The return was filed. The advice came first.
Cover for accountancy and tax practices: the advice you give, the client money you may handle, and the data that sits behind every set of accounts.
Accountant insurance
Usually includes
Professional indemnity
Cyber & data
Client money
Tax enquiry costs
Employers’ liability
Office & contents
One
conversation.
You explain the business once, and we take it from there.
Bespoke service
for your business
No two businesses are the same, so we start with yours rather than with a template.
Everything
quoted together.
Your advice, the data you hold and the office behind it, priced in one go rather than piece by piece.
Know your cover
What is accountant insurance?
The claims that reach accountancy practices are rarely about arithmetic. They are about advice: a tax position that did not hold, a filing deadline that passed, a set of accounts somebody relied on. Cover is built around professional indemnity, with cyber alongside it because you hold payroll and identity data for every client, and client money cover where you handle funds.
It covers the advice
Professional indemnity responds to a claim that your work or your tax advice caused a client a loss.
It covers the data
Payroll records, identity documents and financial data for every client on your books.
It responds to allegations
It funds the defence even where you were right, which is most of what a professional indemnity policy does.
Who it’s for
Whatever the engagement.
✓
General practice accountants
Accounts preparation, corporation tax and companies work for owner-managed businesses.
✓
Tax advisers and consultants
Advisory work where the client acts on a position you took.
✓
Bookkeeping and payroll bureaux
High-volume processing where an error repeats across every period.
✓
Audit-registered firms
Statutory audit work, which is underwritten differently from accounts preparation.
✓
Insolvency and corporate finance
Appointments and transaction work with third parties relying on your figures.
✓
Sole practitioners and small partnerships
Independent practices contracting directly with clients.
What we cover
Cover built around your practice.
We ask what work you do, for which clients and at what scale before we approach anyone. Then show you what’s available, and you decide what fits.
Professional indemnity
The claim that your accounts, filing or tax advice caused a client a financial loss.
Cyber & data
Payroll and identity data for every client, and the payment diverted after a convincing email.
Client money
Funds held on a client account, which is a separate exposure from advice going wrong.
Tax enquiry costs
Professional fees for representing a client, or yourself, through an enquiry.
Employers’ liability
Required by law from your first employee, including seasonal staff taken on for busy periods.
Office & contents
The practice office, the fit-out, and the records and equipment inside it.
Business interruption
The fees lost when your systems or your office stop working, at the point in the year when deadlines do not move.
Management liability
Claims made against you or a fellow partner personally rather than against the practice.
Legal expenses
Recovering unpaid fees, a professional body complaint, and defending a challenge to your advice.
Who this cover tends to suit.
This cover is generally bought by accountancy and tax practices, from a sole practitioner to a firm with several partners and a payroll bureau. Not every part will apply to every practice, so tell us how you’re set up and we’ll show you what’s relevant.
Worth knowing
Check the details before you choose.
Your professional body may set requirements
Membership rules can specify a minimum limit, an approved policy wording or run-off terms. Tell us which body you belong to and what it asks for, and we’ll work to it.
Professional indemnity works on claims made
It responds to claims brought while the policy is live, not to work done while it was live. That is why run-off cover matters when a practice closes or a partner retires.
Audit is underwritten separately
Statutory audit work is treated differently from accounts preparation and advisory. If you hold a registration, say so at the start.
Payroll errors repeat
A mistake in a bureau process does not happen once, it repeats every period until it is identified. Volume changes the exposure.
Every practice is different.
A payroll bureau and a corporate tax advisory don’t carry the same risk, so we ask different questions for each.
General practice
Accounts preparation
Corporation tax
Personal tax
Tax advisory
VAT
Payroll bureau
Bookkeeping
Statutory audit
Independent examination
Insolvency
Corporate finance
Company secretarial
Making Tax Digital
Client accounting
Sole practitioner
General practice
Accounts preparation
Corporation tax
Personal tax
Tax advisory
VAT
Payroll bureau
Bookkeeping
Statutory audit
Independent examination
Insolvency
Corporate finance
Company secretarial
Making Tax Digital
Client accounting
Sole practitioner
Why Vara
Bespoke service for you & your business,
without the big-firm minimum.
01
Advisory work is the exposure
Compliance work rarely produces the claim. Advice a client acted on does. We separate the two before we present the risk.
02
Claims made, not work done
Run-off and retroactive dates decide whether old engagements are covered. We ask about both up front.
03
You hold everybody’s data
A practice holds payroll and identity information for every client on its books. Cyber is not an afterthought here.
04
We present the risk right
Fee income by work type, client profile, registrations and claims history. How it’s framed changes what you pay.
You talk to a person. The machines do the typing.
Free review of your accountant cover and costs.
On a policy that treats a practice like an office? Leave your details and we’ll call you straight back. One conversation covers the lot.
What the review covers
We go through the policy you have now, so you can see what it does and doesn’t cover against a claim on your advice, client money you hold and the data you hold for every client.
We point out the terms that catch accountancy practices out most often, run-off cover on retirement and professional-body minimum limits among them, so you can check yours.
We approach insurers on our panel who write professional risks, and come back with what they’ll offer.
We explain each option in plain English, including what it doesn’t cover.
If it’s not a risk we can place, we’ll tell you straight away rather than leave you waiting.
No obligation to switch. You decide what fits.
Rather not wait? Call us on 0333 091 3663
Good to know
Accountant insurance questions, answered straight.
What insurance does an accountancy practice need?
Does my professional body decide what cover I need?
What does professional indemnity respond to?
What does claims made mean for a retiring partner?
Is audit work treated differently?
Are payroll mistakes covered?
Do I need cover for money held on client account?
Does tax enquiry work need its own cover?
Vara Commercial Insurance · 0333 091 3663
Vara is a trading name of Koral AI Operating Company Limited. Vara is an appointed representative of Innovative Risk Labs Ltd, under Firm Reference Number 1060955. Innovative Risk Labs Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 609155. We are registered in England and Wales under Registered Company Number 17256222. Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF.