Is insurance an asset or liability?

Insurance without cash value is expense.
The surrender value is your asset.

In accounting ,you put it under expenses in Plas it it not a cash in flow in any category such as income, asset or liability( as these are balance sheet items such as LT and ST,and they are tangible items)

On the other hand, if you are talking about personal individual
It is an asset as it give u $ when you need it the most..
of cos it can be liability if u didn't pay ur premium and the policy lapses.

If we are talking about a plan insuring your health/life, these premiums required to pay for the element of 'insurance' is a liability to me. Getting a payout from them would not really be considered an asset as well since the payouts merely mitigate the hefty medical fees.

On the other hand, for endowments like savings, you could probably peg them as a liability (premiums once again) until maturity. Interesting question by the way :)

I would treat it as a liability/expense, unless the plan matures and there is a sum of money (to be considered as an asset when paid out).