E&O Insurance Coverage Needs Calculator

Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance — also called Professional Liability — protects against claims that your professional advice, service, or work product caused financial harm to a client. Required by most professional licenses (RIA, attorney, CPA, architect) and increasingly required by large clients before signing contracts. Premiums vary 5-15× by industry depending on claim frequency and severity.

Why E&O Matters

General liability insurance covers physical injuries and property damage from your operations. E&O covers FINANCIAL harm from your professional services — a missed tax filing deadline, an architectural design flaw, a financial advisor recommendation that lost money, a software bug that took down a customer's business. General liability won't pay these claims; E&O will.

Claims-Made vs Occurrence

Most E&O is claims-made: covers claims filed during the policy period (regardless of when the alleged error occurred). If you cancel coverage and a claim is filed later, you have NO coverage unless you purchased 'tail coverage' (extended reporting endorsement) — typically 100-300% of one year's premium for 1-6 years of tail. ALWAYS buy tail when canceling or retiring.

Coverage Sizing

Per-claim limit: at least 3× your largest contract. Aggregate: at least 2× per-claim. Many Fortune 500 vendor agreements require $5M-$10M minimum to do business. Premiums scale with revenue but at decreasing rate (doubling revenue increases premium by ~70%, not 100%). Industry rate ranges from 3 per $1K revenue (real estate) to 15 (attorneys).

Last updated May 2026. Sources: III Professional Liability, NAIC Resources.