Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to AMERISAFE's 2017 first quarter earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Vincent Gagliano.
Good morning. Welcome to the AMERISAFE 2017 first quarter investor call. If you have not received the earnings release, it is available on our website at www.amerisafe.com. This call is being recorded. A replay of today's call will be available. Details on how to access the replay are in the earnings release. During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied in these statements if the underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect or as a result of risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including factors discussed in today's earnings release, in the comments made during this call, and in the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs, and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement. I will now turn the call over to Janelle Frost, AMERISAFE's President and CEO.
Thank you, Vincent, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the call today. We are pleased with this quarter's financial results. An 86.6 combined ratio demonstrates AMERISAFE's commitment to providing quality insurance services to our customers and returns to our shareholders. Before I get to the operational metrics, I would like to make a few remarks regarding the workers' compensation market in which we operate. My description of the market as increasingly competitive has not changed. We continue to receive pressure from multi-line carriers on accounts with premium over $100,000. However, I would say pricing pressure has intensified. Loss costs continue to decline, and carriers are cutting prices to retain accounts. This combination could lead to underpriced books as this softening market continues. For AMERISAFE, this means we must maintain our underwriting discipline and not let the market dictate our approach.
Let me review the operational metrics for the quarter. In the first quarter, premium on voluntary policies written in the quarter declined 0.6%. Our average ELCM decreased from 176 in the first quarter last year to 165 this quarter. We feel pricing flexibility can best be measured on those accounts for which we offer renewal. As I mentioned earlier, we saw the most competition on accounts over $100,000 in premium. For those large accounts, we saw a decrease in policy count retention, even though our overall policy count retention increased from 91.6% to 92.7% this quarter. In all, we grew voluntary policy count by 4.5%. Both new and renewal counts were up, yet renewal premium was down 0.9%. Top line, however, was down 5.3%, primarily driven by audit premium and related adjustments.
Payroll audits and related premium adjustments increased premiums written this quarter by $2.2 million. Last year's first quarter, the adjustments added $6.6 million.