Large corporations will sometimes hire their own actuaries instead of bringing on consultants. In many cases, their roles are restricted to managing internal pension funds, benefits and insurance plans. Actuaries are also sometimes enlisted to help with financial reporting and other accounting issues, though only on the most complex issues -- they're generally too expensive and too skilled to be relegated to simple bookkeeping.
Due to the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley, the corporate governance act of 2002, more and more companies are employing "risk officers" to help mitigate exposure to the law's often complex requirements. This is a relatively new field for actuaries, but a bunch have studied the legal and financial aspects of the law and are now helping companies with exposure to Sarbanes-Oxley pitfalls.
In a handful of companies, this movement has grown into entire risk departments, with a chief risk officer heading things up at the executive level. Regulatory and financial risk are combined into a whole, with the CRO heading up efforts to vet the companies wide-ranging activities through the prism of risk. Most risk departments remain as part of the office of the chief financial officer or general counsel, but a few CROs are on par with CFOs and the company's top lawyers. These new risk offices study anything and everything, from the various risk profiles of potential factory sites to the company's potential acquisition of a rival. As these efforts grow, actuaries have the opportunity to play some of their most active roles ever in the corporate world.
It's worth noting that these positions are still somewhat rare, and that changes to Sarbanes-Oxley could prompt businesses to change their internal risk management departments. That could change the way some businesses approach risk. However, most actuaries believe that once their worth is proven, they'll continue to take a more active role in corporate operations.
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