What an engagement letter is, and which letter each service needs
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In brief
An engagement letter is the signed agreement between a professional and a client that sets the scope of the work, each side’s duties, the fee and the limits. Each template here is written for one service, with the clauses that service needs.
Engagement letter templates
A generic engagement letter leaves out what goes wrong in a specific service: the payroll deadline nobody owned, the audit records that arrived after fieldwork, the contingent fee the client never signed. These templates start from the service and cite the standard or rule behind each clause, such as the AICPA standards, Circular 230 or a state’s rules of professional conduct.
Some standards require the terms in writing, for example AU-C 210 for an audit of a nonissuer and AR-C 90 for a review, and others only make it good practice. Each page says which applies. They are starting points, not legal advice: read them against your professional standards and your state rules, then have your lawyer review the one you use.
Pages in this section
- Audit engagement letter: the AU-C 210 terms, clause by clause
An audit engagement letter mapped to AU-C 210: objective, both sides’ duties, inherent limits, the PBC schedule with dates, and a single audit rider.
- Agreed-upon procedures engagement letter under AT-C 215 (SSAE 19)
An AUP engagement letter under SSAE 19: the engaging party, the procedures exhibit with samples and thresholds, the acknowledgment, and how the report is used.
- AICPA engagement letter templates: what exists, who can use it, what to add
Where each AICPA engagement letter template sits, by service: exhibits to the standards, Tax Section letters, member samples, and a letter you can edit now.
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