Underwriting
glossary

The ACORD 125 (Commercial Insurance Application) is the standardized applicant-information and common-policy form that anchors most commercial P&C submissions, capturing named insured, contact, premises, and prior-carrier data that underwriters need extracted and validated before clearance.

The ACORD 126 (Commercial General Liability Section) is the supplemental ACORD form that captures GL-specific exposures, classifications, limits, and rating bases attached to the ACORD 125, and is a core document in any general-liability submission an underwriter reads alongside loss runs.

The ACORD 130 (Workers Compensation Application) is the standardized form capturing payroll by class code, ownership, prior coverage, and experience-modification data that a workers' comp underwriter needs to rate and price a submission.

The ACORD 131 (Umbrella/Excess Section) is the supplemental ACORD form used to apply for umbrella or excess liability coverage above an account's primary policies, centered on the schedule of underlying insurance an excess underwriter verifies before pricing the layer.

The ACORD 140 (Property Section) is the supplemental ACORD form describing building and business-personal-property exposures, construction, protection, and occupancy details that feed a commercial property underwriter's valuation and TIV-adequacy review.

Standardized insurance application and documentation forms published by ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) that serve as the primary data exchange medium for commercial P&C submissions between brokers and carriers.

A certificate of insurance (COI) is a one-page document that proves a policy is in force, showing coverage types, limits, dates, and additional insureds. It is evidence of coverage, not coverage itself.

The primary measure of underwriting profitability in P&C insurance, calculated as loss ratio plus expense ratio, where a result below 100% indicates an underwriting profit.

Commercial Property Insurance is a type of business insurance that protects a company’s physical assets from damage or loss caused by covered events such as fire, theft, vandalism, or certain natural disasters.It helps businesses recover financially if their building, equipment, inventory, or other property is damaged unexpectedly.