Incurred but not reported

In insurance, incurred but not reported (IBNR) claims refers to the amount owed by an insurer to all valid claimants who have had a covered loss but have not yet reported it. Since the insurer knows neither how many of these losses have occurred, nor the severity of each loss, IBNR is necessarily an estimate. The sum of IBNR losses plus reported losses yields an estimate of the total eventual liabilities the insurer will cover, known as ultimate losses.