Requirements For Obtaining The AFE Designation

There are five types of requirements for obtaining the AFE designation. They are:

  1. Education requirements

    To qualify for the AFE designation, you must have:

    1. a bachelor's degree in accounting from an accredited college or university. If you have an accounting degree, you must provide evidence of this degree such as a certificate of graduation or college transcripts.

      or

    2. a bachelor's degree in another field of study from an accredited college or university. However, if you do not have an accounting degree, you must prove that you have successfully completed ALL of the following courses (you must provide a copy of the college transcripts to verify these courses):

      • Accounting Fundamentals (6 semester hours)
      • Intermediate Accounting (6 semester hours)
      • General Auditing (3 semester hours)
      • Business Law (6 semester hours)
        Three (3) semester hours of Business Law, acquired through the successful completion of the college level law courses offered by LOMA, CPCU, or CLU, may be substituted for the three (3) of the six (6) required semester hours (you must provide documentation from LOMA, CPCU, or CLU to verify this course).
  2. Examination requirements

    To qualify for the AFE designation, you must successfully complete the four AFE examinations administered by the Society of Financial Examiners. The four AFE exams are:

    • AFE1     Life and Health Insurance Fundamentals
    • AFE2     Property and Liability Insurance Fundamentals
    • AFE3     Life and Health Insurance Accounting
    • AFE4     Property and Liability Insurance Accounting

    The information about registering for these examinations is provided on page 4 of this brochure. To assist in studying for these examinations, the Society provides study guides and textbook materials. A description of these study items is provided on page 6 of this brochure.

  3. Work-related experience requirements

    To qualify for the AFE designation, you must currently be an insurance department employee or be self-employed with a contract for services with an insurance department and have two (2) years of continuous, responsible insurance department examination experience as a financial examiner or financial analyst.

  4. Membership requirements

    To qualify for the AFE designation, you must be a member in good standing of the Society of Financial Examiners.

  5. Application approval by the Society

    To receive the AFE designation, you must submit an application to headquarters and it must be approved first by the Insurance Membership committee, who will then recommend it for approval by the Executive Committee of the Society. Upon approval by the Executive Committee, the designation will become effective.

    Applications for the AFE designation may be found on the Society's website at www.sofe.org under the link for SOFE Forms and then under Education. The application should be submitted to SOFE management by USPS, fax or email during the month prior to the EC meeting. For example, for a January vote, please submit your application during the month of December. The Executive Committee meets quarterly and usually in the months of January, April, July and October. However, the dates vary from year to year, so please refer to the SOFE website at www.sofe.org under the link for Leadership.