Industry
Insurance for Accounting Firms
Accounting firms hold tax returns, Social Security numbers, and financial statements for every client. Your insurance needs to match your actual service lines, not just a generic "accounting" definition. I read the policy and make sure it does.
Coverage your firm needs
Accountants Professional Liability / E&O
Covers claims when your accounting work causes a client financial harm. The critical issue: the policy defines which service lines are covered. If your firm does tax prep, advisory, payroll, and attestation, every one of those needs to be in the definition. Most brokers don't check.
Cyber Insurance
Accounting firms are targeted because they hold high-value financial data for many clients at once. SSNs, bank accounts, tax returns. Phishing attacks spike during tax season because attackers know the data is being actively handled. Covers data breach response, ransomware, business interruption, and regulatory defense.
D&O Insurance
Protects partners and officers personally when they face claims related to firm management. Partner disputes, regulatory investigations, employment claims against the partnership, and decisions about firm growth or restructuring.
General Liability & Business Insurance
General liability, workers comp, BOP, and umbrella coverage. Most leases and client contracts require GL at $1M/$2M. These lines are more straightforward, but they still need to coordinate with your specialty coverage.
What I check that many brokers skip
- Service line definitions. "Tax preparation and bookkeeping" doesn't automatically include advisory work, payroll processing, or attestation services. If your firm added a service line, the policy needs to match.
- Sublimits buried in endorsements. A $2M policy with a $100K sublimit on regulatory defense gives you $100K of regulatory defense coverage, not $2M. These limits are often added through endorsements that most people never read.
- Tax-season cyber risk. The concentration of sensitive client data during filing season creates a peak exposure window. I check whether your breach response coverage is adequate for notifying a full client roster.
- Peer review and state board coverage. A state board investigation or peer review dispute can be expensive to defend. Some policies include this coverage, some don't, and some cover it with a sublimit that is functionally useless.