Licensing · series claims · changes of partner
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an accountancy firm
A firm carries not only today's mistakes, but also those of departed partners and of acquired portfolios. That is exactly where the gaps in cover sit.
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- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een accountantskantoor.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
At a firm the risk shifts from the individual mistake to the organisation around it. The claim is directed at the partnership, the company or the holding company, regardless of who handled the file. What is insured is pure financial loss caused by a professional error in compilation, advisory, tax and audit work. The assessment runs through Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code, which requires of you the care that a competent fellow professional would exercise on the same engagement.
Two provisions on cover deserve priority over the premium at a firm. The first is the group of insured persons: does it include, alongside current partners and staff, trainees, agency workers, hired-in self-employed professionals and former partners for work done during their time at the firm? The second is the provision on related claims. If you applied the same rule incorrectly at dozens of clients, that often counts as one claim under one limit, while the excess is sometimes calculated per client.
The boundary of the cover also runs along the boundary of the licence. Statutory audit engagements may only be carried out from an audit firm holding a licence under the Wet toezicht accountantsorganisaties. Work for which a legally required licence or registration is missing is excluded. The same applies to advice on financial products without the registration required under the Wet op het financieel toezicht.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four subjects that make the difference at a firm between cover and discussion.
Partners joining and leaving
A partner who leaves behind files that are still complained about years later. Make sure the policy covers former partners for work done during their time at the firm, and that an incoming partner is notified together with his own history. Otherwise a gap opens between his old run-off policy and your retroactive date.
Taking over a portfolio
When you take over a firm or a client base, the complaints about old files land with you, while your own prior-acts cover does not extend to them. Have the acquired activities insured with retroactive effect, or secure a run-off policy from the seller. Arrange this before the completion date; afterwards the insurer is no longer in a position to help.
Wwft: your own fine is yours to bear
As a gatekeeper you have duties to investigate and to report. An administrative fine or order subject to a penalty imposed on you by the regulator is not insurable, not even indirectly. What is insurable is only the loss a third party suffers through a professional error. So invest in recording your client due diligence. That is your only defence.
What else falls outside the cover
Excluded are intent and wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code), fines and tax penalties, repayment of fees and redoing your own work, and liability arising from guarantees. Misappropriation by one of your own staff is not a professional error but a fraud issue and calls for separate cover.
What does your premium depend on?
- The firm's annual turnover: usually broken down by type of engagement
- Number of partners and staff: including self-employed contractors you hire in
- Statutory audits or not: audit work weighs considerably more heavily
- Size of the client base: large clients increase the possible loss
- Sum insured: per claim and capped per insurance year
- Claims history and notifications: including current circumstances
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| Your firm applies the wrong VAT rate at a client for years | No | Yes |
| A client argues that your report led him into the wrong acquisition | No | Yes |
| A merger date is calculated incorrectly and the client loses a loss relief | No | Yes |
| A hired-in self-employed professional makes a mistake in a return under your firm's name | No | Provided that |
| A member of staff advises on a pension product without the required licence | No | No |
| A visitor falls down the stairs in your office building | Yes | No |
Work for which a legally required licence is missing falls under neither policy, however carefully it was carried out.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
We made the same mistake at many clients. Is that one claim or dozens?
That is governed by the provision on related claims. Mistakes with the same cause are usually treated as one claim, allocated to the year of the first notification, with one sum insured for the whole. For the excess, a calculation per client sometimes applies instead. Read both provisions together; they determine what is actually left in such a situation.
A member of staff made the mistake. Can the insurer pursue him?
Not if he falls within the class of insured persons; he is then a co-insured and the right of recourse against him lapses. If he does not fall within it, for example because he worked as a self-employed professional and was not notified, the insurer can seek recovery after paying out. So check each year that the statement of your workforce is still correct.
Are legal defence costs included?
Usually yes, but often within the sum insured. In a long-running dispute with several parties, the defence can therefore use up a substantial part of the available limit before anything is paid to the client. Some insurers offer defence costs on top of the sum insured or with a separate limit. That is a genuine point of comparison between quotations.
A data breach in our client system: does that fall under this policy?
Not under this policy. Liability for professional errors is separate from the cost of forensic investigation, restoration, notification and informing data subjects after a data breach. For that there is cyber insurance. Fines from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch data protection authority) remain outside that cover as well, because they are a sanction.
Read more
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