We hope everyone is staying safe and coping through lockdown. Times have been tough on a lot of people and over the past few months there has been an increase in crime across the country, and across Auckland in particular.
Our premises in Manly Village were one of many that have been affected by this recent increase in crime, and while this has been extremely disruptive for business, as well as a costly exercise, it has made us aware of the necessity of reviewing our insurance and security.
As most are aware, insurance can be tailored to suit your individual business needs, and where some may go with basic cover, there are extra things to take into account.
The first thing people usually think of insuring are their assets. For tradespeople, this would include tools and vehicles. As tools can be replaced on a fairly regular basis, it is strongly advised to keep a good record of your purchases in the form of receipts. This can be as easy as taking a photograph of the receipts and storing them on a web-based server. Some accounting programs have the facility to upload these directly to the software.
Another fairly obvious form of cover is liability insurance. This covers you against any accidental injury to other person or damage to their property. If you are in an industry that works closely with people and their properties and have not considered this cover, I would recommend getting in touch with your broker to discuss the options.
When purchasing a vehicle that you know will be used for business purposes, it is essential that you have the right cover. If a vehicle is insured for private use and you have an accident while on the way to or from a job, insurers will not cover the incident, as it will be deemed to be business related.
Probably the least thought about insurance a business may look at or review on a regular basis, is cover for loss of income.
If you find yourself in a position where you are unable to work for a period of time, this covers the potential income that was lost for that period. This is particularly important if you have staff. This cover should be reviewed regularly to ensure it covers your current level of earnings and staff wages.
There are many other forms of insurance available including cyber insurance.
It is advisable to contact a broker and discuss the options to best protect your business.
If you are looking at cutting your business costs and may therefore think about reducing insurance cover, remember that we can’t control the future and it is better to be covered than fall short due to an unforeseen incident.
Douglas Accounting
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