Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a bookkeeping firm
A bookkeeping firm works with deadlines that come round every month and with data that carries on for years. A mistake in the payroll is often only discovered when an employee retires.
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In brief
The work of a bookkeeping firm consists of processing other people's figures correctly and on time. The loss that arises from it is pure financial loss: money the client loses while nothing is damaged and nobody is injured. Think of tax interest after a late return, a relief that is missed but would have applied if claimed in time, or a correction covering several years that only surfaces during a tax audit.
Payroll produces the longest-running mistakes. An employee not registered with the compulsory industry-wide pension fund, the wrong collective agreement scale, an incorrect application of the work-related costs scheme or a missed change in contributions carries on for as long as nobody notices. If it is put right years later, the back payment, the interest and the remedial costs all land at once. The standard is set out in Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code: you must exercise the care that may be expected of a competent colleague on the same engagement.
In claims settlement the same distinction counts every time: tax or contributions the client owed in any event are not a loss. What is insured is the extra detriment that arose through your mistake. And fines and penalty payments are excluded on almost every policy: check whether that exclusion also applies to the default fine your client receives because you filed late. For this profession that is the most important difference between two quotations.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
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What to look out for
Four subjects that a bookkeeping firm runs into in practice.
Payroll mistakes carry on for years
A missed pension registration or a job wrongly graded produces a back payment covering the whole period. So work with a fixed check when someone joins, when a job changes and at every change to the collective agreement, and confirm to the client which data you received from him. That confirmation is later your only evidence.
Who monitors which deadline?
Disputes are rarely about the return itself, but about whether the client supplied his documents on time. Set out the delivery deadlines in the engagement letter and record late delivery. If the client is partly at fault, Article 6:101 of the Dutch Civil Code apportions the loss and there is often little of the claim left.
Access to banking systems
If you handle payment batches or hold authorisation in clients' banking environments, you run a risk that is not a professional error. Misappropriation, payment fraud and a manipulated account number fall outside this policy and belong on a fraud or cyber insurance. Apply a four-eyes check to every payment instruction.
Advice that requires a licence
As soon as you guide a client towards financing, insurance or a pension product, you touch on the Wet op het financieel toezicht (the Dutch Financial Supervision Act). Work for which the required licence is missing is excluded, as is intent and wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code). Refer the client on and record the referral in writing.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: often broken down into bookkeeping, payroll and tax
- Share of payroll work: payroll processing produces long-running mistakes
- Number of employees: including staff hired in during the busy season
- Size of your clients: larger employers mean larger corrections
- Sum insured: per claim and per insurance year
- Retroactive date: financial years often come to light with some delay
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A tax audit shows that you processed a client's VAT incorrectly for years | No | Yes |
| A client misses the investment allowance because you posted a purchase incorrectly | No | Yes |
| A client loses a grant because your annual figures were ready too late | No | Provided that |
| A client demands your fee back because the annual accounts had to be redone | No | No |
| A visitor trips over a box of files in your office corridor | Yes | No |
| Your server fails and three clients cannot reach their books for a week | No | No |
Only the extra detriment that arose through your mistake counts as loss, not what the client owed in any event.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Our client received a default fine because we filed late. Is that covered?
That depends entirely on the wording of the fines exclusion. If the policy excludes all fines, then this one is excluded too, however unreasonable that feels to the client. Some insurers distinguish between a sanction imposed on the insured and the amount the client suffers as a loss. Ask about this explicitly when requesting a quotation.
One of our staff siphoned off money at a client. Does that fall under this policy?
No. This is not a professional error but a deliberate act, and Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code excludes loss caused by intent. Separate fraud or misappropriation cover exists for this risk, often combined with requirements on segregation of duties and authorisations. Towards the client you can still be held to account on whether your internal controls were in order.
We are taking over the books of a firm that has closed. What do we arrange?
Two things. Have it recorded whether your policy covers the acquired files with retroactive effect, and make sure the transferring party takes out a run-off period for its own time. Without those arrangements, complaints about old financial years land with you without any cover behind them. Arrange this before the clients are transferred.
Do we also need public and employers' liability insurance alongside this?
If you employ staff or receive clients, yes. Damage to the premises you rent, injury to a client who trips in your reception area and the duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code towards your own staff all three fall outside this policy. Those risks belong on public and employers' liability insurance, which is often placed in the same package.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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