Audit-Season Actuarial Surge Staffing for a Big Four Canadian Practice

Objective

The Canadian actuarial practice of a Big Four firm needed to add capacity for its audit season without adding permanent headcount. IFRS 17 had reached its first full annual reporting cycle, and the practice’s audit engagements for Canadian property and casualty and life insurers required more reserving, model review and documentation work than its own staff could absorb in the peak months.

The practice wanted contractors who could work as members of its own engagement teams under its managers, at a cost that made sense for audit support, and who could be stood up in weeks rather than months. It also wanted a single supplier it could scale up and down month by month as the season moved.

Scope of Work

Contractors supported the practice’s engagement teams on:

• Reserving analysis and IBNR estimation for property and casualty audits, including setting up reserving models in the practice’s tools.
• IFRS 17 audit procedures: review of insurance contract liability models, onerous contract and measurement model testing, and audit clearance documentation.
• Regulatory capital and financial statement work for Canadian insurers, including minimum capital test review, financial statement note review and appointed actuary report peer reviews.
• Life insurance audit support on IFRS 17, asset liability management and LICAT reporting.

The practice directed the work, approved hours, and set the mix of contractors month by month.

Services Provided

A Cohort, Not a Single Placement

Graeme Group supplied six contractors over the course of the year: a senior US property and casualty actuary holding FCAS, FSA and MAAA credentials with reinsurance reserving leadership experience; a Canada-based property and casualty actuary with IFRS 17 and reserving experience at a large Canadian insurer; and four offshore actuaries with property and casualty reserving, IFRS 17 and life reporting backgrounds from Big Four and insurer roles. All six were engaged concurrently at the season’s peak.

Onshore and Offshore in One Team

Offshore contractors worked hours that overlapped the practice’s afternoon, so that engagement managers could review work the same day it was produced. The onshore actuaries carried the work that required senior credentialed judgment and direct contact with the practice’s audit clients.

Administration Through One Supplier

Contracting, onboarding, compliance and monthly invoicing sat with Graeme Group, on a single monthly statement reconciled to the practice’s approved hours per contractor. Graeme Group carried the compliance and tax risk for the contractors and acted as the single point of contact for any issue, so that the practice’s managers dealt with one supplier rather than six individuals.

Scaling With the Season

Hours peaked in the first-quarter reporting season, stepped down through the summer as engagements closed, and reduced to a single contractor by the fourth quarter. The practice paid for capacity in the months it used it and released it without notice or severance cost when the season ended.

Deliverables

This engagement was structured as staff augmentation, so the outputs are the practice’s own audit workpapers and reports. What Graeme Group provided was:

• A cohort of six credentialed and near-credentialed actuaries matched to the practice’s property and casualty, IFRS 17 and life audit needs.
• Onshore and offshore delivery arranged so that offshore hours overlapped the practice’s working day.
• Contracting, compliance, onboarding and consolidated monthly invoicing through a single supplier.
• Month-by-month scaling of the cohort to the practice’s approved demand.

Outcome

• Capacity in Weeks: The first contractors were working in January 2024 and the full cohort was in place by March, in time for the peak of the reporting season.
• Six at Peak: Six contractors engaged concurrently through the first quarter, across property and casualty reserving, IFRS 17 audit and life reporting.
• A Full Season Covered: Coverage ran from January through the end of 2024, scaled each month to the practice’s approved demand.
• Returned for the Next Season: As the year closed, the practice came back to Graeme Group to scope contractor needs for the following season, including AXIS and IFRS 17 audit support, and to confirm onboarding timelines for onshore and offshore candidates.

This engagement reflects the volume end of Graeme Group’s staffing practice: a cohort assembled across geographies, scaled to a professional services firm’s seasonal demand, and administered through one supplier so that the practice’s managers could stay on their engagements.