Engagement letter template for accountants

This is a starting point. Review it against the requirements of your professional body and your professional indemnity insurer, and take legal advice on the limitation and governing law clauses, before you send it to a client. The country notes at the end say what each body expects, as at October 2026.

This letter sets out the terms on which [Firm legal name] ([trading name], [registration or practice number]) ("we", "us") will provide services to [Client legal name] ([company, trust or individual identifier as appropriate]) ("you"). Where we act for more than one person or entity, this letter applies to each of them, and each is responsible for the fees under it.

We will provide the following services:

Unless this letter says otherwise, we will not audit or review the information you give us, and our work cannot be relied on to detect fraud or error. [Delete or amend for assurance engagements, which need their own terms under the relevant auditing or review standard.]

The following are outside this engagement. If you ask us for them, we will quote first and confirm in writing before we start:

• Responding to a tax authority review, audit, investigation or enquiry.
• Advice on restructures, transactions, property, investments or succession.
• Bookkeeping catch-up for periods before [date].
• Work for entities or individuals not named in section 1.
• Advice on the law of another country.
• [Anything clients often assume is included in your service]

• You are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the information you give us, and for keeping the records the law requires.
• You will give us the information we ask for by the dates we agree. Late information can mean late lodgement or filing, and penalties we are not responsible for.
• You will review everything we prepare before you approve or sign it. Signing a return or declaration means you are confirming it is true and complete.
• You will tell us promptly about changes that may affect our work: new entities, property transactions, changes of residence, new income sources, correspondence from a tax authority.
• You will keep login details for your systems secure and will not send passwords or identifiers by email.

• We will carry out the services with reasonable skill and care, in line with the standards of [professional body] and the law that applies to us.
• We will tell you about deadlines we are aware of for the services in section 2, and about any issue we find that needs your decision.
• We will keep your information confidential and secure (section 8).
• We will tell you if we become aware of a conflict of interest, and how we propose to deal with it.

This template contains no fee figures on purpose. Set your fees from your own costs, capacity, market and the value of the work to the client.

Our liability to you for any loss arising from this engagement is limited to [the cap agreed with your insurer and permitted by your professional body], except where the law does not allow liability to be limited. We are not liable for loss caused by information you give us that is false, misleading or incomplete, or by your failure to act on our advice.

Australia: if the firm participates in a professional standards scheme, add the scheme statement in the form your body prescribes (for example, "Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation"), and use it on your letterhead and website as the scheme requires.

• We keep your information confidential and use it only to provide the services, except where the law, a regulator or our professional body requires us to disclose it.
• We handle personal information in line with [the privacy law that applies: e.g. the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, the Privacy Act 2020 (NZ), PIPEDA, POPIA] and our privacy notice at [link].
• We use third-party software to store and process your information, including cloud accounting, practice management and document storage. [Where any of it processes data outside your country, say so.]
• We may be required to report certain matters to authorities without telling you, for example under anti-money laundering law where it applies to the services.
• We keep your records for [period required by law and our professional body], then destroy them securely.

We use software tools, including artificial intelligence tools, to help us deliver our services efficiently. We use them under our AI policy, only on business plans that do not use your information to train their models, and a qualified member of our team reviews all work before it is provided to you. You can ask us at any time which tools we use in your work, or ask us not to use them.

US tax work: where Section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code requires your written consent before tax return information is disclosed to a third party, we will ask for it separately, in the required form.

[Either:] We do not outsource any part of your work outside the firm. [Or:] Some of the work in section 2 is carried out by [our team in another location / a named service provider] in [country], under a written agreement that requires them to keep your information confidential and secure. We remain responsible for the work.

Documents you give us remain yours and we return them on request. Our working papers belong to us. [Where your body and local law allow a lien over documents for unpaid fees, say how you apply it; several bodies restrict it.]

If you are unhappy with our service, please tell [name and contact]. We will acknowledge your complaint within [period] and respond in full within [period]. If you are not satisfied, you may complain to [our professional body, with its contact details, where it handles complaints about members].

• Either of us may end this engagement by giving [notice period] written notice.
• We may end it immediately where continuing would breach the law or our professional obligations, or where fees remain unpaid after [period].
• You will pay for work done up to the date the engagement ends.
• When the engagement ends we will tell you about any deadline we are aware of, hand over your records, and respond to a professional clearance request from your new accountant.

This letter is governed by the law of [state, province or country], and the courts of [jurisdiction] have jurisdiction. It replaces any earlier engagement letter for the same services. It stays in force until it is replaced or ended under section 13; we will send you an updated letter when the services, the law or our terms change.

Please sign and return a copy to confirm you agree to these terms. If you ask us to start work before you sign, these terms apply to that work.

Country references checked as at October 2026. Rules and forms change; confirm each one with the regulator or professional body before you rely on it.

This template is a starting point, not legal advice. Your obligations depend on where you practise, your professional body and your clients; take advice on anything you are unsure of.