Bordereau
Written by Justin Goodman, CIC, CISC, CLCS, CEO and Co-Founder, Total CSR
Published: August 20, 2026 · Last reviewed: August 20, 2026
In plain language: A bordereau report is a spreadsheet-style document that lists policies, premiums, or claims one by one. Reinsurers and carriers use it to see exactly what business an MGA or ceding company has written or paid out, instead of relying on a single lump-sum total.
Technical definition: A bordereau (or bordereaux in plural form) is a periodic, itemized detailed report of premiums, losses, or exposures submitted by a cedant, managing general agent, or program administrator to a reinsurer or capacity provider under a treaty or binding agreement. It supports premium accounting, loss reserving, compliance reporting, and audit functions within the insurance industry.
Bordereau at a Glance
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Bordereaux (plural), premium bordereau, loss bordereau, claims bordereau, risk bordereau |
| Category | Reinsurance and delegated authority reporting |
| Lines of business | Reinsurance treaties, program business, MGA-bound business, coverholder arrangements |
| Industries most affected | Reinsurers, MGAs, program administrators, carriers using delegated underwriting, delegated claims administrators |
| Related forms or endorsements | None (contractual reporting requirement, not an ISO form) |
| Who bears the risk | Reinsurer or carrier relies on bordereau accuracy to price and reserve; ceding party bears E&O and contractual exposure for errors |
| Common solution | Standardized bordereau templates, automated data feeds, bordereau reporting software, and periodic audits |
| Also interacts with | Treaty reinsurance agreements, MGA binding authority contracts, claims management software systems |
Key Takeaways
- A bordereau is a detailed, line-by-line detailed statement of premiums, losses, or risk exposure that a ceding company or MGA sends to a reinsurer or carrier on a regular schedule through a structured reporting process.
- Bordereau accuracy directly affects how a reinsurer prices future treaties, sets reserve amounts, and decides whether to renew a program, making it a foundational document in delegated authority relationships.
- The most common misunderstanding is treating the bordereau as optional paperwork rather than a contractual obligation; late or inaccurate bordereaux can trigger coverage disputes, governance failure concerns, or contract termination.
- Agencies and MGAs reduce risk by automating bordereau generation directly from their policy administration system rather than relying on manual bordereau reporting methods that rebuild reports each reporting period.
What Is Bordereau in Insurance?
Bordereau is the mechanism reinsurers and carriers use to see inside a book of business they do not directly underwrite policy by policy. When a managing general agent or coverholder binds coverage under a delegated authority agreement, or a ceding insurer places business under a reinsurance treaty, the reinsurer or carrier is not reviewing each individual risk at the time it is written. The bordereau closes that information gap by listing every policy, premium, or claim in the batch—including policy numbers, insured names, and geographic exposure—usually monthly or quarterly, so the party bearing ultimate risk can monitor exposure in near real time rather than waiting for a policy period to end.
The practice exists because reinsurance and MGA relationships are built on trust plus verification. A reinsurer that writes a quota share treaty is effectively taking on a percentage of every risk the ceding company writes within agreed underwriting guidelines. Without a bordereau providing a transparent view of insurance transactions, the reinsurer would have no visibility into whether the ceding company is staying within the agreed scope until a large loss arrives and forces a review. The bordereau functions as an ongoing audit trail supporting the doctrine of utmost good faith that underlies reinsurance contracts and helps track ceded premiums across policy portfolios.
A concrete example: a program administrator binds commercial trucking policies on behalf of a carrier under a binding authority agreement. Each month, the administrator submits a premium bordereau listing every policy number, insured name, policy effective dates, vehicle count, and premiums collected. The carrier's actuarial team compares that bordereau against the agreed rating plan to confirm the administrator priced risks correctly. A separate claims bordereau lists open claims with claim numbers, claim status, outstanding reserves, and claims paid so the carrier can track loss development against pricing assumptions and monitor premium revenue performance.
How Does Bordereau Work?
- The delegation. A carrier or reinsurer grants underwriting or claims authority to an MGA, program administrator, or ceding company through a written agreement that specifies bordereau format, frequency, and required data fields—often available in electronic form for efficient processing.
- The transaction activity. The delegated party writes policies, collects premium amounts, or pays claims during the reporting period, generating the underlying financial transactions that will populate the bordereau.
- The compilation. The delegated party extracts policy-level or claim-level detail from its system and formats it into the agreed bordereau template, typically listing insured name, policy number, effective dates, net premium, commission amounts, date of loss, cause of loss, and any losses.
- The submission. The bordereau is transmitted to the reinsurer or carrier on the contractual schedule, often monthly for premium and loss bordereaux, sometimes quarterly for smaller programs within a specific class of business.
- The reconciliation. The receiving party audits the bordereau against underwriting guidelines, rating plans, and prior submissions, flagging discrepancies that may trigger a formal audit, premium adjustment, or renewal renegotiation—ensuring regulatory responsibility is maintained.
Real Claim Examples Involving Bordereau
Missing claims on a loss bordereau trigger a reinsurance dispute
A ceding insurer submitted loss bordereaux to its quota share reinsurer that omitted several large claims still in early investigation, believing they were not yet "reportable" losses. The reinsurer discovered the gap during a routine audit eighteen months later and argued the omissions understated outstanding reserves and delayed its own reserving process. The dispute centered on the treaty's definition of reportable loss and ultimately affected how much the reinsured company would pay on the layer, since late notice provisions in the treaty gave the reinsurer grounds to challenge the claims handling and claim status reporting.
MGA premium bordereau errors lead to a program audit
A program administrator's premium bordereau consistently under-reported gross written premium because a rating engine glitch was applying an outdated territory factor. The carrier's actuarial team caught the discrepancy when loss ratios looked abnormally high relative to reported premium. The carrier ordered a full policy-level audit, and the resulting premium correction affected the administrator's profit-sharing calculation and nearly triggered termination of the binding authority agreement—highlighting the importance of accurate policies written documentation.
Facultative bordereau supports a large property loss recovery
A ceding company placed facultative reinsurance on a large commercial property schedule and submitted an accurate bordereau identifying the specific location, values, and coverage terms ceded to each reinsurer. After a fire loss at one insured location, the bordereau allowed the reinsurer to quickly confirm the risk was properly bound and within agreed limits, speeding claim payment to the ceding company with minimal dispute over which reinsurer was on the risk.
Bordereau vs. Loss Run: What Is the Difference?
A bordereau is a periodic, forward-looking reporting document covering a batch of policies or claims within a reinsurance or delegated authority relationship, while a loss run is a historical claims history summary report tied to a specific insured or policy, typically used in underwriting a new or renewal account. Both list claims data, but they serve different audiences and different purposes in the insurance transaction.
| Comparison area | Bordereau | Loss Run |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Reporting ceded business to a reinsurer or carrier under a treaty or binding agreement | Documenting claims history for a specific insured during underwriting or marketing |
| Coverage / concept type | Contractual reporting obligation in reinsurance and MGA agreements | Underwriting and marketing exhibit |
| Format type | Detailed report with line-by-line policy or claim information | Can be presented in aggregate format or detailed format depending on carrier |
| Typical exclusions | May exclude claims below a reporting threshold set in the treaty | Rarely excludes claims; typically shows full history requested |
| Who is most affected by errors | Reinsurers, carriers, MGAs, and delegated claims administrators managing delegated authority | Underwriters, agents, and insureds seeking accurate pricing |
| Common mistakes | Late submission, incomplete claim detail, format inconsistency across periods | Outdated loss run, missing claims from a prior carrier, stale data at renewal |
What Are the Most Common Mistakes With Bordereau?
- Treating bordereau submission deadlines as flexible administrative tasks rather than contractual obligations, which can give reinsurers grounds to dispute coverage or terminate the agreement—potentially triggering a thematic review of the entire relationship.
- Reporting premium or loss totals without required policy-level detail, forcing the receiving party to request supplemental data and delaying reconciliation.
- Failing to update bordereau formats when a treaty or binding agreement is renegotiated, resulting in mismatched fields that break automated reconciliation processes.
- Relying on manual spreadsheet compilation instead of system-generated extracts, increasing the risk of transcription errors that misstate exposure.
- Omitting claims still in early reserve stages under the mistaken belief that only closed or reported claims belong on a loss bordereau.
- Assuming bordereau accuracy is solely a back-office concern, when in fact underwriting and claims staff at the MGA or ceding company generate the underlying data that populates it.
How to Explain Bordereau to a Client
Explaining bordereau to a personal lines client
A bordereau generally will not come up for a homeowners or auto client, since it operates behind the scenes between carriers and reinsurers. If a client asks why their carrier seems to know detailed information about their claim so quickly, it helps to say that carriers regularly exchange detailed reports of policies and claims with their reinsurance partners, and that reporting is part of how the industry spreads large risks across multiple companies.
Explaining bordereau to a small business owner
For a business owner whose coverage is placed through a program or MGA, it helps to explain that the company binding their policy reports detailed information about every policy it writes back to the carrier standing behind the program. That reporting follows coverholder reporting standards and is what allows the program to keep offering competitive terms, because the carrier can track performance closely instead of guessing.
Explaining bordereau to a CFO or risk manager
A CFO evaluating a captive or program placement should understand that bordereau quality and timeliness directly affects program stability and pricing. Poor bordereau discipline at the MGA or fronting level can lead to mid-term audits, retroactive premium adjustments, or even non-renewal of the fronting or reinsurance arrangement, so it is worth asking any program administrator how they generate and validate their bordereaux.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bordereau
What does bordereau mean in insurance?
Bordereau means a detailed periodic report listing individual policies, premiums, or claims that a ceding insurer, MGA, or program administrator submits to a reinsurer or carrier. It allows the party bearing ultimate financial responsibility to monitor a book of business it does not directly underwrite transaction by transaction.
Who is required to submit a bordereau?
Ceding insurers under reinsurance treaties, managing general agents operating under binding authority agreements, and program administrators typically submit bordereaux. The specific obligation and format are defined in the underlying treaty or MGA agreement rather than by statute.
How often is a bordereau submitted?
Most bordereaux are submitted monthly, though some smaller or lower-volume programs use quarterly reporting. The frequency is set contractually and often differs between premium bordereaux and loss bordereaux within the same relationship.
What happens if a bordereau contains errors?
Errors can trigger a formal audit, premium adjustment, disputed claim payment, or in serious cases, termination of the binding authority or reinsurance agreement. Because reinsurers price and reserve based on bordereau data, sustained inaccuracy undermines the trust the relationship depends on.
Is a bordereau the same as a loss run?
A bordereau and a loss run are not the same document. A bordereau reports a batch of policies or claims within a reinsurance or delegated authority relationship, while a loss run documents the claims history of a single insured, typically used during underwriting.
Does a retail agency ever need to handle a bordereau?
Most retail agencies never touch a bordereau directly, since it is a reinsurance and MGA-level reporting document. Agencies placing business through a program administrator may occasionally be asked to supply underlying policy data that feeds into the administrator's bordereau, so accurate policy documentation at the agency level still matters.
Can bordereau data affect how a claim is paid?
Bordereau data itself does not pay a claim, but disputes over what was properly reported can delay reinsurance recoveries or raise questions about whether a risk was validly bound within guidelines. Total CSR's training work with program administrators shows that the agencies feeding clean, timely data into an MGA's bordereau process consistently see fewer downstream audit questions on their own book.
Related Insurance Terms
- Treaty Reinsurance: An agreement in which a reinsurer automatically accepts a defined share of all risks meeting agreed criteria within a ceding company's book, with bordereaux used to report the specific business ceded under the treaty.
- Facultative Reinsurance: Reinsurance placed risk by risk rather than automatically, often supported by a bordereau when multiple individual risks are ceded to the same reinsurer under a shared arrangement.
- Managing General Agent (MGA): An entity granted underwriting or claims authority by a carrier, responsible for submitting bordereaux that let the carrier monitor the business written under that delegated authority.
- Cede: The act of transferring risk from a primary insurer to a reinsurer, with the ceded business documented and reported through bordereaux.
- Binding Authority: A contractual grant of authority allowing an agent or MGA to commit a carrier to coverage without prior approval, typically requiring bordereau reporting so the carrier can track bound business.
- Loss Run: A historical claims report for a specific insured, distinct from a bordereau but sometimes summarized into bordereau format for reinsurance reporting purposes.
Sources and References
- International Risk Management Institute (IRMI). Bordereau.
About the Author
Justin Goodman, CIC, CCIP, CISC, CLCS, CRIS, PCIA, QCLS, MFHR
CEO and Co-Founder, Total CSR, Inc.
Justin Goodman is a third-generation insurance broker with over two decades in agency operations. He has trained more than 50,000 CSRs, account managers, and producers in commercial and personal lines coverage, from workers' compensation to construction risk. He was named 2024 Insurance Journal Agent of the Year and one of the nation's top five construction insurance experts by Risk & Insurance. He is the author of Retain, which applies cognitive science research on memory and knowledge transfer to insurance training, and speaks nationally on how agencies build durable technical expertise in their teams.