The short answer
Accountant and bookkeeper insurance usually starts with errors and omissions, which responds when a client says a filing mistake, a missed deadline or wrong advice cost them money. Practices that touch client money add crime cover, and any practice holding tax records needs to think about cyber. Professional bodies may set their own requirements for members. A licensed broker matches the cover to the services you actually offer.
- Public accounting firms and sole practitioners offering assurance, tax or advisory work
- Independent bookkeepers handling client ledgers, reconciliations and sales tax returns
- Seasonal tax preparers and small tax offices
- Payroll services that run pay, remit source deductions and issue year-end slips
- Fractional controllers and outsourced finance staff working inside client systems
1 licensed broker in the network handles this. In Alberta, Canada, a request for accountant and bookkeeper insurance can be offered to up to three of them, chosen because they are licensed for this line and place. They are test brokers while we are in demo.
See the brokers → Outside Alberta, Canada you can prepare and save a request today; sending opens place by place. Brokers answer with their own quotes. Broker.insure does not quote, advise or take commission.
01 / What it covers
The parts worth understanding
Errors and omissions
Claims that a return was wrong, an election was missed, a deadline passed or advice was negligent, and the client lost money. Ask how the policy treats a client's interest, penalties and the cost of correcting a filing, since wordings differ on what counts as damages.
Services declared
The policy is written around the services you list, such as bookkeeping, personal tax, corporate tax, payroll or assurance. Taking on estate returns, investment suggestions or a new kind of filing without telling the insurer can open a gap.
Crime and client funds
Theft by an employee or an outsider of money you handle for clients, such as payroll funds or bills paid from client accounts. A professional policy usually excludes dishonest acts, so crime cover is often separate and may need to extend to client property.
Cyber and client records
Social insurance numbers, bank details and complete tax files make an accounting practice an attractive target. Cyber cover addresses breach response, restoring systems and claims, and the cyber page explains those parts in more depth.
Payroll remittances
A payroll service that remits deductions for clients can face a claim if a remittance is late or missed. Ask whether payroll is treated as a professional service in the wording and how penalties passed on to a client are handled.
Selling or closing a practice
Clients can raise errors in returns filed years earlier. When a practice is sold or closed, ask how past work stays protected and whether the buyer or the seller arranges that protection.
02 / Get ready
Bring this, and expect these questions
Gather
- A list of services with the share of revenue from each: bookkeeping, personal tax, corporate tax, payroll, assurance or advisory
- Your designation, professional body membership and any public practice licence
- The number of clients, the largest client's share of revenue and the industries you serve
- Engagement letters, especially clauses on scope, client responsibilities and limits of liability
- Whether you hold signing authority or online banking access on any client account
- How client payroll or tax money moves, and whether it ever passes through your own account
- Where client records are kept, how they are shared and how long they are retained
- Staff and contractors, including seasonal preparers, and what files and funds they can reach
- Any client complaint, fee dispute or reassessment you were blamed for, with dates
A broker will ask
- Which services do you provide, and has the mix changed in the past year?
- Do you hold a designation, and does your professional body set insurance rules for your kind of practice?
- Do you prepare financial statements that lenders or investors rely on?
- Can you move money out of a client's account, or does client money pass through yours?
- How are returns reviewed before filing, and who signs off on them?
- How do clients send you documents, and what protects those files once they arrive?
- Do you advise on investments, insurance, estates or cross-border tax?
- Has a client blamed you for a reassessment, a penalty or a missed deadline?
Not sure of an answer? Leave it. "Not known yet" is a fine answer, and a broker will help you fill it in.
03 / Build your request
Answer a few questions. Get your own list.
Pick what fits. Your answers shape the list beside them, and they are saved to your request as plain facts a broker can read. "Not sure yet" is always a fine answer.
04 / Three situations
See which one sounds like yours
A bookkeeper who missed a GST filing
A bookkeeper in Lethbridge keeps the books for about thirty small businesses. During a busy spring she missed a quarterly GST return for a contractor client, who now faces interest and possibly a penalty and says the bookkeeper should cover it.
First steps. Note the dates and what the engagement letter says about who was responsible for the filing, and report the matter to the insurer before negotiating anything. Ask the broker how the policy treats interest and penalties charged to a client, and how the deductible would apply.
A payroll service holding client funds overnight
A payroll company in Winnipeg draws pay and remittance amounts from each client's account into its own trust account a day before releasing them to employees and the tax authority. A new client asks what protects that money if an employee diverts it.
First steps. Map how money moves from the client account to each payment, noting who can approve transfers and how changes are checked. Ask the broker about crime cover for client funds, whether money belonging to clients is included, and how it sits next to the professional policy.
An accountant selling her tax practice
An accountant in Kamloops plans to sell her personal and small-business tax practice to a younger firm and retire within the year. Returns she prepared over many seasons could still be reviewed or reassessed after she stops working.
First steps. Ask the broker early how earlier work stays protected once her policy ends, and whether the purchase agreement should say who arranges that protection. Bring the current policy, the sale timeline and a list of the services she offered over the years.
05 / Words you will hear
The jargon, in plain words
- Crime cover
- Insurance against theft, forgery and fraud by employees or outsiders. For practices that handle client money, the key detail is whether funds belonging to clients are included.
- Third-party crime
- An extension covering theft of a client's money or property by your employee, as opposed to theft of the firm's own funds.
- Engagement letter
- The written agreement setting out what you will do for a client, what they must provide and the limits of your responsibility. It is often the first document read in a claim.
- Reassessment
- A tax authority's revised assessment of a return already filed, often with interest and sometimes penalties. Clients may blame the preparer when it follows an error.
- Signing authority
- Permission to approve payments or sign cheques on a client's account. Insurers ask about it because it changes the size of a possible theft or fraud.
06 / Common mistakes
What trips people up
- Adding services such as payroll, estate returns or cross-border filings without updating the insurer.
- Holding online banking access to client accounts without crime cover that reaches client money.
- Using engagement letters that leave unclear who gathers documents and who is responsible for deadlines.
- Emailing tax files and identity documents as unprotected attachments.
- Treating a client's angry email about a penalty as something to smooth over rather than a matter to report.
- Assuming a group program offered through a professional body fits every service the practice offers.
Ready when you are
Turn this into one clear request.
Save it, add what you know, and choose when to send it. A licensed broker who handles accountant and bookkeeper insurance takes it from there.
07 / Questions people ask
Straight answers
Do accountants have to carry professional liability insurance?
It depends on your designation, your province and the services you offer. Some provincial accounting bodies require members who offer services to the public to hold professional liability cover, and the details can depend on the kind of practice. Bookkeepers without a designation are usually guided by client contracts instead. Check your own body's current rules and bring them to the broker.
Does errors and omissions cover tax penalties a client was charged?
Wordings differ. Many policies define damages in a way that can include amounts a client lost because of your error, while fines and penalties imposed directly on you are often excluded. Whether a client's interest and penalties count as recoverable damages depends on the wording and the facts, so ask the broker to show you how the definition reads.
What is crime insurance for a bookkeeping or payroll business?
Crime cover responds to theft, forgery and fraud, such as an employee diverting payroll funds or an outsider tricking staff into making a transfer. For practices handling client money, the important question is whether money belonging to clients is included, not only the firm's own. Professional policies commonly exclude dishonest acts, so crime is usually arranged separately.
Are seasonal tax preparers covered under the firm's policy?
Staff working for the firm are usually covered for work done on its behalf, but contractors may be treated differently, and the insurer may ask how many preparers you use at peak. Tell the broker how seasonal staff are hired and paid, which returns they prepare and who reviews their work before anything is filed.
What should I do if a client says I caused a reassessment?
Do not admit fault or offer to pay before you contact the insurer, because that can affect the claim. Check your policy's notice terms and report the matter promptly, even if it is only an email so far. Gather the engagement letter, the working papers and the correspondence, and let the insurer guide how you respond.
Do bookkeepers need cyber cover if their software is in the cloud?
Cloud accounting software shifts some risks to the provider, but not the email account where clients send documents, the laptop that holds downloads or a staff member tricked into changing bank details. Insurers look at how files reach you and how sign-ins are protected. A broker can explain which incidents a cyber policy would address for your setup.
General information, not insurance advice. Broker.insure is a directory and request service: it is not an insurer and does not quote, bind or advise. Policy terms, availability and what is required where you live depend on your situation and on licensed professionals. Updated 2026-10-31.