Carrier Scorecards
We recently received this question: “Are you aware of any firm that provides insurance company scorecards…something an agent may use to compare companies that he/she may wish to do business…
VU Resources
Ethical Dilemma #1: The Case of Who’ll Be “Broker”
In March 2002, Ethics Awareness Month, we ran a contest with three ethical dilemmas, asking our newsletter readers to respond with their answers. Below is one of those questions, along with…
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Privacy Provisions
Time is running down! Of critical importance to agencies, companies and other financial institutions are the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). In this article, we’ll summarize some important…
Weather-Related Underwriting and Coverage Moratoriums
In another article entitled “Binding Authority Weather Restrictions,” we discussed how nebulous (and onerous) some underwriting restrictions can be when they’re based on rapidly developing weather conditions. With the recent…
Improving Personal Lines Loss Ratios
With the beating that many carriers have taken over the past few years in personal lines, it is more important than ever to improve loss ratios. In this article, our…
Ethics: An Epidemic?
You’ve seen those headlines about unscrupulous corporate executives cooking the books. The passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is supposed to have forced many employers to take the ethical temperature of…
Ethical Dilemma #2: The Case of the Questionable Insurance Company
In March 2002, Ethics Awareness Month, we ran a contest with three ethical dilemmas, asking our newsletter readers to respond with their answers. Below is one of those questions, along with…
Profits, Expenses, Salaries, and More
Since this “article” covers so much ground, the only logical spot for it was the Miscellaneous section of Agency Management. This was a question submitted to our “Ask an Expert”…
Can You Afford to be Ethical?
March is Ethics Awareness Month. I want to ask if you can afford to be ethical? You may be surprised to learn that my short answer may be “No.” It…
Agency Organization: “S” vs. “C” Corporations
A question posed to our agency management faculty: “I am an agency owner. At one time we changed to an ‘S’ corporation and our CPA told us it was best…
