ACORD forms are the standard language of the insurance industry — every submission, certificate, and application flows through them. Here is a practical reference for the forms your agency uses most, what each one does, and how to get them prepared without tying up your licensed staff.
The Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development — ACORD — maintains a library of standardized forms used by carriers, brokers, and agents across the United States. These forms create a common format for exchanging insurance information, which speeds up underwriting and reduces errors. For a busy agency, they are also a constant source of back-office volume that does not require a licensed agent to complete — just trained, accurate staff who know the forms well.
ACORD 25 — Certificate of Liability Insurance
The most-requested form in most agencies. The ACORD 25 is a one-page certificate summarizing a policyholder's liability coverage — limits, carriers, policy numbers, and effective dates. It is issued to certificate holders (lenders, landlords, general contractors, government entities) who need proof of insurance without receiving a full copy of the policy. A busy commercial lines agency may issue dozens of ACORD 25s per day.
ACORD 27 and ACORD 28 — Evidence of Property Insurance
ACORD 27 is used for personal property insurance evidence; ACORD 28 for commercial property. Both serve the same purpose as the ACORD 25 but for property coverage rather than liability. Mortgage lenders routinely require ACORD 28s for commercial real estate loans.
ACORD 125 — Commercial Insurance Application
The general commercial lines application form. It captures the applicant's basic information, business description, and contact details, and is submitted alongside coverage-specific supplemental applications. Most commercial submissions begin with ACORD 125 as the cover page.
ACORD 126 — Commercial General Liability Section
The supplemental application for general liability coverage. Used alongside the ACORD 125, it details the nature of operations, payroll, subcontractor exposure, and prior claims. Essential for CGL submissions across nearly every commercial line.
ACORD 127 — Business Auto Section
Supplemental application for commercial auto coverage. Captures vehicle schedules, driver information, usage details, and loss history for auto submissions.
ACORD 130 — Workers Compensation Application
The workers compensation supplemental application. Requires detailed information on payroll by class code, operations, and claims history. Accuracy here directly impacts the premium quoted.
ACORD 131 — Umbrella/Excess Section
Supplemental application for umbrella and excess liability submissions. Summarizes underlying coverage, limits, and the nature of the additional limits being requested.
ACORD 140 — Property Section
The commercial property supplemental application. Covers building and contents values, construction type, occupancy, protective safeguards, and prior loss history for property submissions.
The most time-consuming ACORD work in a typical agency is not the forms themselves — it is the data gathering, entry, and routing. A VA trained in ACORD preparation can pull policy data from your AMS, populate the forms, route them for agent review and signature, and track their submission to carriers. The agent's time is needed only for coverage decisions and client sign-offs, not for the data entry itself.
Our team prepares ACORD 25, 27, 28, 125, 126, 127, 130, 131, and 140 forms daily inside Applied Epic, AMS360, EZLynx, and HawkSoft. We work from your existing templates, follow your submission routing SOPs, and flag anything requiring licensed agent input before submission. Turnaround on standard ACORD packages is same-day for requests received in the morning.
If ACORD form volume is slowing your team down, book a discovery call and we will scope a trial on your quoting and submission workflow.
Our team prepares ACORD 25, 125, 126, 130, 131, and more — inside your AMS, same-day. Book a call to scope a trial.
