Accountancy insurance
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Why do you need accountancy insurance?
Your clients rely on you to take a big job off their hands. Accountancy is the beating heart of any company’s operations, but things can go wrong, especially in a world of increasingly complex tax requirements. From the invoicing to bookkeeping, malpractice knowledge to HMRC expertise, accountancy insurance protects what you do.
- protect yourself against big claims for errors, malpractice and accidents
- cover for the essentials plus specific accountancy risks, like your client files
- feel confident in your cover with a policy built around your business
What does accountants insurance cover?
We help you build an accountants’ insurance policy that suits your firm. Professional indemnity insurance will be key, and if you employ anyone you’ll need employers’ liability cover – it’s a legal requirement. Along with these, many businesses take out public liability insurance, plus specific cover for things like equipment and legal expenses.
Public liability insurance
In case someone is injured or property gets damaged because of your accountancy business.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for your firm.
Professional indemnity insurance
In case you’ve made a mistake in your accounting, or provided a service that didn’t meet the expected standards.
Business and office equipment insurance
In case something happens to the equipment you use to run your business.
Legal expenses insurance
In case your accountancy firm is faced with legal costs.
Personal accident insurance
In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident.
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
How much does accountancy insurance cost?
Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.
Prices start from £4.31 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
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How we work out example prices We take the highest price from the bottom 10 per cent of all our customers paying in monthly instalments (based on data from 1 July - 31 December 2020). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example accountants insurance quotes, real prices
£13.41 /month
£114.09 /year
A self-employed accountant working for sole traders and small firms in the local area
- 3-4 years' experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Warrington
Public liability
Not included
Employers’ liability
Not included
Professional indemnity
£100,000
£58.02 /month
£515.75 /year
A small accountancy company working for small and medium-sized businesses
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 2 employees
- Based in Northampton
Public liability
£1,000,000
Employers’ liability
£10,000,000
Professional indemnity
£1,000,000
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 23/09/2020). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.
What kind of excess should I expect?
An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.
| Insurance cover | Lowest excess | Highest excess |
|---|---|---|
| Professional indemnity | No excess | £2500 |
| Public liability | £200 | £750 |
| Portable equipment | £100 | £500 |
| Employers liability | No excess | No excess |
The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.
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We handle claims, so you can get on with business
How do I choose insurance?
Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Does accountancy insurance cover my work correctly?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
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 these services alongside building work, make sure you’re covered:
Other types of 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.
Talk to an expert
Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.00pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm
Call our team
How do claims work?
Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.
£30 million in claims paid out in 2019
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2019
Chosen by 800,000 small businesses
We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 800,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.
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Rated 4.7/5
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Accountancy insurance FAQ
Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about accountants insurance.
Yes. You may start offering additional services that require you to use different skills or carry out different tasks. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to give us a call on 0333 043 8527 to update your policy before you take on this new work. If you don’t have the correct type of cover in place for the work you do, you may be unable to claim on your policy if something goes wrong.
You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:
- one-off credit or debit card payment
- BACS payment
- Direct Debit
If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly installments.
This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.
If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.
There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.
We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions
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