Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS)

Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (ACAS)

ACAS is the associateship credential of the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), the professional body for actuaries working in property and casualty (general) insurance — auto, home, commercial liability, workers compensation, reinsurance. An Associate has finished the CAS's basic education: probability and financial mathematics, modern statistics, ratemaking, estimating claim liabilities, and the regulation and financial reporting of an insurer in one jurisdiction.

It is the first of the two CAS designations. FCAS is the second, and an Associate continues straight on to it — every ACAS requirement is also an FCAS requirement.

Requirements

The ACAS pathway

• VEE — Economics and VEE — Accounting and Finance
  • University coursework approved in advance, not an exam.
• Exam 1 — Probability
  • Jointly administered with the Society of Actuaries, where the same paper is called Exam P.
• Exam 2 — Financial Mathematics
  • Also joint with the SOA, where it is called Exam FM.
• CAS DISCs — three online Data and Insurance Series Courses, taken through The Institutes
  • Introduction to Data & Analytics (DISC DA); Risk Management and Insurance Operations (DISC RM); Insurance Accounting, Coverage Analysis, Insurance Law and Insurance Regulation (DISC IA).
• Exam MAS-I — Modern Actuarial Statistics I
  • Stochastic Processes, survival models, statistics and GLMs.
• Exam MAS-II — Modern Actuarial Statistics II
  • Credibility Theory, linear mixed models, Statistical Learning and Time Series.
• Exam 5 — Basic Techniques for Ratemaking and Estimating Claim Liabilities
  • The first exam written entirely in the language of the job: Ratemaking and reserving.
• PCPA — Property and Casualty Predictive Analytics
  • An exam and a project, required of candidates seeking the ACAS from 1 January 2026.
• Exam 6 — Regulation and Financial Reporting
  • Sat in the jurisdiction you practise in: Canada (6C), United States (6U), International, or Taipei.
• Course on Professionalism
  • A one-off course on the profession's code of conduct and the obligations that come with the credential.

The CAS restructures this pathway from time to time — PCPA is a recent addition, and the DISCs replaced the older Online Courses 1 and 2 — so check the published requirements and the transition rules before planning a sitting order.

What an Associate can do

Membership carries the professional obligations, not the letters. An ACAS is a voting member of the CAS, bound by the profession's code of conduct and standards of practice, and subject to continuing-education requirements. Whether a member may sign a particular Statement of Actuarial Opinion is set by the regulator of the jurisdiction — in Canada through the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) and the Appointed Actuary regime, in the United States through the applicable qualification standards — not by the designation on its own.

Further Reading

• Credential Requirements — Casualty Actuarial Society
• Transition Rules — Casualty Actuarial Society
• CAS Data and Insurance Series Courses — Casualty Actuarial Society