Last Monday marked the 25th anniversary of my becoming a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Attaining that credential was the culmination of years of studying and stress. I should have marked the occasion on Monday, but I forgot. Oops. At any rate, that's not the point of this post.
A question came up at work this week -- did I, as I was receiving my fellowship diploma, risk having it taken away?
Some background is in order. When I got my Fellowship, the last hurdle was the Fellowship Admissions Course. It was a two-or-so day seminar on professional ethics and responsibility, designed to instill in us a sense of the importance of acting honestly and ethically. The process of attaining fellowship has changed over the years, but the FAC remains a part of it, and I believe the FAC still has the same purpose.
The FACends with a banquet at which the new FSAs called up one by one to receive their diplomas from the President of the Society (at the time, it was Dave Holland) and get their pictures taken. And that's where I made it interesting. I brought a gorilla mask and a banana to the banquet. When my name was called I quickly put the mask on and made my way to the podium. There, amid laughter, I offered Mr. Holland a banana in exchange for the diploma. One of my regrets is that somewhere along the way I lost the picture.
Was I was worried that the stunt would cost me my Fellowship? The fact is, is did cross my mind. I didn't want to ask Mr. Holland in advance, since I wanted it to be a surprise. But I did ask one of the FAC faculty what he thought. Was there a chance that Holland would decide that I wasn't taking the whole thing seriously enough? Might he tear up the diploma and tell me I had to start again? Might the ABCD* take interest and impose some sanction. The faculty member assured me that Mr. Holland has a good sense of humor and would most likely be amused.
I'm thinking about that question again after 25 years. Suppose Mr. Holland (or some other high-ranking SoA people or FAC faculty) was actually offended that I wasn't taking it seriously enough? Could it actually have cost me my Fellowship?
Short Answer:
No.
Long Answer:
The first important consideration is that, by the time of the banquet, we had all been declared FSAs. Why is that important? Because it speaks to what would have been needed for the stunt to cost me my Fellowship.
Suppose we hadn't been declared Fellows before the banquet. Then, I suppose, the faculty could have decided that I failed and not given me my diploma. I don't think that would have happened, and it would have been unduly harsh. But maybe it could have happened. Maybe.
But by the time I pulled the stunt I was already an FSA. So for it to have cost me my Fellowship the faculty would have had to revoke it. That, I figure, is a bigger deal. The faculty at the FAC do not have the power to revoke Fellowship. They would have had to make a complaint to the ABCD. After a full investigation, the ABCD could decide to revoke my credentials.
But that seems unlikely. I looked at the Code of Professional Conduct to see if I could find anything there on the subject. Most of the precepts in the code have to do with the actual work of being an actuary. They govern communication, disclosure, ethical issues. Things that aren't affected by a lighthearted but irreverent joke. at the FAC banquet. The closest I could come to seeing anything problematic is in Precept 1, which reads:
An Actuary shall act honestly, with integrity and competence, and in a manner to fulfill the profession's responsibility to the public and to uphold the reputation of the actuarial profession.
Maybe that last clause could be invoked to argue that wearing a gorilla mask at the FAC banquet could harm the reputation of the profession. But I think that would be a difficult argument to make. Especially in light of Annotation 1-4, which clarifies that even that part of the precept is intended to apply to professional activities. That Annotation reads:
An Actuary shall not engage in any professional conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation or commit any act that reflects adversely on the actuarial profession.
Now, it's possible that non-actuarial activities can be interpreted as being violations of the Precept if they are egregiously immoral, and well publicized. And then an actuary could be censured or lose his credential. But it's hard for me to see that happening in the kind of situation I'm discussing.
Thoughts?
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*The Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline, which is the profession's body charged with dealing with ethical or professional violations. They have the power to investigate accusations and, among other things, revoke or suspend actuaries' credentials.
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