ACCA PI insurance requirements explained
Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director, Apex Insurance Brokers Limited · Last reviewed 2026-08-05
Who has to hold ACCA PII?
If you are an ACCA member or firm holding an ACCA practising certificate and you provide accountancy services to the public, professional indemnity insurance is mandatory. The obligation sits in ACCA's Rulebook — specifically the Global Practising Regulations and the associated professional indemnity insurance requirements — and applies whether you trade as a sole practitioner, partnership, LLP or limited company.
PII protects your clients (and you) against claims arising from professional work: negligent advice, errors in accounts or tax returns, missed deadlines, and similar allegations. Because accountancy advice can cause substantial financial loss, ACCA treats adequate cover as a condition of being allowed to practise.
The mechanism: cover linked to gross fee income
ACCA does not set a single flat sum that every firm must buy. Instead, the required minimum limit of indemnity is calculated from your gross fee income (GFI) — broadly, the total fees your firm bills for professional work. The larger your practice, the larger the exposure, so the larger the minimum cover.
The structure has three moving parts:
- A multiple of gross fee income. The minimum limit of indemnity is expressed as a stated multiple of your GFI. As your billings rise, the required limit rises with them.
- A floor. Below a certain size, the multiple would produce a very small figure, so ACCA applies an absolute minimum limit. Even the smallest practice must carry at least this floor amount.
- An upper cap. For larger firms, the required minimum is capped so it does not rise without limit. Above the cap, ACCA expects you to take a sensible commercial view of the cover you actually need — the cap is a minimum, not a ceiling on prudent buying.
So the calculation is, in effect: take your gross fee income, apply the multiple, then check the result against the floor and the cap. Whichever the rule points to becomes your minimum required limit of indemnity for the year.
The maximum excess
Your policy excess is the amount you pay towards each claim before the insurer contributes. A high excess lowers your premium — but it also means that, in a claim, your client might not be fully protected if you cannot fund the excess yourself.
To stop firms from setting the excess so high that cover becomes hollow, ACCA caps the maximum excess a policy may carry. This is usually framed either as a fixed monetary limit or as a proportion of your firm's income, whichever the current rules specify. When you arrange or renew cover, the excess on the policy must sit at or below ACCA's permitted maximum.
How the pieces fit together
| Element | What it does |
|---|---|
| Gross fee income | The base figure your minimum cover is calculated from. |
| Multiple | Applied to GFI to produce the indicative required limit. |
| Floor | The absolute minimum limit for the smallest firms. |
| Cap | The point above which the required minimum stops rising. |
| Maximum excess | The most your policy excess is allowed to be. |
Common limits of indemnity offered in the market — £1m, £2m or £5m, for example — are simply the round figures insurers quote against. What ACCA governs is the minimum you must hold; you are free to buy more, and many firms do where clients, contracts or the nature of the work warrant it.
Need PII that meets ACCA's rules on cover and excess? We arrange it for accountancy practices across the UK.
Get a PI quote →Other conditions ACCA attaches
Meeting the limit and excess rules is the core, but a compliant policy usually has to satisfy some further conditions set out in ACCA's requirements:
- An approved or acceptable insurer. Cover should be placed with an insurer that meets ACCA's standing criteria, not any market at all.
- Appropriate scope. The wording should cover the accountancy and related services your firm actually provides, including any specialist or higher-risk work.
- Run-off cover on ceasing. When a firm stops practising, ACCA expects continuing "run-off" cover for a defined period, because claims can surface years after the work was done.
- Annual confirmation. You may be asked to confirm to ACCA that adequate PII is in place, and to evidence it if requested.
If you are an ATOL, audit-registered, or investment-business firm, additional or higher requirements from other regulators may bite on top of ACCA's baseline. Layered obligations like these are worth talking through with a specialist broker before you renew.
Check the current figures — they change
This guide explains the structure of ACCA's professional indemnity requirements: cover geared to gross fee income, an absolute floor, an upper cap, and a maximum permitted excess. The exact multiple, floor, cap and excess figures are set by ACCA and are updated from time to time. Do not rely on a number you saw quoted online, in an old policy, or in a broker summary that may be out of date.
Before you arrange or renew, confirm the current requirements directly from ACCA's Rulebook and its published professional indemnity insurance guidance. If in any doubt about whether a policy meets the rule, ask ACCA or a broker who places PII for accountancy firms to check the wording against the current regulations.
Common questions
Does every ACCA member need PII?
No — the requirement applies to members and firms holding an ACCA practising certificate who provide services to the public. An ACCA member employed in industry, without a practising certificate, is not personally caught by these rules.
What counts as gross fee income?
Broadly, the total fees billed for professional work over the relevant period. ACCA defines the basis in its regulations, and how you count certain income streams can affect your required limit, so use ACCA's own definition rather than a rough turnover figure.
Can I set a high excess to cut my premium?
Only up to ACCA's permitted maximum. The excess on your policy must not exceed the cap ACCA sets — whether expressed as a fixed sum or a share of income — even if an insurer would let you go higher.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This guide is general information, not advice on a specific policy or a substitute for your policy wording.