FROM OUR PARTNERS
From managing client relationships to crunching numbers, accounting professionals have unique risks that are associated with running their business successfully. The regulations of the financial services industry hold accounting professionals to a high standard. We’ve evaluated the best accounting insurance providers based on coverage, financial stability, customer satisfaction, and overall quality.
Simply Business provides insurance policies for a range of professions and small businesses.
For more than 200 years, the Hartford Insurance helped over 1 million businesses just like yours.
Coverwallet began its journey in New York City in 2015 operating under the Aon Insurance banner. At Coverwallet, you can access everything you need to keep your company well-protected at an unbeatable price.
Next Insurance leverages AI technology to streamline the process to purchase insurance, track claims, and manage policies at no additional cost.
With a 100-year history of insuring businesses, Hiscox is well-known across America and globally. With more than 500,000 small business customers, Hiscox is fully aware and trained in the unique risks a business can face.
Thimble provides business insurance that can be tailored to your business by the year, month, day, or even the job. At Thimble, the process to getting the right business insurance is simple, scalable, and flexible.
Accountants and CPAs are dealing with sensitive information every day and regularly subject themselves to a high amount of risk while operating their business. Ranging from social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and more. If this information were to be compromised, the business could be at risk of being shut down.
Accounting insurance is designed to mitigate the risk that accountants and CPAs experience through operating their businesses. Getting the right coverage for your business is important, as it could protect you from common claims that could be brought upon the business.
Auditors, CPAs, and tax professionals frequently get hit with claims from clients for a variety of reasons. These reasons include claims resulting from the changing tax laws, government regulation in the financial services industry, and normal accounting errors as well. It’s also important to recognize that in times of financial hardships, people are always looking for a quick way to make their money back, which results in lawsuits.
You should especially consider accounting insurance if you work in one of the below fields:
While streamlining a number of different processes for CPAs and accountants, the emergence of popular software and technology has also presented unique challenges for those who use that technology. This has changed the landscape on what type of insurance accounting professionals actually need to cover their business from claims.
There is certainly no one-size-fits-all insurance policy for all accounting firms because different firms have different specializations and in some cases have very different business models. However, there are some insurance policies that most accounting firms would consider essential for the business. These are:
A business owner’s insurance policy combines the protection that you get from liabilities in a single policy. It will include:
A major advantage of a business owner’s policy is that you can add optional coverage that can be beneficial to an accounting or CPA firm. These optional coverages could include cyber liability insurance and data breach protection which will protect the business if there was a breach and confidential information was released.
Professional liability insurance is easily the most important type of insurance that accountants and CPAs need. This is also referred to as professional liability malpractice or errors and omissions insurance, and it will cover the firm from most claims and legal costs if you make a mistake with your professional services.
Professional liability insurance can protect you and your business even if you didn’t do anything wrong. You can still get sued by former clients if they believe that you made a mistake. This type of insurance will cover claims of:
Most businesses need some type of general liability insurance for their business, especially accounting firms and CPAs. If you have a physical location with clients or customers coming in and out, there is a possibility that an injury could occur and you would be held liable.
Having a general liability insurance policy could protect you and your business so you don’t have to pay any court costs or legal fees out of pocket. This type of insurance will typically cover physical injuries, medical expenses, and third-party property damage.
For all the things that a general liability insurance policy does cover, there are some things that it does not. For example, general liability won’t cover workers’ injuries, and motor vehicle accidents.
If you employ any full or part-time employees, workers’ compensation insurance is not only a good idea—it’s actually required in some cases. As the name suggests, workers’ compensation insurance will compensate your employees in case they get injured while working at the place of business.
An injury to an employee can occur in a variety of instances, such as slipping and falling on an icy parking lot on the way into work or falling because of a puddle near the water machine. This is why an injury to an employee at work can be devastating for a business without workers’ compensation insurance.
This type of insurance will usually cover medical bills resulting from injury, surgical procedures, and prescription medicine. However, it’s important to note that workers compensation will not compensate workers for their pain and suffering from their injuries.
One insurance policy can’t possibly protect your business from all claims; however, a business owner’s policy is the closest thing that will.
Another key limitation to accounting insurance is that if your court costs or settlement is more than what your policy covers, you will have to pay that difference out of pocket. This could be a significant amount of money if you get sued for something very serious.
Errors and omissions insurance can be particularly limiting if your business has had litigation problems in the past. If this was the case, your insurance premiums would be much higher and harder to afford for the business to keep operating.
The cost of accounting insurance will vary based on the policies you have and the coverage that you select. For example, professional liability insurance for accountants and CPAs will typically be less than $45 per month and about $540 annually while general liability insurance will usually be around $30 per month or roughly $360 per year.
Cyber liability insurance is often overlooked but it is in fact very important to have if you’re dealing with sensitive information. You can expect to pay about $90 per month or around $1000 per year for cyber liability insurance to cover your business from data breaches in the event that sensitive information was compromised.
Workers’ compensation is the most important insurance policy for protecting yourself from liabilities if your employees injure themselves while working. You can expect to pay about $35 per month on workers’ compensation for accountants which amounts to about $420 per year for coverage.
With all the different policies out there, it might feel overwhelming just to get the process started. In order to make the best decision about which insurance policy to choose, you should base the decision on several factors including:
Insurance for accountants looks like it can be costly at the surface. However, it would be more costly to get sued without having the right coverage.
