FCA authorised · FRN 7249520117 325 0027Quote & buy →
Accountants · PI cost data · 6 September 2026
In Apex’s recent placements an accountancy practice billing £500,000 typically paid £1,520–£2,200 a year for £1m of professional indemnity cover (n=49), and across 132 accountant placements premiums ran at 0.34%–0.56% of fees — the lowest rate of any profession in our data.
Part of: What professional indemnity insurance costs
In short
Accountants’ professional indemnity insurance is priced on fee income, the mix of work (audit, tax, insolvency, regulated investment business), the limit of indemnity, claims history and excess. In Apex Insurance Brokers’ recent placements (132 accountant policies after outlier removal, data extracted 6 September 2026) a practice billing £500,000 typically paid £1,520–£2,200 a year for £1m of cover (n=49), a practice billing £1m paid £3,170–£5,400 (n=20), and firms billing £25,000–£100,000 mostly paid the £300 minimum premium or a little above it (n=36). ICAEW requires £2m or, for firms under £800,000 of fees, 2.5 times gross fee income with a £250,000 floor; ACCA and AAT have their own scales. These are middle-half ranges, not quotes. Apex is an independent broker, owned by its directors, that places accountants’ PI across more than 30 insurer markets and usually returns three or four competing quotes.
Accountants are the second-largest profession in our data and the lowest-rated. Ranges are the middle half of placements at a £1m limit, shown at representative fee points in each band.
| Annual fees | Premium as % of fees middle half, £1m basis | Typical annual premium, £1m limit | n | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under £25k | 3.24%–4.53% | from £300 | 6 (indicative) | Indicative (n=6); the £300 minimum premium dominates, so we publish the rate only. |
| £25k–£100k | 0.50%–0.81% | from £300 (upper quartile about £410 at £50k) | 36 | The lower quartile falls below the £300 minimum, so read this band as “from £300”. |
| £100k–£250k | 0.37%–0.54% | £370–£540 at £100k £590–£860 at £158k (band midpoint) | 26 | |
| £250k–£1m | 0.30%–0.44% | £760–£1,100 at £250k £1,520–£2,200 at £500k | 49 | The largest accountant cell. |
| £1m–£3m | 0.32%–0.54% | £3,170–£5,400 at £1m £5,490–£9,350 at £1.73m (band midpoint) | 20 | The rate stops falling at this size, which may reflect more audit and complex work in larger firms. |
Set against other professions the accountant rate is low: 0.34%–0.56% of fees across all sizes (n=132), against 0.82%–2.33% for architects and 1.21%–2.80% for solicitors on the same £1m-equivalent basis. At £500,000 of fees an architecture practice paid £2,810–£5,780 (n=139), roughly twice the accountant figure.
Typical annual premium by fee income and limit. ICAEW’s minimum for a firm under £800,000 of fees is 2.5 times gross fee income (floor £250,000), so a £100,000 practice needs at least £250,000, a £250,000 practice at least £625,000 and a £400,000 practice at least £1m. Scaling factors: 0.75 for £250,000, 0.85 for £500,000, 1.20 for £2m.
| Annual fees | £250,000 | £500,000 | £1m | £2m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £100,000 n=26 | from £300 | £320–£460 | £370–£540 | £450–£650 |
| £250,000 n=49 | £570–£820 | £650–£930 | £760–£1,100 | £910–£1,320 |
| £500,000 n=49 | £1,140–£1,650 | £1,290–£1,870 | £1,520–£2,200 | £1,820–£2,630 |
| £1m n=20 | £2,380–£4,050 | £2,690–£4,590 | £3,170–£5,400 | £3,800–£6,480 |
Example: a practice with £100,000 of fees buying the £250,000 ICAEW minimum typically paid from £300 up to £410, and £370–£540 for £1m (n=26). A practice billing £500,000 typically paid £1,520–£2,200 at £1m and £1,820–£2,630 at £2m (n=49). A practice billing £1m paid £3,170–£5,400 at £1m and £3,800–£6,480 at the £2m ICAEW headline figure (n=20).
Accountants are well served online: the large direct insurers list accountants and bookkeepers among their standard occupations, and the professional bodies point members to a scheme. For a sole practitioner doing accounts, tax returns and bookkeeping with fees under about £100,000, no audit, no regulated investment work and no claims, a scheme or an online quote is a reasonable choice, and we would say so.
A broker earns its place when the practice does audit, insolvency, corporate finance or DPB-licensed work; when fees pass roughly £250,000 and the ICAEW multiple pushes the limit towards £1m or £2m; when there is a claim, an HMRC enquiry or a tax-scheme exposure in the history; or when a merger, acquisition of a client bank or retirement needs run-off and successor-practice terms. Our accountants’ broker page explains how the placement is run.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker established in 2009 and based in Bristol, owned entirely by its directors and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, placing professional indemnity insurance for accountancy practices across the UK. It is one of the longest-established independently owned professional indemnity specialists in the UK, and it is not for sale: we have declined approaches to buy the firm. We are not tied to any single insurer or professional-body scheme, we do not run our own policy or underwriting, and we have no placement quotas. We have access to over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, and we usually return three or four competing quotes set out so you can compare them like for like. Every client has a named broker — the same person from first quote to renewal — and every claim notification gets director-level attention rather than a call-centre queue.
How we compiled these figures. The ranges come from Apex Insurance Brokers’ own recent professional indemnity placements, around 940 policies after outlier removal (data extracted 6 September 2026). For each profession and fee band we show the middle half of premium as a percentage of annual fees — a quarter of clients paid less than the bottom of the range and a quarter paid more than the top — converted to a £1m limit, multiplied by a representative fee figure, subject to a £300 minimum premium and rounded to the nearest £10. Cells with fewer than five placements are not shown; nine or fewer are marked indicative. Insurance Premium Tax is charged at 12% on UK general insurance premiums. Our extract does not record whether each premium was captured before or after IPT, so the figures may be quoted before or after IPT — treat them as indicative to within that margin. These figures are not a quote. The full method, the ten headline statistics and the limitations are in the Apex PI Premium Index 2026.
Firms billing £25,000–£100,000 paid from £300, the minimum premium, in Apex’s recent placements: the lower quartile falls below the minimum and the upper quartile is about £410 at £50,000 of fees (n=36). At £100,000 of fees the middle half paid £370–£540 for £1m (n=26). Practices billing under £25,000 paid 3.24%–4.53% of fees (n=6, indicative), a band in which the £300 minimum premium dominates.
From 1 September 2024 the ICAEW minimum is £2m, or for firms with gross fee income under £800,000, 2.5 times gross fee income subject to a £250,000 floor. The excess may not exceed the greater of £3,000 or 3% of fees. The minimum limit calculator works the figure out for your fee income.
ACCA (from 1 September 2023): firms with fees under £600,000 need the greater of 2.5 times fees and £100,000; firms at £600,000 or more need £1.5m. AAT: the greater of 2.5 times fees and £50,000 for a sole practitioner, or £100,000 for a partnership or company, with a £1m cap once fees exceed £400,000.
Across all sizes accountants paid 0.34%–0.56% of fees (n=132), the lowest of any profession in our data, against 0.92%–2.42% for chartered surveyors and 0.82%–2.33% for architects. Compliance and accounts work generates fewer and smaller claims than design or valuation, and the professional bodies’ minimum terms are narrower than the SRA’s.
Yes. Audit carries duties to shareholders and lenders as well as the client, and audit claims are large, so insurers rate audit fees above general practice fees and ask for the list of audit clients. Regulated investment business, insolvency appointments and tax-scheme advice are treated the same way.
Our rate guide applies a claims uplift of 1.10 for accountants, computed from the placements. A notified circumstance that closed without payment usually has a smaller effect than a paid claim, but it must be disclosed. See PI after a claim or notification.
About 20% in our data, using the 1.20 scaling factor. A practice billing £500,000 typically paid £1,520–£2,200 at £1m and £1,820–£2,630 at £2m (n=49); a practice billing £1m paid £3,170–£5,400 and £3,800–£6,480 respectively (n=20). Doubling the limit does not double the premium, because most claims settle inside the first £1m.
Tell us your fee income, the split between compliance, audit, tax, insolvency and any regulated work, your largest clients, staff numbers, claims history and the limit your body requires. Use the get a quote form, the accountants’ proposal form, or call 0117 325 0027.
Send us your fee income and work split and your named broker will return competing quotes on your body’s minimum terms. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a quote Accountants’ proposal formApex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms. Premium figures shown are historic typical ranges from Apex’s own placements, not quotes.
