Public liability insurance

In case someone is injured or property gets damaged because of your accountancy business.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for accountants?

Claims against your business for:

• property damage caused by your business
• someone being injured as a result of your work, or while you’re working
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employee (if you do employ anyone, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance)

For example:

• during a client meeting in your office, you spill hot coffee over someone, causing a burn
• while visiting a client’s office you trip and knock a computer monitor off the desk, cracking it in two places

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for your firm.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an employee (including temp staff and casual workers) suing you because they fell ill through working for your firm
• employee injuries resulting from their employment with you

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

• one of your employees suffers back problems after sitting at their desk on a poorly set up chair
• an employee trips over some new computer equipment you’ve left on the office floor, fracturing their wrist

Professional indemnity insurance

In case you’ve made a mistake in your accounting, or provided a service that didn’t meet the expected standards.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance for accountants?

Claims against your business for:

• professional negligence, causing your client to suffer a financial loss
• advice you’ve given which turns out to be incorrect
• other errors in your accounting or activities which end up costing your client money

For example:

• you use out-of-date information to advise a client on their tax payments, causing them a financial loss
• a client makes a bad investment, and claims you’ve been negligent in the due diligence process

Trading without adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance is a serious breach of regulatory requirements in a professional service like accountancy, as well as poor business practice. Your firm could be prevented from trading and closed down if you don’t arrange adequate cover.

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to the equipment you use to run your business.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

• theft of the equipment you use to run your business, while at work or out and about
• accidental loss, flood, fire or damage to your equipment

For example:

• during a break-in, your laptop is stolen
• a leak in your office ceiling damages your computer monitors beyond repair

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case your accountancy firm is faced with legal costs.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day accounting activities, like employee disputes
• the costs of making or receiving legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
• HMRC investigations, or tax and compliance disputes
• includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline and crisis PR support to help protect your firm’s reputation

For example:

• a client is over two months late on their contract payments, resulting in your business taking legal action
• HMRC investigates your business tax accounts

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• injury or death at or outside of work, for anyone covered by the policy
• lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• you trip over the curb on your way to work, breaking your arm
• an employee twists their ankle at a wedding, and can’t drive to the office as usual

Read more about personal accident insurance

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Does accountancy insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider consultant – financial or consultant – tax?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

• Bookkeeping insurance
• Finance and legal
• Financial advisor / ifa
• Mortgage adviser / broker
• Actuary
• Will writing insurance
• Stockbroker
• Solicitor

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Contractors insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.