The Silver Lining™

Premium Audit: Audit Guidelines

A premium audit will be conducted on your Workers' Compensation or other commercial insurance policy. The primary function of the audit process is to determine the actual payroll, sales, subcontract cost, or other exposure used in calculating the final premium on your policy. Your premium will be adjusted as a result of the audit. If exposures have been underestimated, an additional billing will result. If exposures have been overestimated, a billing credit will result.

Types of Audits

Preliminary Audit:
At the beginning of your policy year, an on-site audit may be performed to review operations, classifications, and exposures. The auditor will review a representative base period in order to project exposures for the full policy term.

Final Audit:
This audit is made at the end of your policy term to compare your policy premium to actual exposures. Since your policy was written with estimated exposures, this audit will determine actual exposures, and therefore, an actual, rather than estimated premium.

Audit Methods

Physical Audit:
After your policy expires, you'll be contacted by phone or mail to make an appointment for the final on-site audit. If your records are located at an address other than your policy address, such as an outside accountant, please notify the auditor.

Telephone Audit:
You may be asked to provide audit information by telephone if a physical audit isn't performed. An auditor will contact you to ask for the same types of information you would provide for an on-site audit. Exposures may be verified to tax reports such as 940, 941's or their equivalent.

Mail Audit:
If a physical or telephone audit isn't performed, you'll be asked to complete a voluntary (mail) audit. To assess the reasonableness of reported payroll, you'll be asked to submit copies of tax reports such as 940 forms.

Requested Information:
Please cooperate with our auditors, including responding quickly to phone and mail inquiries. If you don't provide us with the requested information in a timely manner, your audit will be estimated and your policy may be cancelled.

Contact Us

Mail:

West Bend Mutual Ins Co
Premium Audit Department
1900 S 18th Avenue
West Bend, WI 53095

Phone:

1 (262) 334-5571
1 (800) 236-5010 ext. 6006

Fax:

1 (262) 335-7085

Email:

Audit@WBMI.com

If you have any additional questions about the audit process, please contact your independent insurance agent.