The claim arrives three tax seasons after the return. The policy has to still be there.Founded by an agent who has written professional liability for large accounting and law firms.
A CPA practice needs accountants professional liability, written claims-made with the retroactive date carried forward at every renewal, plus cyber, because the FTC treats an accounting or tax practice as a financial institution that must keep a written security program. Accountants are sued for what a number cost the client: a missed election, a late filing, a valuation the buyer relied on, an audit that did not catch the theft. The professional liability policy that answers those is claims-made, which means the policy in force when the claim arrives is the one that pays, however long after the work. We place accountants professional liability for sole practitioners through multi-partner firms, with the cyber, employment and office coverage a practice needs beside it, and we read the retroactive date first, because for a CPA that date is the coverage.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Your malpractice policy gets read by someone who has placed it for big firms.
Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
Boring’s founder, Kevin Kelsey, has written professional liability for large accounting and law firms. So the retroactive date, the tail and the definition of the services you perform get read by someone who has placed these policies where the stakes were large. A sole practitioner or a small office gets that same reading. Before insurance he edited television for fifteen years and handled compliance and risk for large production companies, and he writes software, including the platform this agency runs on.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What CPA practice businesses actually need.
Accountants professional liability
Claims that your professional services caused a financial loss: tax, audit, review, compilation, bookkeeping, consulting and, where written in, financial planning. Defense costs inside or outside the limit as the form provides.
Without it — No other policy responds to a bad number. General liability excludes professional services by name.
Regulatory and disciplinary defense
Counsel for a state board inquiry, an IRS or PCAOB proceeding or a subpoena, usually as a sublimit.
Without it — A board inquiry costs real money to answer well and it can arrive without any client claim.
Cyber and privacy
A breach of client tax records, business email compromise, ransomware on the practice, and the notification duties that follow.
Without it — A CPA firm holds Social Security numbers for every client and their families, and it is the most attractive small target on the block.
Employment practices
Claims by staff for wrongful termination, discrimination or harassment.
Without it — A firm with seasonal staff and long hours has the exposure; the professional policy excludes it.
Office package
General liability for the premises, the contents and the business income if the office is closed by a loss.
Without it — The lease requires the liability; the tax season revenue is what the business income protects.
What the regulators actually wrote down.
Under the FTC Safeguards Rule, an accountant or other tax preparation service that is in the business of completing income tax returns is a financial institution, because tax preparation is a listed financial activity.
FTC Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information, 16 CFR § 314.2 (definition of financial institution, example) · checked 2026-10-04
A financial institution under the rule must develop, implement and maintain a comprehensive information security program that is written, and must implement multi-factor authentication for anyone accessing an information system unless its qualified individual approves an equivalent control in writing.
16 CFR § 314.3(a) and § 314.4(c)(5) · checked 2026-10-04
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A tax election or a deadline is missed and the client owes penalties
Covered by Accountants professional liability
Small, frequent and often paid quietly. Report it anyway; a claim paid outside the policy is one the next carrier finds.
Less common, severe
An audit or review fails to detect an embezzlement
Covered by Accountants professional liability
The claim is the whole theft plus the fees. Attest work is priced differently on the application for this reason.
Common
Client tax records are breached or a refund is diverted by a fraudulent email
Covered by Cyber and privacy
The professional policy covers your advice, not your inbox.
Less common, severe
A buyer relies on financial statements you prepared and sues after the deal
Covered by Accountants professional liability
Third-party reliance claims are the large ones. The engagement letter that limits who may rely on the work is half the defense.
What the policy will not cover.
Pick a procedure to see what the exclusion actually means and whether it can be placed somewhere else.
Accountants professional liability is written for accounting. The services that push a practice into a different rating band are the ones the application dwells on.
What an accountants policy asks about before it says yes
Audits of public companies or financial institutions
SEC and PCAOB work is rated separately and some carriers do not write it.
Can it be placed? Yes, with the attest clients listed.
Investment advice and product sales
A CPA who also sells securities or insurance needs the financial services endorsement or a separate policy, and a Series license changes the underwriter.
Can it be placed? Yes, with the licenses and the share of revenue disclosed.
Fiduciary and trustee roles
Serving as executor, trustee or receiver is a different duty of care.
Can it be placed? Yes, by endorsement on most forms.
Work before the retroactive date
A claims-made policy does not cover acts before the date on it, and a firm that let a policy lapse has a hole exactly one tax season wide.
Can it be placed? Yes, by carrying the prior date forward or buying tail coverage.
What the insurance company will ask about your CPA practice business
We read 13 applications the markets use for this kind of business and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What are your total gross revenues from last year's tax return, excluding recovered expenses?
- What do you estimate your gross revenues will be for this current fiscal year?
- What percentage of your income comes from each type of service: audit, bookkeeping, tax preparation, valuation, or other?
- Do you have any subsidiary, predecessor, or acquired firms for which you need coverage?
How you operate
- Do you use engagement letters with all clients, and do you update them every year?
- Do your engagement letters include alternative dispute resolution or mediation clauses?
- Do you have written procedures for screening clients and disengaging from clients?
- Do you use nonengagement letters to advise potential clients when you won't be providing services?
- Do you maintain a system for identifying and avoiding conflicts of interest?
Safety and controls
- Does anyone in your firm have discretionary authority to manage, pay bills, or invest clients' funds?
- Do you have an employee dishonesty insurance policy or bond that covers theft of client funds?
- Do you maintain a firm practice management system to ensure timely completion of reports and filings?
- Are all your financial statements and balance sheets signed by your owners, officers, or partners?
- Are all work papers indexed to show what was done, when, and by whom?
Your history
- Have you had any professional liability claims in the past?
- In the past year, have you performed services for any clients that later declared bankruptcy or failed as a business?
- Within the past year, have you sued any clients to collect fees?
- Do you know of any act, error, omission, fee dispute, client bankruptcy, or other circumstance that could be the basis for a claim?
- In the past five years, have any of your professional staff had a license suspended or revoked?
Money and people
- What deductible amount do you want per claim and in aggregate?
- What limits of liability do you want per claim and in aggregate?
- Do you want a separate limit for defense expenses?
- Do you have a second person review your attest work, tax work, or all work?
- Are all your professionally qualified staff or billable staff listed with hire dates, designations, hours, and licenses?
Have these ready
- Your last year's federal tax return
- Copies of your current engagement letters
- Your current professional liability insurance declarations page if you have existing coverage
- Resumes of any recently hired lateral hires
- Details of any claims, lawsuits, or incidents from the past five years
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our CPA practice clients ask us.
How much does CPA professional liability insurance cost?
It is priced on revenue, on the mix of services (tax and bookkeeping rate lowest, attest work and business valuation highest), on the number of professionals, on claims history, and on the limit and deductible. One recent quote from our own files, as an example rather than a range: in August 2026 an established five-person accounting and tax firm with about $1.3 million in revenue, three CPAs and no claims was quoted $4,133 a year for $5M per claim and $5M aggregate with a $2,500 deductible. That works out to about 0.3% of revenue at a high limit. A sole practitioner doing tax and small-business work at a $1M limit should expect less, and a firm with audit clients more. We do not yet have enough of our own CPA quotes to state a range, so the application is where your number comes from, and the service mix on it is worth stating exactly.
Do I need insurance to get or keep a CPA license?
Most states do not require it for licensure, though some require it to practice in an LLC or a professional corporation, and the AICPA and state societies offer programs because members expect to carry it. Clients, lenders and peer review increasingly ask for a certificate.
Does the FTC Safeguards Rule apply to my CPA firm?
If you prepare income tax returns, yes. The rule names an accountant or tax preparation service completing returns as a financial institution, and requires a written information security program and multi-factor authentication on systems holding client information. Cyber insurance does not replace the program, and cyber applications ask whether you have one and whether multi-factor authentication is on email and remote access.
What does an accountants professional liability application ask for?
The applications we work from ask the firm's revenue by service line (tax, bookkeeping, compilation, review, audit, consulting, financial planning), the largest clients and any in regulated industries, whether you audit public companies, employee benefit plans or financial institutions, whether anyone holds securities or insurance licenses, your engagement letter practice, your staff count and turnover, and five years of claims and known circumstances. The revenue split is the rating.
What is a claims-made policy, and why does the retroactive date matter?
A claims-made policy covers claims first made during the policy term for work done after the retroactive date. For an accountant the work and the claim can be years apart, so the policy in force when the claim arrives is the one that pays, and only if its retroactive date is early enough to include the work. Never let the date move forward when switching carriers, and buy tail coverage when you retire.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.