Verification of Premium

• In a separate bank account, the premium collections are credited. No withdrawals are generally permitted from that account for the purpose of a general expenditure.
• As prescribed in the policy of the insurance company, the collections are transferred to the Regional Office or Head office.
• According to Section 64VB of the Insurance Act, 1938, the insurer shall assume no risk without the receipt of premium.
• It is of utmost importance to an auditor to verify a premium because the insurance premium is collected upon issuing policies.
• It is a consideration for bearing the risk of the insurance company.

• Before starting the verification of premium income, the auditor must look into the internal controls and compliance, which is laid down for the collection and recording of premiums.
• The cover notes must be numbered serially.
• The auditor needs to check if the premium registers are maintained chronologically, providing complete details including GST charged according to the acceptance advice daily.
• The auditor must verify if they figured the premium amount mentioned in the register tally with those shown in General Ledger.
• The auditor will also verify that the installments that are due on or before the balance sheet date has been received or not, have been accounted as premium income for the year under audit.

Verification of Claims

The auditor from each division or branch must obtain the information for all classes of business.

The auditor shall determine the total number of documents that are to be checked, providing due importance to claims of higher value.

The claim account gets debited with all the payments that include the repair charges, survey fees, photograph charges, etc. The auditor shall verify:

• Check the provision for unsettled claims.
• Check if the provision is made for such claims for which the company is legally liable.
• Check if the provision that is made is not more than the insured amount.
• Check the Co-insurance arrangements; the company has made provisions with respect to its own share of anticipated liability.

Verification of Commission

The remuneration paid to an agent is made through commission. The remuneration amount is calculated by applying a percentage to the premium collected by the agent.

The commission is paid to the agents for the business procured, and it is then debited to the commission on Direct Business Account. Insurance agents usually solicit the insurance business. The auditor shall verify:

• Voucher disbursement entries with regard to the disbursement vouchers with the copies of commission bills and statements.
• Check if the vouchers are authorized by the officers-in-charge as per the rules and also income tax is deducted at source.
• Check the amount of commission allowed.
• Check the accounting period of commission.

Verification of Operating Expenses

The auditor must check the following operating expenses:

• Expenses that are more than Rs. 5 lakhs or 1% of the net premium, whichever is higher. This must be shown separately.
• Expenses that are not directly related to the insurance business must be shown separately, for example, costs made in the investment department or bank charges, etc.,

Investments

The auditor must follow the following prescribed provisions with regard to the investments of the Insurance Act, 1938, at the time of the inspection of the investments of the insurance company:

• An insurance company can invest only in approved securities. However, it can also invest in securities other than approved securities if the following conditions are satisfied:
  1. The investments made must not exceed 25% of the total investments made.
  2. The investment must be made with the consent of the board of directors.


• An insurer must not invest in shares or debentures of an insurance or investment company over least of the following:
  1. 10% of its own total calculated assets.
  2. 2% of the subscribed share capital or debentures of the investee.


• An insurance company must not invest in the shares or debentures of a company other than an insurance or investment company above at least the following:
  1. 10% of its own total calculated assets.
  2. 10% of the subscribed share capital or debentures of the investee.


• An insurance company is not allowed to invest in the shares and debentures of a private company.


• The insurance companies are not permitted to invest in the funds of their policyholders outside India.

Cash and Bank Balances

• The auditor shall during insurance audit prepare Bank reconciliation statements.
• The auditor must obtain the confirmation of Bank Balances for all the operative and inoperative accounts.
• The auditor shall physically verify the Term Deposit Receipts that are issued by the bankers. Generally, it is all cash that is deposited as a term deposit with the bank at year-end.
• The auditor shall verify the deposits and withdrawal transactions and also check if the account is operated by authorized persons only.
• In the case of funds, that are in transit, and the auditor must verify that the same is appropriately reflected in a reconciliation statement.

Outstanding Premium and Agents’ Balance

The audit procedures that may be followed in an agent’s balance are as follows:

• Verify whether the agent’s balances, as well as outstanding balances in the outstanding premium account, have been listed, analyzed, and reconciled for the purpose of audit.
• Verify whether the recoveries of large and outstanding deposits have been made post-audit period.
• Check if there are any old outstanding debts or credit balances at the year-end which need adjustment. A written explanation that is obtained from the management must be done.
• Check the agent’s balances that do not include employees’ balances as well as balances of other insurance companies.
• Verify that there is no credit of commission is given to agents for businesses.