Refund of General Insurance Premium paid

The refund of insurance premium may be because of earlier provisional payment of premium or may be a policy might have been cancelled at a later date. The auditor should take following steps while vouching such refunds :

1.  Ascertain the reasons for refund of insurance premium.
2.  Examine insurance policy or cover note to find out the amount of premium.
3.  Verify advice of refund received from the insurance company. When refund is admitted, the insurance company sends the advice. This will be an evidence as a covering letter to the cheque for the refund. Sometimes, a cheque is issued after a receipt is sent in advance to the insurance company.
4. Scrutinise correspondence between the insurance company and the client.
5.  Check entries in the bank book or the bank statement. If necessary counterfoil of the pay-in-slips can also be verified.