CPA Insurance for Accountants: Cost, Coverage & Providers

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The profession of accountancy is one that offers many options for those looking to make a career in the field. With so much choice, it can sometimes be difficult to know where and how you might find the best insurance coverage at an affordable price. The following guide will help you understand what CPA insurance covers and who provides these benefits as well as some helpful tips on getting your hands on this critical protection.

CPA liability insurance is a type of insurance that provides protection for accountants and their clients. Cost, coverage, and providers are all important to consider when purchasing this type of policy. Read more in detail here: cpa liability insurance cost.

Accounting insurance and certified public accountant (CPA) insurance are two popular kinds of plans that bookkeepers, tax preparers, and accounting professionals need. Insurance for Professional Liability is the most important coverage for accountants since it pays for their legal bills if customers accuse them of carelessness. CPAs and accounting professionals should expect to pay between $900 and $2,500 per year for Insurance for Professional Liability.

For accountants seeking for insurance, Hartford is a city in Connecticut. is a great option. With a free online quotation, its team of insurance specialists can assist you.

Travel to Hartford, Connecticut.

How CPA & Accounting Insurance Works

CPA insurance usually starts with professional liability, or errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, which covers allegations of negligence and professional mistakes. Having professional liability will cover the greatest exposures bookkeepers, CPAs, and tax preparers face: accusations that errors caused their clients’ financial loss. However, this isn’t the only policy they may need.

A business owner’s policy (BOP), which is a bundle of general liability and Commercial Real Estate insurance, may help accounting professionals who own their own companies. Certain extra coverages may be added to the BOPs of certain insurance companies. Your provider will be able to tell you the sorts of coverage you may get.

Bookkeepers may still be sued for mistakes and omissions in the course of their employment, therefore they should at the very least seek Insurance for Professional Liability.

CPA & Accounting Insurance Costs

Independent accounting practitioners should expect to pay between $900 and $2,500 per year for Insurance for Professional Liability. The final cost is determined by a number of factors. Accounting professionals with their own companies may wish to consider acquiring a BOP, which costs $500 every year.

Companies consider the following variables when issuing CPA insurance:

Because their customers have greater expectations and the industry has strong professional standards, CPAs frequently pay more for professional liability than bookkeepers.
Number of employees: Having more employees increases the probability of anything going wrong, therefore insurers may charge more for general liability, professional liability, and cyber liability.
Claims history: Insurers often look at three years’ worth of data and raise rates if they notice a lot of claims or claims that are very severe.
Policy terms: Larger coverage limits on a policy may cost more, but you may be able to offset that cost by choosing a higher deductible.

Types of CPA & Accounting Insurance

CPA Insurance for Professional Liability may most likely safeguard your principal risks, depending on the nature and size of your accounting firm. Many bookkeepers, accountants, and CPAs, on the other hand, need additional rules, particularly if they have office space and staff. Accountants may need general liability, property insurance, and workers’ compensation in this scenario.

Insurance for Professional Liability

Also called E&O insurance or CPA professional liability, this policy covers legal costs and damages resulting from mistakes in your professional accounting services. This is important coverage for bookkeepers, accountants, and CPAs because even small mistakes in financial recordkeeping can turn into huge lawsuits.

When accounting professionals provide services to their customers, claims against them frequently include carelessness or a failure to follow professional standards. Professional liability insurance can protect you, particularly if the charges are false.

An example is if your client fails to report income on a 1040 tax form that you prepared, and the IRS audits them. Your client now owes back taxes and severe penalties but blames you for the error. Although the client is ultimately to blame, you still need to defend yourself. Insurance for Professional Liability helps cover your legal costs.

BOP

A BOP is a single insurance policy that combines general liability and Commercial Real Estate insurance. A BOP is a good option for accounting professionals with businesses since it insures you against the most prevalent hazards at a reduced price.

Property damage and bodily injury are covered by general liability, whereas property damage to the policyholder’s property is covered by Commercial Real Estate. Accounting professionals might consider adding business interruption insurance to their BOP as a rider to cover lost revenue and continuing expenditures caused by risks that prevent the company from running.

Insurance for Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation is mandated in most states for employers with employees. The cost of insurance is determined by your risk exposures, payroll, and claims history. Accountants’ workers’ compensation premiums are often modest since their profession is low-risk compared to other occupations.

Insurance for Workers’ Compensation provides benefits to your employees in the event of work-related injuries or illnesses. Coverage includes medical bills, wages from lost work time, and more. If you have employees, most states require workers’ compensation coverage.

Commercial Real Estate

Your accounting business may need Commercial Real Estate insurance, which protects the assets of your business, such as your building and the contents within it. Risk exposures covered by Commercial Real Estate insurance commonly include fire, theft, vandalism, and extreme weather.

For example, bookkeepers, accountants, and CPAs with office space and valuable business personal property, such as computers and furniture, face a significant financial setback if their property is destroyed by fire. Commercial Real Estate insurance helps cover the cost of repairing and replacing the building and contents. Business assets of accounting professionals working at home may not be covered by their home insurance.

Insurance for Cyber Liability

Insurance for Cyber Liability covers losses resulting from cyberattacks and data breaches. Coverage pays for data restoration, extortion, legal fees, and more. Because accounting businesses often store personally identifiable information (PII) digitally on computer databases, most need this increasingly important insurance protection.

Cyber insurance provides both first-party and third-party coverage. First-party coverage covers damages to your company, such as the expense of speaking with customers or credit monitoring. Third-party coverage compensates others for damages caused by your company. If a customer sues you because of a breach at your business, they might include attorney fees and other legal expenses.

Liability Insurance for Employment Practices

Liability Insurance for Employment Practices, or EPLI insurance, protects your accounting business in employment-related claims, such as wrongful termination, discrimination, and sexual harassment. Accounting firm owners who hire employees need this coverage, especially as their practices grow and they hire more staff.

Discrimination and sexual harassment, for example, are substantial risk exposures for companies employing workers. While proactive practices, such as anti-discrimination rules, are usually a good idea for bigger companies, they are no guarantee against an EPLI lawsuit.

Umbrella Coverage

Umbrella Coverage serves as an extension of coverage on your other liability policies. Because third-party liability claims, such as those covered under general liability insurance, can lead to multimillion-dollar lawsuits, extending coverage with commercial Umbrella Coverage can be a good idea for some accounting firms.

For example, if a client sues your accounting practice for a slip and fall claim, the legal fees and settlement costs total $1.5 million, and your general liability limit is only $1 million, you’d have to pay the extra out of your own pocket. Umbrella Coverage, however, covers the additional $500,000 expense. Note that umbrella policies don’t extend coverage on Insurance for Professional Liability.

CPA & Accounting Insurance Providers

When shopping for business insurance, look for companies that have worked with firms similar to yours. Not every insurance firm has expertise with insurance for accountants and bookkeepers or has products tailored to the financial services business. You also want to engage with a reputable small business insurance provider.

Hartford is a city in Connecticut.

Hartford is a city in Connecticut. is the second-largest provider of workers’ compensation nationwide. Its pay-as-you-go workers’ comp schemes help reduce insurance premium discrepancies, and it has a network of over a million healthcare providers to help assist injured workers. Accounting professionals with firms can be protected against unexpected claims, especially when an employee gets injured while at work. They can also get other equally important insurance policies such as BOPs, commercial auto, and cyber liability.

Hiscox

Those who operate as independent contractors, such as accountants, bookkeepers, and tax preparers, should apply for coverage with Hiscox. Professional liability insurance for accountants begins at $186 per month, plus company owners may choose for a no-cost monthly payment plan. Hiscox is a popular option among small businesses because of its financial soundness, customized coverage, and user-friendly website.

Travelers

For accountants and tax preparers who are just starting out, Travelers is a wonderful option. BOPs, which cover accounts receivable and employee dishonesty, as well as lost revenue following a covered loss, are available to new enterprises and home-based companies. By joining up with MyTravelers for Business, business owners can then personalize their BOPs with a range of endorsements and manage their policies online.

CyberPolicy

CPAs looking for reasonably priced plans might choose CyberPolicy. CyberPolicy, as a broker, works with a huge network of providers (including Chubb, Nationwide, and Liberty Mutual) to get the lowest prices on a variety of commercial insurance for your company. CyberPolicy also features an online platform that processes applications in minutes, as well as in-house actuaries that examine your data to assure accuracy.

AICPA

With more than 429,000 members, the AICPA is the largest professional membership organization for CPAs. Members can get discounts on specialized insurance offerings for accountant insurance, including professional liability, employment practices liability, Commercial Real Estate and liability, and business overhead expense.

You must meet the following requirements to become a regular member of the AICPA:

Either the CPA Exam or the International Qualification Exam must be passed (IQEX).
Complete 120 hours of continuing professional education (CPE).
Have a current and active CPA license or certification, or have previously had a CPA license or certification that was not revoked due to disciplinary grounds.

Annual membership dues start at $295 for ordinary members and $485 for partners. For people who have retired or temporarily left the employment, the AICPA membership fee is just $155 (full price).

Conclusion

Accounting professionals need the correct insurance to cover their unique risks—an it’s important aspect of beginning or sustaining a bookkeeping or accounting firm. The companies on our list can assist you in finding the finest CPA insurance for your requirements.

Hartford is a city in Connecticut. is a terrific choice for CPA insurance. It offers specialized coverages to provide the best protection for your accounting business needs. Accountants can get a quote online by using Hartford is a city in Connecticut.’s easy-to-navigate website or find a local agent by using the company’s agent search tool.