What Is an ACORD 25 Form? How to Read a Certificate of Insurance

An ACORD 25 is the standard certificate of liability insurance form used in the United States. It is a one-page summary, issued by an insurance agent or broker, that lists a business's active liability policies, their coverage types, limits, and effective and expiration dates. It is proof that coverage existed on the day it was issued, not a guarantee that the coverage is still in force or that it meets your requirements.

If you collect certificates from vendors, subcontractors, tenants or franchisees, you will see the ACORD 25 constantly. Knowing how to read one, box by box, is the difference between confirming real coverage and filing a piece of paper that means nothing when a claim arrives. This guide walks through what the form is, what each section means, and how to verify it.

What does ACORD stand for?

ACORD stands for the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development, a nonprofit founded in the 1970s that publishes standardized forms for the insurance industry. The ACORD 25 is its Certificate of Liability Insurance form, and it is the version almost every US carrier and agency issues. The standard form most agents produce today is the ACORD 25 (2016/03 edition), so the layout below is consistent from one certificate to the next.

Is an ACORD 25 the same as a certificate of liability insurance?

Yes. An ACORD 25 and a certificate of liability insurance are the same document. The certificate of liability insurance is the plain-English name for the page, and ACORD 25 is the official form number ACORD assigns to it. When a contract asks for a COI or a certificate of liability insurance, an ACORD 25 is what you should expect to receive.

How to read an ACORD 25 form, box by box

The ACORD 25 always follows the same layout, so once you know where to look, any certificate reads the same way. Here is what each section tells you.

Producer (top left)

The producer is the insurance agency or broker that issued the certificate, with their contact details. This is who you call if a coverage detail looks wrong or you need the actual policy or endorsement. A real certificate names a licensed agency, not the vendor itself.

Insured (below the producer)

The insured is the business that holds the policies, the vendor or contractor you are vetting. Check that the name here exactly matches the legal entity on your contract. A certificate in the name of an owner's personal LLC when your contract is with a different company is a common and easily missed mismatch.

Insurers affording coverage

This block lists each insurance carrier behind the policies, labeled A through F, along with their NAIC number. Each coverage line further down references one of these letters, so you can tell which carrier writes the general liability, which writes the auto, and so on. Strong, recognizable carriers are a good sign; an unrated or unfamiliar carrier is worth a second look.

Coverages, limits and dates (the main grid)

This is the heart of the form. Each row is a policy: commercial general liability, automobile liability, umbrella or excess, workers compensation, and sometimes professional or pollution liability. For each one, read three things together: the policy number, the effective and expiration dates, and the limits. A certificate is only useful if the policy is in force today and the limits meet or exceed what your contract requires. A $1,000,000 each-occurrence general liability limit is a typical baseline, but always check it against your own requirement rather than assuming.

Description of operations

This free-text box is where the important details live: project names, additional insured wording, waiver of subrogation language, and primary and noncontributory status. Vague or blank descriptions on a high-risk job are a red flag. This is also where you confirm the certificate was issued for the specific work or relationship you care about.

Certificate holder (bottom left)

The certificate holder is the party the certificate was issued to, usually you. Being named here means you received the certificate. It does not, on its own, give you any rights under the policy. That distinction trips up a lot of people, so it gets its own section below.

Cancellation and authorized representative

The cancellation box states that the issuer will try to notify the certificate holder if a policy is canceled before its expiration date, subject to policy terms. Treat this as a courtesy, not a guarantee, which is exactly why active tracking matters. The authorized representative signature confirms the agent issued the form.

Additional insured vs certificate holder: what is the difference?

This is the single most important thing to understand on an ACORD 25, because the two are not the same and the gap between them is where claims get denied. The certificate holder simply received the document. An additional insured has actually been added to the policy by endorsement and can be defended and indemnified under it.

The practical rule: if your contract requires you to be an additional insured, a checked box or a note in the description of operations is not enough. Ask for the endorsement itself. The same care applies when you run a full certificate of insurance verification before letting a vendor start work.

Is an ACORD 25 proof of insurance?

An ACORD 25 is evidence that coverage existed at the moment the agent issued it, and nothing more. The form itself states that it is issued as a matter of information only and does not amend, extend or alter the coverage of the policies it describes. A policy can be canceled the day after the certificate prints, and the paper in your file will not change. That is why a certificate on file is a starting point, not a finish line.

How long is an ACORD 25 valid?

A certificate is only current until the earliest policy expiration date listed on it, and only if none of those policies are canceled sooner. Most commercial policies run for one year, so a certificate is often treated as good for up to twelve months, but the real answer is the specific expiration dates in the coverage grid. Once any required policy passes its expiration date, you need a fresh certificate before relying on it again.

How do you verify an ACORD 25 is legitimate?

Certificates can be edited in a PDF or forged outright, so verification matters when real money is at stake. Confirm the issuing agency exists and is licensed, call or email the producer listed on the form rather than a number the vendor supplies, check that the insured name matches your contract, and request the actual additional insured endorsement when your contract requires one. For high-value relationships, ask the agent to confirm the policy is still in force, since a certificate cannot tell you about a cancellation that happened after it was printed.

Common mistakes when reading a certificate of insurance

• Filing the certificate without checking the limits. A genuine certificate with limits below your requirement still leaves you exposed.
• Treating the certificate holder box as additional insured status. They are different, and only the endorsement gives you rights.
• Ignoring the expiration dates. A certificate that was valid at onboarding lapses quietly at renewal if no one is watching.
• Accepting a checkbox instead of an endorsement. The CG 20 10 or CG 20 37 endorsement is the proof, not the notation.
• Not matching the insured name to the contract. Coverage under the wrong legal entity may not respond to your claim.

From reading one ACORD 25 to tracking hundreds

Reading a single certificate by hand is manageable. Reading and re-checking certificates for every vendor, subcontractor or location, and catching each one before it expires, is not. That is the job software does well. COISoftware reads any ACORD 25 with AI, pulls the coverage, limits, dates and additional insured status automatically, checks each certificate against your requirements, and alerts you before anything lapses. It is the engine behind our certificate of insurance management software and ongoing vendor insurance compliance tracking, whether you are a property manager handling tenant and vendor COIs, a general contractor checking subcontractor certificates, or a franchisor running franchisee COI tracking across every location.

The COI is also rarely the only document in the file. Many teams pair the certificate request with a signed vendor or franchise agreement, which you can send and track with an online e-signature tool. If you pull data from other business documents at scale, not just certificates, general AI document data extraction software handles invoices, contracts and forms the same way the COI engine handles ACORD forms. And property managers who track tenant certificates often also need to extract key dates and clauses from leases, which is exactly what AI lease abstraction software is built for.

Want to see it work? Upload an ACORD 25 at the top of this page and watch the data come out in seconds, then explore the full COI tracking software options when you are ready to track more than one.