This Presidential Address highlights the national problem of inadequate savings for retirement by the current working population. It examines what can be done to restore confidence in long-term savings and, in particular, looks at the contribution that individual actuaries and the Actuarial Profession can make. The Address also examines the origins in the current shortfalls in final salary pension schemes and the lessons to be learned from recent events, before going on to comment on the lessons from the report on Equitable Life by Lord Penrose.

This Presidential Address takes place at a time of great change for the Actuarial Profession, not least the review of the Actuarial Profession by Sir Derek Morris and his team. The Address concentrates on the changes that the Actuarial Profession, like many other professions, needs to address from a professional perspective in the 21st century. Key aspects such as peer review, monitoring of compliance with standards, CPD and revalidation of a member's competence are considered and the changes that need to be made in these areas outlined. A review of the complicated area of Conflicts of Interest as it impacts on the work of actuaries, especially in today's business environment and the high expectations of clients, points towards the need for additional professional guidance in this area. The need for an Independent Actuarial Standards Board with a significant non-actuarial membership to take responsibility for the standard setting process of the Actuarial Profession is a necessity going forward.

This paper puts the case for the Actuarial Profession revising and tightening its standards on actuarial funding advice in relation to United Kingdom occupational pension schemes. We critique current actuarial practice and advocate principles for measuring solvency and providing funding advice. In particular, we advocate that funding targets should be clearly and unambiguously related to scheme solvency. The paper also covers optimal investment strategy, treatment of the ‘company covenant’ when giving funding advice and governance issues relating to pension schemes.

In the recent past life companies have made many decisions which they have had cause to deeply regret. This paper looks at the range of decision making theories available. It then examines recent examples of decisions that had unfavourable consequences and explores why they were taken, and goes on to describe a systematic approach to decision making which can help management assess more objectively the difficult choices confronting them today. The approach does not require espousal of any specific decision theory or method of value measurement. The focus is on the decision making process and the organisation's capacity to handle change. The paper identifies the three requirements for effective decision making.