Your insurance checklist

With so many insurance options out there, how do you decide which ones you need to renew or which ones you purchase for your business? One thing you need to do is check with your existing insurance night (specifically renters insurance) to see if they can offer combinations of other insurance options like your employees health insurance benefits along with vehicle insurance. Having a single insurance company can often save you a lot of money plus you only need to worry about one payment to insurance companies versus 10-12 to other companies.

Why do you need to downgrade your insurance or upgrade it? Usually it is because you have employees that have left or joined the company. You might also have assets that you liquidated or acquired. Here is an insurance checklist that every business needs to go over:

Medical Needs
This should be at the top of your insurance checklist. Medical needs are a pressing factor in every business setting and with the promise of a healthcare reform in the future; businesses need to ensure their employees are being taken care of. Compare costs on health insurance with a few different companies yearly in order to find the best rates for your company. If your health care coverage is not covering your medical needs and the medical needs of your staff, you need to change insurance companies.

Key Executive Life Insurance
What type life insurance options are you offering to your employees? Since your employees deserve to have benefits offered to take care of their families in the event of their death, you need to ensure that you are offering those benefits to them. Always check on the benefits that are being offered to your employees and update your mailing addresses and a few other things on the forms. Have you changed the legal entity of your company? This also requires updating of your life insurance.

Property Insurance
You must have property insurance in order to keep your business assets safe. You can check with your landlord for property insurance referrals and some of them may require that you contract with a specific company. Property insurance must be able to cover your inventory, which will be based off your inventory reports. Don't forget to add in the depreciation of your equipment and other machinery. Your CPA will be able to help you acquire these numbers as they need them for tax filing purposes.

Commercial Liability
Why is it so vital that you keep your financial record up to date? Not only does this provide you with a better cash flow and stronger financial outlook for your company, it also helps you with commercial liability insurance. Insurance companies will use current data to provide you with accurate quotes, which is why you really need to have the right numbers in there so you aren't being overcharged. Commercial liability insurance is vital to help protect your business assets from being seized if there is a lawsuit filed against your company.

Workers Compensation Insurance
Perhaps one of the most well-known insurance coverage options that is out there is Workers Compensation. You need to be sure that you are paying enough toward workers compensation and that all the class codes for your employees are accurate. There may be discounts that are available to your company that you need to check on in order to ensure you are getting the right type of coverage and that you aren't overpaying.

Hiring the right insurance broker is the best way to go about acquiring adequate insurance coverage for your company. Always start with your existing insurance companies and then go from there as you seek to get the best rates and coverage.