Avoiding annual audit headaches

Many small business owners have encountered the annual audit headache so common among those with commercial insurance policies. Every year they are either visited by an auditor sent by the company or receive the audit request info sheet directly. Many of those business owners usually end up paying an additional premium due to information submitted during the audit process. With a little careful planning it is possible to avoid this. At renewal time review sales and payroll figures to be used in the upcoming policy year for their general liability and workers compensation policies with the agent. Afterwards, during the policy period, it is desirable to revisit your payroll and sales figures to see if they are tracking with the amounts set at the beginning of the policy year. If you see a trend upwards in either amount, it is a simple call to make to your agent requesting that the amounts be increased towards your revised target. The amount of the increase you would pay can usually be spread among the remaining payments for the rest of the policy term. Although you can't avoid the increased premium, it is certainly better to pay incrementally through the rest of the policy period rather than having to come up with both an additional premium charge at renewal time along with the additional cost of renewal premiums.

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