So what does it mean to be a professional?

Regardless as to whether you are a business or an individual, if you have advice or provide a service you may be considered a Professional.

So what! If you do give advice for a fee, or provide design work, you may need additional insurances like Professional Indemnity insurance.

Unlike a general liability policy, a professional indemnity policy will protect you for alleged negligence or breach of professional duty which may arise from an act, error or omission when performing your professional services.

This can include claims for:

-    Faulty designs, inaccurate advice          - Misleading and deceptive conduct

-    Breaches of Intellectual Property          - Fraudulent and dishonest acts

-    Defamation                                                - Loss of or damage to documents

As mentioned, most general liability policies will have a standard or added exclusion if you are a professional which will exclude breach of professional duty or coverage offered by a Professional Indemnity policy.  Even though a liability policy does not cover your professional duty, you still have the risks of Public Liability and possibly even Products Liability.

Any property damage or personal injury to third parties whilst performing your business activities may possibly be a public liability claim.  If you have any products, it could be advertising / marketing products, these can be protected by products liability.

As your business grows and you take on staff, you will need to take out a workers compensation policy.  This is a legal requirement should you take on labour in Australia.  Even if you engage labour as subcontractors, if they are engaged to do work in your business, for the purpose of your business, they need to be covered under your policy.  There are exceptions so it is important to have a chat to your insurance expert to gain clarity on these.  And don’t forget, it you are a Pty Ltd company, you can cover yourself whilst working as a director.

When it comes to labour, many companies are looking to outsource to VA’s either here in Australia or overseas.  Depending on the circumstances of this arrangement, it may cause a problem.  If you do outsource, please head over to my news page and read the article regarding outsourcing to find out more about this.

Other insurances that may be relevant to your business may include:

-    Office package (including fire and other perils to your assets)

-    Business Interruption (Loss of profits should you have a claim under an office package)

-    Management Liability (Liability for the Director’s and managing officers, in the business including employment practices liability, statutory liability, employee dishonesty and more)

-    Cyber liability (some professional organisations make this a requirement, be sure to check)

-    Income protection or Personal Sickness & Accident

-    Tax Audit

If you would like some more information regarding any of the aforementioned policies, please let us know and we can talk through with you.