Accounting firms insurance checklist: what an accounting firm should carry

The accounting firm insurance checklist

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Accounting firms usually carry professional liability (e&o), general liability and cyber liability. Accounting firms sign returns and financial statements that clients, lenders and regulators rely on, hold every client's identity and bank details, and face penalties and lawsuits when a number or a deadline is wrong. The client's vendor desk and your landlord ask for proof of each. The checklist below covers who asks and how to check what you have.

Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 12, 2026 Updated Oct 14, 2026

Who asks an accounting firm for what

Who	What they usually want to see
Enterprise clients & vendor onboarding	General liability, professional or cyber liability, workers' compensation and often an umbrella
Landlords & commercial leases	General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation
Banks, lenders & SBA loans	Property or auto physical damage with the lender as loss payee, and liability proof at closing and every renewal

Each of them wants a certificate, and most want it again at every renewal. A live certificate link from the wallet shows today's coverage to every holder and tells them when it changes.

How to check what you already have

Professional liability declarations. Claims-made or occurrence, the retroactive date (it should not have moved), the limit per claim and aggregate, the deductible, and whether defence costs sit inside or outside the limit.
General liability declarations page. Three liability numbers matter: each occurrence, general aggregate and the products–completed operations aggregate. Then the forms list: blanket additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording satisfy every contract; scheduled forms satisfy one.
Cyber declarations. The headline limit matters less than the sublimits: social engineering, funds-transfer fraud, ransomware and business interruption, plus the regulatory coverage and the panel of breach vendors.
Workers' compensation information page. Item 3.A must list every state you work in, item 4 must carry the right class codes, and the employers' liability limits should meet what contracts ask. Check that the estimated payroll is close to this year's.
Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.
Property section. Limits for building, business personal property and tenant improvements against replacement cost, the coinsurance percentage, the deductible, and whether flood and earthquake are excluded (they usually are).
Crime declarations. Employee theft, forgery, funds-transfer fraud and social engineering each have their own limit; third-party coverage if you work in clients' premises.
Business owner's policy declarations. Liability limits on the first page, then the property section: building (if you own), business personal property, business income and the named extras such as spoilage, equipment breakdown or employee dishonesty. Confirm the property values are current.
Business income. The limit or actual-loss-sustained wording, the waiting period, the period of restoration and whether extra expense is included.

What usually goes wrong for accounting firms

Tax penalties from a missed filing, the frequency claim of the profession.
Client identity data stolen and used for fraudulent refunds.
A retroactive date that moved when you switched carriers, cutting off earlier work.
Contracts with indemnity clauses wider than the policy will support.
Social engineering (wire fraud) sublimited to a small amount on a cyber policy with a large headline limit.
Funds-transfer fraud sublimits far below the size of a single wire.

What underwriters will ask an accounting firm

Services mix (tax, audit, advisory) and client count, retroactive dates, data security plan, and client funds handled
Services, largest engagement size and the contracts you sign
Claims-made retroactive date and any prior claims or circumstances
Multi-factor authentication, backups and endpoint protection
Records held, payment card handling and any client network access
Funds handled per month, dual controls and trust-account practice

Have the answers in the wallet before the renewal and the quote request fills itself in; CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier and lines the quotes up against what you have.

Renewal timing

Workers' compensation is audited on actual payroll and liability on sales, so a busy year ends with a bill unless the estimates were kept honest; pay-as-you-go billing through your payroll company removes most of that. Renewal autopilot starts the comparison sixty days out, prefilled from the wallet.

Questions people actually ask

Does accountants' E&O cover tax penalties for a client?

Most policies cover the client's penalties and interest from the firm's error, which is the most common claim. Larger claims come from audit and advisory work; describe the mix on the application.

Why is cyber a regulatory requirement for tax preparers?

Because preparers must have a written security plan under federal rules, and a breach of client tax data triggers notifications and liability. Cyber coverage sized to the client count is the policy that sits behind the plan.

What is a retroactive date on an E&O policy?

The date before which no work is covered. On a claims-made policy you want it to stay at the day you first bought coverage, not reset at each renewal or carrier change. CoverMatch checks it on every quote comparison because it is the difference between covering ten years of work and one.

Does cyber insurance cover a fraudulent wire transfer?

Only under a social-engineering or funds-transfer-fraud insuring agreement, and often at a sublimit well below the policy limit. Ask for the sublimit before you buy; it is the claim small businesses actually have.

A spoofed email redirected a client payment. Which policy responds?

Crime under funds-transfer fraud or social engineering, or cyber if the policy includes it, and in both cases only up to the sublimit. Those sublimits are the number to check before buying either policy.