QRT and A-QRT Reporting Under SAM: A Practical Guide for South African Insurers
South African insurers submit quarterly Quantitative Reporting Templates (QRTs) and an annual QRT as part of their prudential reporting obligations. The annual exercise is materially more demanding: it sits at the intersection of the year-end actuarial valuation, financial reporting, regulatory capital and external audit. This guide explains the full reporting cycle and what it takes to get each submission right.
What Are the Quarterly and Annual QRTs?
South African insurers submit quarterly Quantitative Reporting Templates (QRTs) and an annual QRT as part of their prudential reporting obligations. The annual return is sometimes referred to operationally as the A-QRT. The annual reporting cycle also includes the Quantitative Risk Report (QRR) and, importantly, specified parts of the annual QRT are subject to external audit or review.
Under the Prudential Authority's reporting notice, insurers are required to submit the relevant QRTs one month after each calendar quarter, while the annual QRT and QRR reporting is due four months after financial year-end. The distinction matters: quarterly reporting is designed to keep the PA informed between year-ends, whereas the annual cycle is a materially more demanding exercise that consolidates the year-end position and flows into the external audit.
Quarterly QRT Reporting
Quarterly reporting provides the PA with regular information on changes in:
- Solvency position
- Own funds
- SCR and MCR
- Technical provisions
- Assets and liabilities
- Underwriting and operational risks
The PA also updates the QRTs periodically, which makes version control important. Its guidance specifically instructs insurers to use the correct QRT version for the relevant submission date.
Annual QRT / A-QRT Reporting
The annual process is materially more demanding. It does not simply mean “take Q4 and submit it again.” It must bring together:
- The year-end actuarial valuation
- Financial reporting and the ledger
- SAM capital calculations and asset data
- Technical provisions and risk exposures
- Governance and regulatory reporting
- The external audit / review requirement
Crucially, specified components of the annual QRT are subject to external audit, with other sections subject to review under the PA's audit requirements.
What Makes the Annual QRT Different?
The annual QRT sits at the intersection of actuarial valuation, regulatory capital, financial reporting and external audit. Selected information is subject to audit or review under the Prudential Authority's audit requirements, which increases the importance of traceability, reconciliation and supporting evidence.
Audited areas include key own-funds information, technical provisions, SCR and MCR information, together with specified asset and other regulatory information.
As a result, it is not enough for the final QRT number simply to appear reasonable. An insurer should also be able to demonstrate where the number came from, how it was calculated, which assumptions and methodologies were applied, what changed from the prior period, and how it reconciles to the underlying financial and actuarial records.
The Head of Actuarial Function's Role
The annual reporting process should also support the responsibilities of the Head of Actuarial Function (HAF). This extends beyond reviewing the final SCR or technical provision number.
Under the relevant actuarial practice notes (APN 106/403), the HAF is expected to provide an opinion on the adequacy and reliability of technical provisions, the MCR and the SCR; review and sign off relevant regulatory returns where required; and be satisfied that the data used in the calculations is materially correct and complete.
The HAF therefore needs sufficient evidence to assess the adequacy and reliability of technical provisions, MCR and SCR, the suitability of key assumptions and methodologies, and the completeness and appropriateness of the underlying data. These expectations are supported directly by the controls called for in the practice notes, including reconciliation back to administration systems, reconciliation of movements over the period, data-cleaning processes, movement of data into and out of actuarial models, and reconciliation back to the financial accounts.
A technically correct result can therefore still create difficulty if the supporting process, reconciliations or documentation are insufficient to demonstrate how the result was produced — particularly in an external audit or regulatory review.
Common Quarterly QRT Issues
Quarterly reporting is fast-moving, and recurring issues tend to cluster around a small number of themes:
- Movement explanations: Unexpected movements between quarters are not investigated or documented sufficiently.
- Reconciliations: Finance, actuarial and regulatory figures do not tie back cleanly to one another.
- Template / version control: Incorrect templates, hard-coded adjustments or manual carry-forwards undermine consistency.
- Capital-data refresh: SCR components are not consistently updated for current exposures.
Common Annual QRT / Audit Issues
The annual exercise surfaces different — and generally deeper — issues, because every figure must withstand independent scrutiny:
- Auditability of calculations: The final submitted figure cannot always be traced cleanly back through the calculation to its source data.
- Completeness of supporting data: Returns depend on multiple actuarial, finance, investment and policy-administration sources that must each be reconciled.
- Technical provision methodology and assumptions: Insufficient documentation of reserving methodologies and key assumptions for an independent reviewer.
- SCR / MCR reproducibility: Capital calculations dependent on complex spreadsheets or manual adjustments that are difficult to reproduce.
- Financial statement ↔ SAM reconciliation: Differences between the ledger, IFRS 17 and the regulatory return that have not been identified, quantified and explained.
- HAF documentation and sign-off: Review and approval steps that are performed but poorly evidenced or documented.
Quarterly and Annual Reporting Workflows
Figure 1 · WorkflowsThe quarterly and annual cycles differ materially in depth. Independent support can add value at every stage — before the auditor surfaces an issue.
Data & valuation
QRT preparation
Reconciliation
Management / HAF review
PA submission
Movement analysis retained
Year-end valuation & financial data
Annual QRT + QRR preparation
Detailed financial / actuarial / regulatory reconciliations
HAF review and relevant sign-offs
External audit / review of applicable QRT components
Resolution of findings and adjustments
Final PA submission
Audit-Ready Does Not Just Mean Correct
A regulatory calculation can be numerically correct and still be difficult to audit. An audit-ready QRT process should allow an independent reviewer to move from the submitted number back through the calculation, methodology and assumptions to the underlying source data — and to understand material movements from the prior reporting period.
Good regulatory reporting therefore depends on more than calculation accuracy. It also requires:
Building a Robust QRT Reporting Process
A reliable QRT reporting process rests on three foundations: clean source data, clear ownership of every template, and automated reconciliation between the actuarial valuation and the submitted returns. Insurers that embed these controls early spend less time firefighting at quarter-end and present a far stronger face to the Prudential Authority.
Independent review of your QRT or annual QRT submissions is a cost-effective way to catch issues before the external auditor or the regulator does — and to demonstrate that your reporting is taken seriously.
How Wizard & Co. Can Help
Our team provides independent actuarial review and regulatory reporting support to South African insurers, working alongside your actuarial, finance and risk teams. We understand how SAM, IFRS 17 and the local regulator interact — and we have seen what goes wrong inside these processes.
Pre-submission QRT review
Independent checks of quarterly or annual regulatory returns before submission.
Annual QRT audit readiness
Review calculations, reconciliations, supporting evidence and documentation before external audit.
SCR & MCR review
Independent review of underlying capital calculations, inputs, mappings and material movements.
Technical provision review
Review reserving methodology, assumptions, cash flows and reconciliation into the annual return.
Data & reconciliation review
Trace regulatory figures to actuarial models, source systems and financial reporting.
HAF support
Assist with the analysis, documentation and supporting evidence required for effective review of technical provisions, capital and returns.
Remediation
Help address issues identified through HAF review, audit or regulatory review — and strengthen the process for future submissions.
Sources & Further Reading
The primary statutory and supervisory sources underpinning this article. Template versions, instructions and deadlines change — always confirm the current requirements directly with the Prudential Authority.
- Insurance Act 18 of 2017 — the primary legislation setting out insurers' reporting obligations to the Prudential Authority.
- PA Notice: Quarterly, bi-annual and annual information required for supervisory purposes — establishes the quarterly and annual reporting intervals.
- Prudential Standard ARI — Audit Requirements for Insurers — sets out the scope of audit and review for annual returns.
- PA Guidance Notice 5 of 2021 — Audit Requirements for Insurers — identifies the QRT sections subject to audit or review.
- PA Insurers Returns page — the Prudential Authority's current template versions and filing requirements.
- ASSA APN 106 / 403 — Head of Actuarial Function — especially the provisions covering technical provisions, MCR, SCR, data and reconciliation.
Preparing a QRT or Annual QRT Submission?
Whether you need additional capacity, an independent pre-submission review, audit-readiness support or help resolving an identified issue, Wizard & Co. can work alongside your actuarial, finance and risk teams.
Discuss a Requirement