ERISA, establishes an important statutory. role for pension actuaries in the United States. As part of its statutory goal to protect the retirement se-. curity of America’s workers, ERISA requires tax-quali-. fied defined benefit plans to obtain an actuarial. valuation of plan reserves each year. When valuing the. plans r’ eserves, the actuary is required by ERISA to act on. behalf of plan participants.