Insurance Insights

Small business property insurance, sometimes referred to as commercial property insurance, is insurance that protects your assets — your property (tangible and intangible) and your inventory — against loss or damage from an accident, theft or some other cause. A property insurance policy for your small business covers the costs to repair or replace your property. In some cases, your small business property insurance policy will compensate you for irreplaceable items. Most importantly, the risk of loss is transferred from you, the small business owner, to the insurance company.

Commercial casualty insurance is a broad category of protection that encompasses coverage against damage, property and other liability. Casualty insurance is sometimes combined with property insurance, which then is commonly referred to as “property and casualty” insurance.
Commercial casualty insurance is umbrella coverage and is an elastic term. For example, casualty insurance may include protecting the small business owner and his business from negligent acts and omissions. It may also include areas such as fidelity insurance, terrorism insurance and political risk insurance. It typically doesn’t include health or life insurance.
A common type of casualty insurance available today is automobile insurance. In its most basic sense, automobile insurance provides liability protection in the event of an “at fault” accident. Not only will repair or restitution of the damaged property be covered, but the policy can cover medical bills of the individuals that were injured in the accident.
Keeping in mind that casualty insurance is an elastic term, casualty insurance may include such areas as liability insurance, vehicle insurance, theft insurance, and even elevator insurance. Another important type of commercial casualty insurance for small business owner is workers’ compensation insurance, which provides a business coverage from liabilities that occurs when an worker is hurt while doing his job. Moreover, if your employees handle cash transactions or otherwise has access to company funds, then you may want to consider employee theft casualty insurance.
Lastly, developed as a result of technological advances, there are other types of casualty insurance coverage that are evolving, such as identity theft, cyber-liability and cyber-fraud. As a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, even terrorism coverage is available as an add-on casualty insurance coverage.
Small business owners should make sure that they carry additional commercial casualty insurance that makes sense for their business. Casualty coverage provides peace of mind for the business owner whose livelihood depends on the safe operation of its business.

Money owed to a company by its clients is the basic definition of accounts receivable and depending on your business it may total a large sum of money that you have not yet collected. In any matter it is an amount of money that rightful belongs to your company that has not been collected yet. For many small businesses, this sum of money is vital to it’s ability to remain open, and without it would place them in financial hardship.
Often overlooked, but one of the most important types of small business insurance, accounts receivable insurance, covers the costs incurred by reconstructing accounts receivables records that may have been destroyed or damaged as a result of a covered peril, such as a fire or flood. That is, the cost to research and replace the accounts receivable records destroyed by a natural disaster is included in the coverage as is the expense incurred to recover the dollar value of the funds owed by clients and customers.
Small business accounts receivable insurance provides coverage for a number of losses including collection expense beyond normal collection costs, interest charges on loans needed to offset impending collection losses from a covered peril loss or damage, and all sums due from clients and customers resulting from direct loss or damage to accounts receivables records.
Accounts receivable insurance allows a small business owner to limit his risk as well as they out-of-pocket financial expenses required to get back to the business of work after destroyed or damaged accounts receivable records.

Did you ever wonder what would happen if you lost all of your business documents in a fire or a flood? Losing small business customer lists, invoices, and contracts may mean incurring expense and taking the time to recreate these records. The cost of replacing professional documents such as those maintained by accountants, lawyers, and doctors may even be heftier. How many hours of lost productivity would result in replacing records? Would you need to recreate originals? Would you have to hire temporary personnel?
Valuable papers business insurance coverage provides protection in the event of a loss of critical records. Generally, this type of policy covers written and printed documents as well as inscribed records and documents. Books, drawings, mortgages, deeds, manuscripts, films, and maps are typically covered. Certain “documents” such as money, securities, programs, and converted data are usually excluded.
Along with the loss of vital papers, the cost to replace records (up to a limit) is included in valuable papers business insurance coverage. For instance, the policy will cover having soaked papers dried and reproduced, whether caused by a flood, indoor sprinkler, or fire hose.
Typically, valuable papers business insurance coverage is included as part of a small business owner policy or part of a small business property insurance policy. It’s a good idea to sit down and consider the actual cost related to replace vital documents. This includes the cost to reproduce records that were damaged or destroyed to their original state. Oftentimes, the small business owner realizes that the cost of reproduction or replacement is more than they originally thought once they sit down and crunch the numbers. By figuring out a solid estimate for the replacement or reproduction cost, you can ensure that you’re adequately insured.
Most experts also recommend that small businesses have a document retention policy and back up plan in place — and followed. Having your records protected by implementing sound records management policy lowers your risk of vital document loss.

Whether a start-up or an established small business, commercial property insurance is not a luxury, but a necessity. In the event that the physical assets of your business, such as your building and equipment, are damaged or destroyed, this type of business insurance helps you to recoup your financial losses. Before choosing a policy that is right for your business, it’s helpful to know the basics.
In its most basic sense, commercial property insurance can be dissected in two ways: what’s insured and event type leading to the loss.
What’s Insured

Sexual harassment isn’t only confined to large corporations; small businesses are at risk too. Some companies think that “it can’t happen to us”, but unfortunately, it can. Legally, a small business is responsible for the actions of its employees, whether management has knowledge of the incident or not. A form of sex discrimination, sexual harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which applies to employers who have 15 or more employees.
In 2008 only, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recovered $47.4 million for sexual harassment claims. While large corporations may have resources and infrastructure to handle a sexual harassment lawsuit, a small business is particularly vulnerable. Without the financial resources or personnel to handle such a lawsuit, a small business could become crippled when faced with a claim.

Used heavily by contractors, particularly general contractors, contract surety bonds, are a guarantee from a surety to a project owner that a contractor will adhere to the provisions of an agreed-upon contract. In other words, the contractor will get the job done as specified in the contract. A contract bond provides the project owner financial protection and assurance that a contractor will complete the project, and pay laborers, subcontractors, and suppliers. The use of contract surety bonds is common for medium and large sized contractors like carpenters, electricians, painters, plumbers and landscapers.
Contract Bonding

Fraud and embezzlement in the workplace is a reality. Unfortunately, when it happens, restitution from the employee is usually unlikely because most, if not all, of the money has already been spent. Along with taking preventive actions to discourage dishonest employee acts, Fidelity Bonds may be an important safeguard a small business owner can use to absorb these types of losses.
Three common types of fidelity bonds include standard employee dishonesty bonds, business services bonds, and ERISA bonds.
Standard Employee Dishonesty Bonds

If you’re a small business owner, you may already have some type of general liability insurance coverage and auto liability insurance coverage. However, there may be instances where the limits of your general liability policy may not provide you with enough protection. For instance, the limits of your general liability insurance policy may not be able to cover a large judgment against you or your business. You’ve likely put a lot of hard work and hours into growing your business, commercial umbrella insurance provides you and your business with additional liability coverage and protection.
In just about every business, mistakes, errors, and accidents occur — even with the best intentions. A commercial umbrella policy provides you with coverage in excess of the liability limits of your general insurance policy, and in certain cases broadens your general policy. It’s extra protection in the event of a catastrophic or unforeseen event that results in loss of thousands or possibly millions of dollars lost. Commercial umbrella insurance kicks in when a claim made against you exceeds the limits of your existing liability coverage.
The purpose of commercial umbrella insurance is not only to provide protection over and above your general liability limits, but also fill in the gaps of missing coverage in your primary policy. It’s especially important if your business consists of a number of valuable assets, or is worth a great deal of money. If you also have certain specialized insurance policies commercial umbrella insurance can give you additional coverage over these upper limits as well.
Commercial umbrella policies vary in what they cover, but they typically cover bodily injury, personal injury, property damage, extension of coverage of business partners and employees, contractual liability for both written and oral agreements, and more. In order to obtain the best coverage, your insurance agent would examine the nature of your business and conduct a thorough risk assessment of the inherent risks in your businesses day-to-day operations.
The rising cost of lawsuits is a reality that the small business owner must consider. The time, effort, and money you put into developing your business is too important to vanish because of just one unforeseen event. Commercial umbrella insurance is an indispensable part of your business insurance portfolio and is an effective risk management tool.

Nearly every small business these days, but especially an IT business, has some degree of risk related to technology. It could be a programming error, security breach of confidential customer information, or client data loss. Just operating in today’s modern tech environment lends itself to increased risk for the small business owner. Small tech businesses that have websites, blogs, and that participate in social networking may have an added risk for copyright and libel claims. Purchasing Technology E&O insurance offers protection against these risks and more.
Consider the situation where your server crashes, and one of your clients is unable to conduct their business while the server is down. Perhaps you may lose this key client due to this, but the client may also come to you looking for reimbursement for his financial losses resulting from the crash. Mistakes do happen in every business and even the most cautious of small business owners may be subject to an error or omission.
Technology E&O professional liability insurance protects your information technology small business if any of your clients hold you responsible for technological errors and therefore files a claim against you, or sues you for failure to perform as stated in your contract.
Professional liability insurance may also protect your IT Company against charges that may not have been your businesses’ fault, like hardware or software malfunctions. Some investors demand, and some web hosting companies require technology E&O insurance.
What’s Covered? Technology professional liability insurance includes coverage for legal defense. Professional E&O insurance will pay for court costs and any judgments made against you, up to your policy coverage limit. However, most general commercial policies don’t provide coverage for technological errors or contract disputes.
For these reasons, a small business owner should not go without professional liability insurance if he operates a technology business. A doctor wouldn’t practice without malpractice insurance, and an IT firm should operate without technology E&O insurance. These days, legal costs are hefty, and if your IT firm is slapped with a claim or lawsuit involving litigation, it could be more than your small business could financially handle. But perhaps even more important, technology E&O insurance can help protect your firm’s reputation.