency or the provider publishes them. Nothing here is a quote.

The first column is a role, not a rank. A plan sponsor often needs two of these at once: the plan's enrolled actuary for the filing and a support provider for the workload around it.

Finbryn is one option, and for some plans it's the wrong one. Skip it if:

• You want one provider to sign your ERISA funding work, including Schedule SB, AFTAP and PBGC premium certifications. An enrolled actuary named in your engagement letter signs those. Finbryn prepares the support that actuary reviews.
• You need an appointed or qualified actuary. Finbryn is never one.
• You need an opinion Finbryn's signing actuary doesn't give, such as an appointed actuary's statutory opinion or ERISA funding certifications. Finbryn's signing actuary signs only the accounting and reserve reports Finbryn prepares.
• You need a professional liability certificate before you sign. Finbryn's errors and omissions policy is still being placed.
• You can share health data only in identified form under a business associate agreement. Finbryn's reserve support uses de-identified claims lag data and doesn't ask for protected health information.
• You want a promise about how your auditor will treat the work. The auditor decides, and the signing actuary answers the auditor's questions.

Ask for these before the call: the signer's name and qualification statement, a redacted sample report, the plan-year calendar and the fee basis. Then use the half hour like this.

1. Minutes 0 to 5. Name the filing or report and the valuation date, and say who your auditor is. Ask who signs each deliverable.
2. Minutes 5 to 12. Ask for the signer's name, enrollment status where ERISA applies, and each awarding body. Check all of it yourself after the call.
3. Minutes 12 to 18. Data. Ask what exceptions list you'll receive and when, and which data the actuary relies on you to vouch for.
4. Minutes 18 to 24. Models and standards. Ask who built and who reviewed the model, and which ASOPs the report cites.
5. Minutes 24 to 30. Price and records. Ask what triggers a rerun, what the exit pack holds and who keeps the six-year file.

Put the same questions to Finbryn. Its engagement letter names who signs each deliverable, and the actuarial services page lists the scope.

Programs that carry their own claims risk should look at loss reserve studies.