Professional indemnity insurance
This insurance will cover your legal costs if a work mistake causes damage to a client. This can include reputational or financial damage
Compare cover for accountants and bookkeepers
Comparing deals from more providers makes it easy to find the right cover and price for your needs, helping you save money.
1Accurate as of September 2023
As a chartered accountant or bookkeeper, your clients are trusting you with some of their most important documents, one small mistake could cause huge problems – for instance, you could accidentally release a client’s sensitive data or make a mistake in your calculations that costs them money.
All the major associations of accountants in the UK require their members to have a certain level of insurance in place. So if you belong to a group like ICAEW (the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales), ICAS (the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland) or ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) – or if you’re seeking certification – getting insured is a must.
With insurance for accountants and bookkeepers, your insurer will have your back, whatever happens in the future. And if you make a mistake that ends up damaging one of your clients, they’ll pay out so you can help make things right.
"Small mistakes for accountants can have large consequences and each has the potential to become a lawsuit. Whether or not it's mandatory to have insurance, accountants' insurance is an invaluable safety net that can protect you and your firm from expensive legal claims. Comparing quotes with us will save you the hassle of shopping around to find a great deal.
"
This insurance will cover your legal costs if a work mistake causes damage to a client. This can include reputational or financial damage
It is a legal requirement to have employers' liability insurance in the UK if you have employees. This will cover liability claims if an employee is injured at work
If you injure someone or damage someone's property while carrying out your work, this insurance will cover you for any legal fees associated with a liability claim
This insurance will protect your business equipment both in and out of the office. Policies can also include loss of important data as part of your cover
This insurance will cover your commercial building if you own an office. It will protect your building for any damage caused by fire, flood, or theft
If you need to pause your business operations due to an insurable event, this insurance will cover lost income and wages until you're back in business
Professional indemnity insurance for accountants is designed to make sure you're covered if your work causes problems for a client or impacts their bottom line. Professional indemnity is crucial for bookkeepers to do their jobs safely. Here's what you'll be covered for:
If you make a mistake in your work and it negatively impacts the client - for instance, a miscalculation could leave your client with a larger tax bill
If you disclose the content of your clients' accounts to someone else, or if their data is stolen by hackers or phishers from your system
If you advise your clients to take a particular course of action and it ends up working poorly - this could include reputational as well as financial losses
If a client accuses you of making or supporting libellous statements about their company and their business practices
The cost of insurance for accountants will differ depending on a number of factors. Most importantly, the type of insurance that you're looking for will make the biggest difference, but other details about you and your business will affect the cost, including:
The size of your business will have the biggest impact on insurance types like employers' liability insurance and business interruption insurance
You can save on your insurance by volunteering to increase your insurance excess or reduce it to get more cover, which will cost more
Having a history of insurance claims or legal action will make insurance more expensive because you become a higher risk to insure
Most insurance providers will offer a choice of different levels of cover, from basic to comprehensive. The greater the cover, the higher the premiums
It couldn’t be easier to find a great deal on insurance for accountants with MoneySuperMarket. Here's how it works:
Give us a few basic details about your practice and the amount of cover you need. We’ll find deals tailored to your requirements
You’ll be able to compare your offers by cost, level of protection, and any extras you might find useful
Once you’ve found a deal you like, simply click through to the provider – they’ll take it from there
As an accountant, there are several different types of insurance you might need to protect yourself at work, and accountants’ insurance works by bundling together some of the most helpful products in a package designed to meet your particular needs. The most important one of these, though, is accountants’ professional indemnity (PI) insurance. This cover protects people who provide professional services against claims from their clients – so if a firm you work with sues over an issue with your work, your insurance will pay out to cover your extra costs.
This includes all the legal costs associated with having a claim made against you – from hiring a solicitor to manage your response to representatives to argue your case in court. If you’re ordered to pay damages to your client, or you decide to reach a settlement, insurance will cover that too – and if you work with large clients, these damages payments can easily run into the millions, so it’s crucial you have the right level of cover in place.
Alongside professional indemnity cover, there are other types of insurance that accountants might also need. Accountants’ insurance can protect your data and your computers against loss, theft, or damage. It can also cover you in case you more directly damage someone’s property – for instance, if you spill a cup of coffee over a client’s laptop during a meeting.
Depending on your qualifications and whether you are a chartered accountant, you may be required to have certain insurances. For example, if you are ICAEW Chartered or an ACCA Chartered Certified accountant, you are obligated to have a certain level of professional indemnity insurance. If you have employees working as part of an accountancy firm, you are also legally required to have employee liability insurance for the protection of your employees.
Other types of insurance for accountants may not be a necessity, but they can provide you with valuable protection that will secure your business.
You work hard to earn your money, and we don’t think you should waste a penny of it paying over the odds on your household bills. That’s why at MoneySuperMarket, we’re on a mission to save Britain money.
Whip your credit score into shape with Credit Monitor
Super save over and over again with Energy Monitor
There are always more ways to save with MoneySuperMarket
So how do we make our money? In a nutshell, when you use us to buy something, we get a reward from the company you’re buying from.
You might be wondering if we work with all the companies in the market, or if our commercial relationships with our partners might make us feature one company above another. We’ve got nothing to hide, and we want to give you clear answers when it comes to questions like these, so we’ve pulled together everything you need to know on this page.