Should your accountant have liability insurance?

You may be asking yourself, why would an accountant want to carry liability insurance?The answer to this is because if allegations any allegations are made about the accountant regarding tax preparations or write-ups, then the accountant will have himself a safety net.

A lot of accountants do not like to get liability insurance because of the high costs associated with keeping up on the premiums. However, the cost and severe consequences of a lawsuit can far exceed these amounts.

There are a lot of insurance programs to choose from, but one that has been around for 40 years is the PLIP.The Professional Liability Insurance Program was set up by the AICPA insurance programs.They offer three different insurance plans, depending on the size and income of your company.With their value plan an accountant would be covered for:
-general tax preparations
-bookkeeping
-audits
-personal financial planning and reviews
Besides these that I have listed, there are many more.They also have coverage for the entire staff, choice of limits and choice of deductibles.

An accountant might not see the benefit in having liability insurance when studies are showing only a 1% chance to have a claimed made against them in a year.The only problem is that if an allegation comes up, are they going to have enough money to hire themselves a good defense lawyer?Is the chance of losing your job and putting you in financial ruin worth not paying a monthly premium?

Only the individual company or accountant can answer these questions,but there are cases on record of just these things happening.Accountant lives have been destroyed just because they couldn't afford to defend their innocence when the time came.

As with any type of insurance, it always seems to be a waste of money or unnecessary, until that one time comes.That one time when you either will be so happy you have that insurance, or you will have wished so bad that you had just decided to get it.

With all of the insurance companies out there wanting your business, the prices are not really so bad anymore.The prices of the deductibles and the amount of coverage should enough to be able to cover any claims that may happen.

If you are a business owner and are wondering whether to get liability insurance for your accountants, again the answer is yes.The company you choose to insure with should be just as big of a part as any other entity in your business.The person who handles your insurance should be someone you can trust and rely on because they are the only ones who are going to know all of the ins and outs and coverage's of your insurance policy.Most of the time if you have a big company with lots of accountants, there are group rates you can get and it will not seem like such a big deal to have this liability insurance.

I am a big believer in the old saying "better safe than sorry."When you go into a career or start your own business, usually you will poor everything you have into getting them going.Some things seem necessary and some don't, but liability insurance should never seem unnecessary.When you have an accountant without liability insurance you are basically gambling everything you own and have earned.You never know what surprises or what kind of people the days will bring in, so the only question I have to leave you with is, can you put a price on what your career is worth to you?