This one-day course looks at the financial statements of insurance companies and syndicates to show how financial performance is measured and assessed.

Attendees will learn about:

• insurance companies’ accounts and the nature of insurance business
• what is different about insurance companies, and what does this mean?
• how the financial reporting problems are ‘solved’, looking at technical (underwriting) and non-technical (non-insurance items: investment return, interest and tax)
• underwriting and profit & loss accounting
• premiums written and their effect on financial reporting
• unearned premium reserves movements
• reinsurance
• the three types of claims and their effect on financial reporting
• commissions and deferred acquisition costs and their effect on financial reporting
• balance sheet accounting
• insurance terminology and measurements – triangulations, traditional insurance business ratios – how they are calculated and what they mean
• insurance returns.