The two actuarial institutions in Great Britain are the Institute of Actuaries (England) and the Faculty of Actuaries (Scotland). Their joint website is very well-designed, with everything relevant to the activities of the profession, from detailed examination syllabi, to downloadable papers on the future of the profession. If only the accountancy profession could do something like this.
The Government Actuary's Department provides actuarial information and advisory services to other departments of the UK government. This site has a range of downloadable UK life expectancy tables, based on the most up-to-date data available, as well as Ogden's Tables, which are used by the Court to convert year-by-year figures for losses resulting from injuries and fatal accidents, to lump sums, given various assumptions about, for instance, future real interest rates.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales was founded in 1880 by Royal Charter, such as marked the professional and social recognition of the new professions of the Victorian era (others being the engineering institutions, and the Law Society). The ICAEW's premises, off Moorgate in the City of London, are a fine example of late Victorian architecture, enlarged and extended in the 1960s.
The ICAEW is part of the regulatory structure of the accountancy profession.
The approximately 100,000 members, such as I, are entitled to call themselves Chartered Accountants, after prescribed training in the disciplines of accountancy, auditing and taxation (nearly always in a practising firm of chartered accountants), and the passing of a series of examinations in accountancy, company law, and taxation.
The ICAEW has recently launched an information/ support/ contact service for Chartered Accountants wishing to undertake voluntary work, called Everybody Counts. Voluntary organisations needing a Chartered Accountant to help with their work should try this site and register their vacancies.
The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants was founded in 1919 as the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants, an examining and training institution for accountants working in industry, which was once seen as a lower social status than working within a firm of accountants. Since then, CIMA has seen the popularity of its qualification grow by leaps and bounds, and expand internationally.
The approximately 50,000 members, such as I, are entitled to call themselves Chartered Management Accountants, after broad work experience in management accountancy (justified by a log-book style record of work experience), and the passing of a series of examinations on subjects including accountancy, business strategy and business decision-making.
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators was founded in 1896 as the Chartered Institute of Secretaries, to act as the professional body for company secretaries in the UK. The ICSA is now an international institute, with local variations in examination syllabi to accommodate different countries' legal systems.
Members, such as I, are entitled to call themselves Chartered Secretaries.
The Information Systems Audit and Control Association is a US-based institute for information systems audit, with a worldwide membership structure (voluntary on payment of fees), and a separate worldwide qualification, the CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor). I hold the CISA qualification but am not a member of ISACA.