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... x No Thanks Loading.. Is Your Insurance Software for MGAs Audit-Ready?9/14/2026 by Mark Rogers This content has not been rated yet. Managing general agents have spent several years in an expansion that produced consecutive double-digit premium growth and a steadily larger share of specialty and hard-to-place business. Capacity was available, appetite was broad, and technology investment concentrated where growth was: quoting speed, distribution reach, and product launch. That environment has changed character. Carriers extending delegated authority are applying more rigorous due diligence before renewing capacity, asking harder questions about underwriting discipline and loss ratio stability, and moving toward long-term quality over volume. The conversation shifted from how much premium an MGA can produce to how well it can evidence what it has been doing. Insurance software for MGAs built primarily to win business now meets a market that renews capacity on the strength of the record. The Carrier Relationship Runs on Bordereaux Everything a capacity provider knows about a delegated book arrives through reporting. The carrier does not see individual submissions or underwriting decisions in real time. It sees a premium bordereau and a claims bordereau, and forms its entire view of the relationship from them. That makes reporting quality a commercial property rather than an administrative chore. Common failures are mundane and consequential: Late delivery. Reports arriving after the agreed date, repeatedly, which reads to a carrier as an operation without control of its own data. Restated figures. Numbers that change between submissions without explanation, undermining confidence in every prior report. Format drift. Each carrier specifying its own layout and the MGA producing ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. E&O Claims: Training/Remediation After The Error Or Omission!4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Ken Buehler This content has not been rated yet. If an error or omission occurs, you can't undo it. You can take action to prevent similar incidents in the future, though. An examination of the incident can reveal areas that need your attention. After an incident takes place, you need to ask these questions: Were agency procedures and policies followed? Was everything about the incident properly documented? Were insurance company underwriting guidelines and binding authority guidelines followed? Did the employee (producer or support person) exceed their authority? Did the insurance company perform its responsibilities properly? If it didn't and the agency was aware of this, did the agency bring it to the company's attention? If it turns out that the agency does have some responsibility for the error or omission, even if to a very small extent, training and remedial action are in order. With that in mind, let's look at each question. Were agency procedures and policies followed? It's part of every employee's job to follow agency procedures and policies; whether they do is part of their performance evaluation. If employee adherence to stated policy isn't being enforced, you need to find out why. And the reason might not be clear-cut. For example, most successful agencies today are automated, and most agency systems are activity driven. This means processing is recorded not only by entering file information in the system, but also by entering an activity that creates ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Sample Overtime Authorization Policy For Non-Exempt Employees 7/1 /2015 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Don Phin This content has not been rated yet. If you are a non-exempt employee, you may be qualified for overtime. All overtime must be approved of in writing by your supervisor. Please request an overtime authorization form. At certain times the company may require you to work overtime. The company will attempt to give as much notice as possible in this instance. However, advance notice may not always be possible. Failure to work overtime when requested may result in discipline, up to and including discharge. Overtime is defined as [any hours worked over eight hours in one day], more than forty hours in one week, or any hours worked on the seventh day worked in one week. When the previous parameters are met, overtime is paid at one and one-half times the regular hourly rate. If you work more than twelve hours in one day or more than eight hours on the seventh working day then you will be paid two times your regular hourly rate for those additional hours. Holidays, vacations days, and sick leave days do not count as time worked for computing overtime. ©1998 Phin Enterprises. Donald A. Phin, Esq., CPCM. No portion of these materials may be reproduced by any means without the express written permission of the author. Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands of other great articles. Need more reasons to join? Need insurance for you, your business or your family? ...

... O ) exposure – not to mention detracting significantly from the agency's professionalism. Binders I often ask agency personnel, "What's the basic difference between a binder and a certificate of insurance?" Far less than half of them seem to know the key difference is that a binder is a contract of insurance and a certificate of insurance is a form of proof of insurance. They don't understand that when they "bind" coverage, they're creating an insurance contract, while when they issue a certificate of insurance, they're simply warranting certain coverages exist at a given moment. This is why many agency personnel use binders, certificates, and evidences of insurance almost interchangeably, which is a huge mistake. Because binders are contracts, the people writing the contracts absolutely must know whether they have the authority to do so. This is why carriers provide binding guidelines to every agency that has binding authority with them. Although some carriers have made it more difficult to find these guidelines in recent years, the guidelines still exist. I often find that less than 25% of an agency's staff has a copy of the agency's binding authority. In some cases, agency management doesn't want the staff to know and simply allows them to write binders anyway. This is stupid. If staff and producers have authority from agency management to write binders, and assuming management wants the job done correctly, they must know the agency's binding authority! (" Guidelines" is a misnomer, because it's really a list of the agency's contractual binding authority by line.) . Some agency managers don't want staff to ...

... Policy Purpose To maximize the benefits of electronic communications to ABC Insurance Agency (The Company) and its employees, while protecting the Company and its employees from liability and/or performance challenges due to improper or unauthorized use of the systems made available to facilitate the business of the Company. Company Property As a productivity enhancement tool, the Company (including all subsidiaries) provides and encourages the business use of electronic communications (notably the Internet, voice mail, electronic mail, and fax) . Electronic communications systems owned by the Company and all messages generated on or handled by these electronic communications systems, including back-up copies, are considered the property of the Company. Any attempt to violate, circumvent, and/or ignore these policies could result in corrective action, up to and including termination. Authorized Usage The Company's electronic communications systems must be used solely to facilitate the business of the Company. Users are forbidden from using the Company's electronic communications systems for private business activities, personal, or amusement/entertainment purposes. Employees are reminded that the use of corporate resources, including electronic communications, should never create either the appearance or the reality of inappropriate use. Inappropriate use might result in loss of access privileges and disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Proper Usage Employees are strictly prohibited from using Company computers, e-mail systems, and Internet access accounts for personal reasons or for any improper purpose. Some specific examples of prohibited uses include, but are not limited to: Transmitting, retrieving, downloading, or storing messages or images that are offensive, derogatory, off-color, sexual in ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Overtime Authorization Form 6/30/2015 by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. OVERTIME AUTHORIZATION FORM Employee Name: Date: Title: Department: Overtime Needed From To Total Overtime not to exceed hours DETAILED EXPLANATION WHY OVERTIME IS REQUIRED: CUSTOMER(S )/ CLIENT(S ) OVERTIME IS NEEDED FOR: EMPLOYEE SIGNATURE: DATE: SUPERVISOR SIGNATURE: DATE: ©1998 Phin Enterprises. Donald A. Phin, Esq., CPCM. No portion of these materials may be reproduced by any means without the express written permission of the author. Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands of other great articles. Need more reasons to join? Need insurance for you, your business or your family? Get quality appointments - Save yourself a whole lot of time & money when you use our directory of carriers, wholesalers and service providers. Negotiate lucrative contracts with carriers and wholesalers. Net result. More revenue for your agency! Clients & Prospects will research you, your co-workers and your agency here. The most comprehensive online insurance industry reference library for - Personal Lines Professionals Commercial Lines Professionals Life/Health & Benefits Professionals Online newsletters and content that you can use for your clients and social media efforts. Ability to attach leads and clients to your specific market searches, with e-mail alerts for all the market, articles, blogs and people searches you make. And much more! All Articles by CompleteMarkets Editor Monetization type: None Comments (0 ) There are no comments posted. Search Articles/Libraries Select a ...

... , and more! Communications Marketing Customer Service Planning Finance/Accounting Risk Management Human Resources Selling Legal and E&O Technology Life/Financial Services Glossaries Management Resources & Links Categories Popular Recent All Back E&O Claims: Training/Remediation After The Error Or Omission!4/30/2013 12:00:00 AM by CompleteMarkets Editor , Ken Buehler This content has not been rated yet. If an error or omission occurs, you can't undo it. You can take action to prevent similar incidents in the future, though. An examination of the incident can reveal areas that need your attention. After an incident takes place, you need to ask these questions: Were agency procedures and policies followed? Was everything about the incident properly documented? Were insurance company underwriting guidelines and binding authority guidelines followed? Did the employee (producer or support person) exceed their authority? Did the insurance company perform its responsibilities properly? If it didn't and the agency was aware of this, did the agency bring it to the company's attention? If it turns out that the agency does have some responsibility for the error or omission, even if to a very small extent, training and remedial action are in order. With that in mind, let's look at each question. Were agency procedures and policies followed? It's part of every employee's job to follow agency procedures and policies; whether they do is part of their performance evaluation. If employee adherence to stated policy isn't being enforced, you need to find out why. And the reason might not be clear-cut. For example, most ...

... for effective processing of all lines of business. 3. Establish procedures for proper and expeditious handling of all claims and losses. 4. Establish and maintain systems and procedures to provide accounting controls over assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses. 5. Establish and maintain an effective personnel administration program. 6. Establish policies and procedures to provide administrative support services in an economical, uniform, and timely manner. 7. Develop and maintain a high-caliber management staff to ensure continuity of effective agency operations and a natural progression for all key positions. 8. Develop an operating plan with a market analysis, forecast/budget, and objectives for improvement and continuing analysis of the agency. 9. Participate in seminars and classes for knowledge and skill development. 10. Perform other duties as assigned. AUTHORITY 1. Train producers and staff. 2. Hire, promote, and fire agency employees. 3. Approve agency increases within standards and guidelines. 4. Approve expense accounts (except own) . 5. Enforce agency credit terms. 6. Coordinate interdepartmental contacts. 7. Coordinate and control all bulletins to producers and staff. 8. Control placement of business. 9. Approve job charter and organizational changes. 10. Approve expenditures. &# 160 Position Title: CONTROLLER AND/OR ACCOUNTING MANAGER Objective: Under the direction of the Agency Manager, to plan, establish, lead, control, and maintain systems and procedures so as to provide accounting controls over assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses. Salary Grade: 12 ACTION STEPS: 1. Design and establish new ...

... All comments should be noted, any changes made and agreed upon, and final draft of the procedure made. 4. Amend these printed sheets or reissue, making copies for each person involved with a procedure. Then file one copy in this manual for ready reference. 5. Suspend your procedures every six months, to again review with all staff to be sure everyone is still following the procedure to the letter, the procedure is still effective and does not need changing, and all new staff people have been trained on these procedures. A WORD ABOUT ERRORS & OMISSIONS PROTECTION Establishing standard agency procedures offers you many benefits, but the most important for most agencies is the protection that procedures offer against Errors & Omissions lawsuits. Where can errors and omissions occur? In placing coverage By exceeding company authority (per your agency contract) By not issuing proper binders or documentation of coverage Through failure to renew expiring insurance (whether insured is contacted or not) By not maintaining proper amounts of insurance (when average clauses apply) By overlooking and not covering certain types of hazards/perils Through a misunderstanding with the insured (lack of proper communication) By not having proper documentation to prove the error or omission false By giving false information to the company, or not giving all the information to the company when submitting or renewing coverage What to do to help prevent errors or omissions: l. Telephone Messages a. Date, time, and sign every phone message. b. Write the exact information given, and deliver to the proper person immediately. c. Don't take messages or try to ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. SAMPLE JOB DESCRIPTION: COMMERCIAL CSR Every position in the agency should have a written job description. An ideal job description contains the following elements: 1. Position title 2. Department to which the position is assigned 3. Job classification assignment (tied to salary ranges) 4. Job objective, which outlines whom the person reports to and the goal of the job 5. Duties 6. Authority that goes with the job 7. Performance-measurement criteria that will be used to evaluate performance With this information, employees know what is expected of them and what training they need to advance. The job description becomes part of the performance-evaluation process. A good automation system can measure work and follow-up processing, and compare positions and units that enable agency management to develop standards for work processing. This comparison can be used very effectively in performance evaluation and in correcting unacceptable performance. Writing job descriptions can be difficult. However, deciding on the jobs to be included and then having all the employees doing each job list the tasks they perform will give you a good start. For example, if you decide to do Commercial CSR job descriptions, all of the Commercial CSRs working on the project together should arrive at a fairly accurate job description. You may find that many employees duplicate work or perform functions that might better be performed by a lower-paid employee. Here's a sample job description for a Commercial CSR: POSITION DESCRIPTION/CHARTER POSITION: Commercial CSR III DEPARTMENT: Commercial Lines CLASSIFICATION: ...