AICPA engagement letter templates: what exists, who can use it, what to add

The AICPA does not publish one library of engagement letters. Its letters sit in two places with different access. Some are exhibits inside the professional standards. Others are practice aids on the AICPA & CIMA site, each with its own access label. The table lists the ones we could open or see listed, with the label the site showed.

Check the year on any letter you download. The Tax Section reissues its letters, and its 2025 audit representation letter carries the year in its title (AICPA Tax Section, 2025 Audit Representation Engagement Letter).

An illustrative engagement letter is a sample the standard-setting body prints after a standard to show one way to meet its terms. It is guidance, not a required form. The terms it illustrates are required, though. For example, AR-C 80 lists what a compilation letter must cover and says both sides sign it (AICPA SSARSs, AR-C 60, 70, 80 and 90).

A practice aid is a resource an AICPA section or committee publishes to help members, such as the Tax Section’s annual letters. These carry no standard behind them, so the clauses reflect risk management advice. The Tax Section says its letters were developed with the insurer it endorses (AICPA Tax Section, 2025 Audit Representation Engagement Letter).

That difference tells you what you may cut. Wording that carries a required term stays. Wording that only manages risk is a business choice to discuss with your carrier and your lawyer.

When firms shorten an AICPA sample, a few clauses tend to go first because they sound like boilerplate. Each one carries a standard or an ethics rule.

• Management’s responsibility for preparing and fairly presenting the statements, with their disclosures. AU-C 210 and AR-C 80 both list it first (AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards (AU-C 210 and its example letter)).
• Management’s responsibility for internal control, and for preventing and detecting fraud. AU-C 210 and AR-C 60 both make management acknowledge it (AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards (AU-C 210 and its example letter)).
• The level of assurance, stated plainly: reasonable assurance for an audit, limited for a review, none for a compilation or preparation (AICPA SSARSs, AR-C 60, 70, 80 and 90).
• The expected form of the report, and the warning that it may differ (AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards (AU-C 210 and its example letter)).
• The designated overseer for any nonattest service, such as bookkeeping for an audit client. A designated overseer is the client employee, preferably in senior management, who has the skill to oversee the service and accepts its results. The AICPA code wants that understanding in writing before the work starts (AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, ET 1.295).
• The acknowledgment an AUP needs from the engaging party before the report is issued (AICPA SSAEs, AT-C 215).

A sample letter is written for nobody in particular. Before you send it, fill in what makes the job specific. The template below follows the AICPA structure, so you can use it for any attest or tax job and switch clauses on or off.

The level of service is the choice between audit, review, compilation and preparation, and it drives most of the letter. Each level has its own assurance wording, its own report and its own independence rule. Mixing paragraphs from two levels is the usual way a tailored sample goes wrong, for example a compilation letter that still promises limited assurance.

Tax work adds its own paperwork. If you will represent the client before the IRS, the letter should say so and the client signs Form 2848, which authorizes an individual to represent a taxpayer before the IRS (IRS Instructions for Form 2848). List the tax matters and years in both documents, so they match. A tax return preparer also needs the client’s written consent before using or disclosing return information for any other purpose, unless the rules allow it (26 CFR 301.7216-3, Disclosure or use permitted only with the taxpayer’s consent).

1. Name the entity, the statements or returns, and the period.
2. Name the framework, such as U.S. GAAP, the tax basis or the cash basis.
3. Choose the level of service and keep only that assurance paragraph.
4. List nonattest services and name the client’s overseer.
5. Write the document list with a due date for each item.
6. Set the fee basis, then add the clauses your insurer asks for, such as dispute resolution and record retention.

• AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards (AU-C 210 and its example letter): AU-C 210 lists the required terms of an audit engagement and includes an exhibit with an example audit engagement letter.
• AICPA SSARSs, AR-C 60, 70, 80 and 90: AR-C 70, 80 and 90 list the terms of preparation, compilation and review letters, require signatures, and include illustrative engagement letters.
• AICPA SSAEs, AT-C 215: AT-C 215 includes illustrative AUP engagement letters and requires the engaging party’s written acknowledgment of the procedures.
• AICPA, Not-for-profit audit engagement letter template: An illustrative NFP audit engagement letter, labelled section exclusive, that may not include everything an engagement needs and should be tailored.
• AICPA, Customizable Engagement Letter Template for a Valuation Engagement: A valuation engagement letter template from the VS Section 100 toolkit, labelled credential exclusive.
• AICPA, Sample General PFP Engagement Letter: A sample engagement letter for developing a personal financial plan, labelled AICPA member access.
• AICPA Tax Section, 2025 Audit Representation Engagement Letter: A section-exclusive letter for representing a client before a taxing authority, developed with the Tax Section’s endorsed insurer.
• AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, ET 1.295: Before performing nonattest services for an attest client, the member documents in writing the understanding, including a designated overseer.
• 26 CFR 301.7216-3, Disclosure or use permitted only with the taxpayer’s consent: Unless section 7216 or its regulations authorize it, a tax return preparer may not disclose or use tax return information before obtaining the taxpayer’s written consent, and conditioning services on consent makes it involuntary.
• IRS Instructions for Form 2848: Form 2848 authorizes an individual to represent a taxpayer before the IRS; the individual must be eligible to practice before the IRS.