Note: The next session of Insurance Valuation is scheduled for February 2009. The material below is from the most recent (October 2008) session.

To receive information on the February 2009 session as it becomes available, click here.

Insurance Valuation provides participants with the theoretical foundation and practical tools necessary to understand and overcome the particular challenges inherent in valuing insurance carriers.

Through a combination of lectures, case studies and hands-on applications, this course takes you from revenue streams to the key measures of profitability and financial strength to the variety of valuation techniques available, including market-based approaches, dividend discount modeling and actuarial appraisal.

What participants learn to do:

• Identify and assess the fundamental measures of an insurer's profitability and financial strength
• Measure and value insurers using an Excel-based dividend discount model
• Effectively apply diverse valuation techniques
• Evaluate actuarial analyses, recognizing potential pitfalls and opportunities
• Assess the regulatory forces affecting the industry and individual companies

Participants will leave this program with:

• New insight into key measures of profitability and financial strength of companies in the insurance industry
• A better understanding of multiple valuation techniques, including market-based, actuarial and dividend discount approaches

• Hands-on experience using an Excel-based dividend discount model
• An improved grasp of the actuarial appraisal process

Prerequisites
This program presumes a strong working knowledge of accounting and finance concepts as well as a basic familiarity with the insurance industry. Participants will need to bring a laptop computer equipped with Microsoft Excel, and a calculator. The SNL Center of Education will be able to provide participants with a laptop computer for a fee, should a participant be unable to bring his or her own.  Please contact us in advance of the program if you need a loaner laptop.