the value of the guarantee. Key person definition Key people are individuals whose skills, knowledge, experience or leadership are important to a business's continued financial success. Should something happen to one of these individuals it is likely that their loss will have a detrimental impact on the profitability of the business and will cause financial strain. Examples of a key individual include, but are not limited to: company directors, sales directors, IT specialist, managing directors and heads of product development. Worth attribution Deciding on the sum of money to ensure the key person is dependent on the company and the reason for insuring that individual. It can be to cover a loan or investment amount, or it can be dependent on working out the worth of the person to the company. It is recommended that you think about potential loss of profits, the cost of replacement and any debts that would need to be covered to keep the company running without that person. Loss of profits can be caused as a result of the loss of company reputation, the loss of clients or a decline in sales. For example, if a key sales manager had built up a relationship with key clients, they may no longer want to work with the business if that key person were no longer around. This can cause them to go elsewhere and cause a dip in sales figures. In addition to this, the cost of training, recruitment and temporary cover to find a replacement can be high. This also needs to be factored into the amount of cover that is taken out. The company would need to consider how they would be impacted as a result of a loss of a key person in different ways to determine how much that individual is worth. Policy ownership Key person insurance policies can be owned in a number of ways depending on the needs of the business. It is common for a business to own the policy with claim proceeds being paid directly to the business. There is no legislative or insurable requirement for a policy to be owned by a specific party or entity and there may be circumstances be it for taxation or policy continuation purposes where policies may be owned and paid for by the insured person directly or owned by another individual. Advantages In case of death of a keyman the company