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Accountants play an important role for Canadian individuals, families, and businesses. Accountants are a popular career that is demanded by companies in all industries to help them keep track of income and expenditures, ensure compliance, manage payroll, and provide important stakeholders like investors, government entities, and management teams with important financial information which can be used to make business decisions. Accountants also help individuals, families, and businesses prepare their annual tax returns to ensure compliance with government tax regulations.
As an accountant, you play a big part in helping these people and corporations reduce their financial risks and make the most of their finances. As a result, there is little room for error when you perform your duties, especially because the finance industry is so heavily regulated by the federal government. Any misconduct, errors, omissions, or other mistakes can lead to costly losses for your clients and liability or litigation for your own accounting firm.
That’s why it’s important for all accountants to equip themselves with customer designed insurance for their firm. At ALIGNED, we take pride in offering our clients comprehensive, dynamic accountant insurance policies that can be customized to their specific business practices and risk management needs. Our commercial accountant insurance specialists will work closely with you to find the most suitable accountant insurance plan to protect you and your practice against the risks and damages of liability and litigation.
What is Accountant Insurance?
Accountant insurance provides comprehensive coverage against the unique business risks that come with practicing public accounting or offering accounting services to the public. It is designed to meet CPA requirements so that accountants stay in compliance with regulations.
CPA Ontario requires that all firms engaged in the practice of public accounting or providing any accounting services to the public must maintain professional liability insurance. You are required to report your accounting insurance information to CPA Ontario with the name of your insurance provider, your insurance policy number, the number of members in your firm, your policy’s expiry date, and the limit of liability per claim. Your accounting firm is also required to provide proof of insurance in circumstances like:
- Registering the accounting firm
- On the renewal date of the insurance policy
- Within five business days of the policy’s expiry date
- When you stop engaging in the practice of public accounting or providing accounting services to the public
Our comprehensive accountant insurance package is designed for people who perform accounting tasks like tax planning and filing, financial consulting, payroll management, and more. Some of these types of accountants include:
- Accounting consultants
- Financial advisors
- Government accountants
- Investment accountants
- Tax preparer
- Public accountants
- Management accountants
- Bookkeepers
- Chartered professional accountants
- Certified general accountants
- Chartered accountants
Regardless of which type of accountant you are or whether you specialize in providing accounting services to individuals or businesses, ALIGNED has an accountant insurance policy for you to keep your firm protected and reduce risks.
Why is Accountant Insurance Important?
Professional liability insurance is mandatory for accountants and they must report their insurance information when required. When you practice accounting or any other specialized service, you have a legal responsibility to provide correct services to all clients. That said, mistakes can still happen that are out of your control and when they occur, the ensuing loss and damage can be very costly. Imposing mandatory accountant insurance for all accountants is a way of protecting the public interest of your clients.
Some of the risks involved with practicing public accounting or providing accounting services to the public include:
- You are filing taxes for a client and entered the wrong number on one of the lines in the tax form.
- You mismanaged the payroll system for your company, resulting in employees receiving the wrong amount of pay.
- You mismanaged your client’s investments, leading to a large financial loss.
With accountant insurance from ALIGNED, your accounting practice can stay protected against these risks and more.
What Does Accountant Insurance Include?
Commercial General Liability Insurance – Also known as CGL insurance, commercial general liability insurance covers bodily injury and property damage your clients suffer from your accounting services, such as a slip-and-fall accident. It can also cover claims of advertising injuries, such as libel, and slander.
Professional Liability Insurance – Professional liability insurance, also known as errors & omissions insurance or malpractice insurance, covers situations where your mistakes cause financial loss and damage due to alleged negligence, misconduct, errors, or failure to deliver services as promised. It can also protect you against claims alleging breach of contract or professional duty. Professional liability insurance provides coverage for legal defence costs, monetary judgments, and settlement fees.
Cyber Liability Insurance – This is important because you likely store sensitive client information in online databases, such as tax information, client investments, payroll, financial statements, and more. Cyber liability insurance can cover claims of copyright, loss of information, data breaches, defamation accusations, notification and restoration fees, etc.
Find the Right Accountant Insurance Policy for Your Business with ALIGNED
ALIGNED works with Canada’s top insurance companies to provide custom insurance packages at affordable prices. Click Here To Get A Quote or contact one of our business insurance experts for information or with any questions you may have.
