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... x No Thanks Loading.. Work Flow Procedures Manual-Commercial Audit Procedure 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. COMMERCIAL INSURANCE AUDIT PROCEDURE In most agencies, audits are processed much like all other types of mail. Because of the adverse financial impact that an audit can have upon an agency, it is our opinion that a specialized processing take place. Unlike other company billings that are normally controlled by the CSR/Marketer, it is our feeling that the audits be under the direct supervision of the bookkeeper or financial manager. 1. All audits when, received by the Financial Manager/Bookkeeper are logged in on Form audit.frm 2. Financial Manager/Bookkeeper establishes a follow up date 5 days prior to the date that an audit can be returned to the company for direct collection. 3. Financial Manager/Bookkeeper notes on the agency copy of the audit the follow up date and forwards the audit to the CSR/Marketer for processing. 4. CSR/Marketer reviews the Audit confirming that the correct rates and exposure units have been used. 5. If audit is incorrect, immediately return to the company to be reissued and notify the Financial Manager/Bookkeeper. 6. If audit is correct, CSR/Marketer invoices the audit and mails to customer with Cover Letter. Dear : Enclosed you find the final audit on your ___ policy, number ___, which expired ____ . I believe that the audit is correct after having verified the rates and mathematical extensions. However, if you find any errors in the exposure information, please ...

... individual (using an in-house system, a batcher, or a request from each company) . Sub-producer codes for each licensed individual can be established through your insurance carriers or through your own automated accounting system. In most states, you can only legally pay commissions to a licensed broker, solicitor, or agent. In other cases, those without a license may choose to leave the insurance business, or may not be dedicated to responsibly caring for clients' needs. For these reasons, only licensed individuals should receive sub-producer codes. To assign sub-producer codes through your carriers, you must discuss with your marketing representative or branch manager the possibility of their providing you with separate producer statements. Keep in mind that, by using your companies' abilities for sorting production, you also may incur additional in-house bookkeeping duties. For example, you may wish to verify multiple, individual statements from your carriers each month. You also need to be aware that company-issued sub-producer codes will be printed on your clients' policy declarations. You could unintentionally wind up with a partner' keep this situation in mind. By assigning sub-producer codes on your internal automated system, you and your bookkeeper maintain control of production statements and policy coding. Recording this production can be accomplished in one of two ways. First, assign an internal two-, three-, or four-digit code to each individual. When a policy is written through the particular individual's efforts, the application is still coded to your agency's company producer code. The sub-producer should then complete a manual record or system entry of the production. Your bookkeeper can make ...

... individual (using an in-house system, a batcher, or a request from each company) . Sub-producer codes for each licensed individual can be established through your insurance carriers or through your own automated accounting system. In most states, you can only legally pay commissions to a licensed broker, solicitor, or agent. In other cases, those without a license may choose to leave the insurance business, or may not be dedicated to responsibly caring for clients' needs. For these reasons, only licensed individuals should receive sub-producer codes. To assign sub-producer codes through your carriers, you must discuss with your marketing representative or branch manager the possibility of their providing you with separate producer statements. Keep in mind that, by using your companies' abilities for sorting production, you also may incur additional in-house bookkeeping duties. For example, you may wish to verify multiple, individual statements from your carriers each month. You also need to be aware that company-issued sub-producer codes will be printed on your clients' policy declarations. You could unintentionally wind up with a partner' keep this situation in mind. By assigning sub-producer codes on your internal automated system, you and your bookkeeper maintain control of production statements and policy coding. Recording this production can be accomplished in one of two ways. First, assign an internal two-, three-, or four-digit code to each individual. When a policy is written through the particular individual's efforts, the application is still coded to your agency's company producer code. The sub-producer should then complete a manual record or system entry of the production. Your bookkeeper can make ...

... by CompleteMarkets Editor , Angela Bemiss This content has not been rated yet. In today's insurance environment, a successful insurance agent or broker must have good sales management, good operations management, and good financial management. If the management of sales and operations is inadequate, revenues obviously won't grow, productivity will be lower than it should be, and/or the environment will be chaotic. If an agency's financial management is inadequate, however, years may pass before the problems becomes evident-and it may be too late to fix them. Let's look back at the evolution of today's agency financial management. As you do this, think about your own agency and the role of your financial manager. Evolution of the Financial Manager In the not-so-distant past, an insurance agency's finances may have been managed by a bookkeeper sitting in a dark back office sweating over an account current ledger (wearing green eyeshades, of course) . Life was stressful for that bookkeeper because all the columns on his ledger had to balance, and much of his work had to be done manually. Before the advent of spreadsheets, financial projections or forecasts could be done, but this was slow and tedious. When agency automation was introduced, it came with the automatic computation and printing of account currents and many other financial reports. The average agency had increased in size, and the financial manager might now be an accountant. Life was still stressful because he was most frequently responsible for the new computer system. He knew very little about computer software and hardware, but he was the logical choice for this responsibility, since anyone ...

... 4000. Personal Lines could be set up as 4010, Commercial Lines could be 4020, etc. The coding might be a suffix, such as 6200-100 in some cases, or for QuickBooks it would be unique classes. Break out each revenue and expense category for each of the defined Profit Centers. The goal is to have a separate financial statement for each center, as well as a consolidated financial statement for the agency. You can also use this approach for the balance sheet (if you're a hard-core financial maven) . It's usually best to do the adjustments while entering the data the first time. However, in some situations, you might find it easier to export the accounting data to an Excel spreadsheet to do the final calculations. The reason: The amount of manual calculations the bookkeeper has to do as they're entering the indirect expenses in the system. For instance, if the agency has a complex formula to allocate expenses, the bookkeeper might find it easier to perform those calculations in Excel, rather then doing them manually and then entering the numbers into the agency accounting software. The Excel spreadsheet allows the bookkeeper to preset the formulas; once the numbers are entered, Excel will allocate the expenses automatically based on the formulas set up. MAKING PROPER ALLOCATIONS If there's a weak link in Profit Center Accounting, it lies with the allocation of income and expenses. When allocations are not assigned accurately, the results will be just as inaccurate (" garbage in, garbage out") . Management might easily make poor decisions based on interpreting bad data. The goal is to ...

... by CompleteMarkets Editor , Angela Bemiss This content has not been rated yet. In today's insurance environment, a successful insurance agent or broker must have good sales management, good operations management, and good financial management. If the management of sales and operations is inadequate, revenues obviously won't grow, productivity will be lower than it should be, and/or the environment will be chaotic. If an agency's financial management is inadequate, however, years may pass before the problems becomes evident-and it may be too late to fix them. Let's look back at the evolution of today's agency financial management. As you do this, think about your own agency and the role of your financial manager. Evolution of the Financial Manager In the not-so-distant past, an insurance agency's finances may have been managed by a bookkeeper sitting in a dark back office sweating over an account current ledger (wearing green eyeshades, of course) . Life was stressful for that bookkeeper because all the columns on his ledger had to balance, and much of his work had to be done manually. Before the advent of spreadsheets, financial projections or forecasts could be done, but this was slow and tedious. When agency automation was introduced, it came with the automatic computation and printing of account currents and many other financial reports. The average agency had increased in size, and the financial manager might now be an accountant. Life was still stressful because he was most frequently responsible for the new computer system. He knew very little about computer software and hardware, but he was the logical choice for this responsibility, since anyone ...

... can easily take control of a CSR's time. When this happens, service suffers. True risk management - providing total financial protection for clients - requires time and careful attention to details. This sort of quality care leads to excellent retention rates. You've heard it before: It costs far less to keep an existing account than it costs to get a new one. So, implementing a careful renewal transaction plan is of paramount importance. Planning your work then working your plan helps you accomplish more in a day. A solid renewal control process will help you control your work rather than it controlling you! Here are some recommended steps for implementing a comprehensive renewal flow plan: RENEWALS 1) Get the renewal control list. This list should be prepared from the information contained in invoices. The agency's bookkeeper or accounting personnel can prepare this report three to four months in advance of the renewal month. The list should be produced by date and in alphabetical order. If you work in a team, the list can be generated by producer code and in chronological order. 2) Update. Review the list and make direct notations on it with information about modified expiration dates, coverage types, and so on. 3) Review with producers. The list now becomes a skeleton agenda' for a meeting of the minds. The CSR (along with other CSRs involved with the account), the producer(s ) of record, the sales manager (if you have one), and the bookkeeper should meet to design a strategy for determining who will contact each client and estimating how much ...

... your agency grow more investment income. Put Small Commercial accounts on direct bill to eliminate the costs of personnel to handle invoicing and collection of small accounts. Implement a stringent collection policy, with no deviations such as advancing premiums on behalf of clients. Make capital expenditures by investing in better people (both technical and salespersons), computers, office equipment, and target marketing. This will allow you to build future value, rather than reaping short-term gains through bonuses or taking out as much profit as possible (as many owners have in the past) . Failure to reinvest in your agency will leave a hollow shell by rapidly decreasing the firm's value. The agency owner's role in most medium to large-size firms should be strategic, rather than focused on day-to-day tasks. The employee handling the accounting/bookkeeping will perform all necessary functions, including preparing reports for management. The accounting manager's job description should include a checklist of the tasks that they're expected to perform (see below for sample) . Base all management decisions on how they will impact the value of the firm. This type of focus will help you choose the direction that will ultimately lead to more money for retirement from either an internal sale of stock, a merger, and/or the eventual sale of the firm to a third party. PERIODIC FINANCIAL REVIEW CHECKLIST FOR ACCOUNTING MANAGER Every agency should develop a checklist for the accounting manager/bookkeeper to follow. Good communication between accounting and the owner is crucial to effective financial management. All checklists should include these items: Monthly Run balance sheet Review cash position Review receivables and payables ...

... of a person's gender, age, marital status, or even a family relationship. For example, if the agency provides dependents' coverage in the group medical plan for married men, it must also do so for divorced women. Salaries must be fair and equally applied as well-something that many insurance agencies have yet to address. An agency hiring a male underwriter will often bring him in as a marketing manager, commercial lines manager, or producer with compensation at least $10,000 a year more than they would pay a female underwriter with equal experience who is only being considered for a CSR position. Or a male applicant with an accounting degree will often be hired as a controller at $35,000 a year while a female with the same education will be considered to be a bookkeeper at a salary of $25,000. It would be far better for agencies to voluntarily change their hiring and salary practices before they are legally forced to do so. No matter how small the agency is, it is essential to have written rules and to follow those rules in all personnel decisions. If agency owners tend to operate with a seat of the pants management style and make snap decisions about hiring, performance, and disciplinary issues they are asking for trouble. Standardized job descriptions with specific qualifications and salary ranges for the position, written performance evaluation systems, and salary administration plans not only improve agency productivity, they also go a long way towards helping avoid legal pitfalls. Employee handbooks or personnel manuals are the best place to outline agency policies and procedures regarding employment issues. ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Sharks Wanted: Hiring Great Salespeople 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Chris Burand This content has not been rated yet. Find the best sharks and train them to be even more effective predators. "We don't want the people who swim with the sharks. We want the sharks." Employment ad from The Orange County Register (reprinted from Readers Digest) For many decades, the independent agency has been an entrepreneurial success story. The agency founder was always a remarkable person. He or she started the business from scratch and served as the CEO, producer, CSR, bookkeeper, and janitor. And these people succeeded! With greater success, they hired CSRs, a bookkeeper, and a janitor. As agencies grow, they eventually require a producer — and many highly successful agency owners find it difficult to bring in a non-owner producer. Even though, or perhaps because, they're great salespeople and fantastic individuals, they can't seem to hire a good salesperson. Why do these owners succeed at so much, but often fail at hiring a good producer? Maybe subconsciously they don't want the competition. They like being the best salesperson in the agency. This certainly holds true in some cases, in which agency owners have capped, fired, or otherwise stifled good producers when the producer started making more money than the owner. One agency owner actually declared, "No one will make more than me, no matter how much they sell" Other owners just hire bad producers to begin with so that they never have to worry about the ...