Objectives

The overall goal of this two-day workshop is for participants to understand the key components of an insurance company's financial statements to appreciate how these might vary according to the accounting standard used, and to learn to use a few key ratios to analyse financial strength. The course is designed to provide a basic technical background to the insurance industry as a precursor to attending our Insurance Company Analysis workshop. Specifically, in this introductory course, participants will be equipped to:

• Distinguish the risks inherent in the main products offered by life, non-life (P&C) and reinsurance comanies and recognise how these are reflected in the financial statements
• Understand the key components of an insurance company's income statement, balance sheet and cash-flow statement
• Recognise the impact of differing accounting standards, reserving policies and changes in external variables (such as interest rates and asset prices) on the financial statements
• Calculate and apply some basic ratios to quantify an insurance company's financial strength, performance and risk profile.