Bookkeeping engagement letter templates: clauses and onboarding emails you can send

[Date]

[Client legal name]

[Signer name], [Title]

You have asked [Firm] to provide monthly bookkeeping services for [Client legal name] (the Company). This letter confirms the services, your duties, our fee, and the limits of the work.

Services. Each month we will, for the accounts listed in Exhibit A: categorize bank and card activity in [QuickBooks Online or Xero]; reconcile those accounts to the institution statements; post the recurring entries we have agreed in writing; and send a reporting pack by business day [N] of the following month. The pack will include a short cover note, a profit and loss, a balance sheet, AR and AP if those modules are in use, and a list of open questions.

Not in this letter. We are not hired to pay bills, run payroll, file sales tax, prepare or sign a tax return, or issue a compilation, review or audit report. If you want any of those, we will send a separate letter first. We will not start that work on a verbal.

Your duties.You will keep the [QuickBooks Online or Xero] subscription in the Company's name, connect every in scope bank and card feed, send statements and receipts we name, and answer questions on the open list by the date we put on that list. You remain responsible for the accuracy of the information you give us, and for decisions about the business.

Basis. We will keep the books on the [cash or accrual] basis unless we both agree in writing to change it. The pack is management information for your use. It is not a financial statement we have compiled, reviewed or audited.

Fee. [Amount] per month, billed on [day], for the services above. Work outside this letter is billed at [rate] after we write down the extra scope. We may pause work if an invoice is more than [N] days past due.

Term.Either of us may end this letter with [N] days' written notice. You keep the ledger and the source documents. We keep copies of our workpapers.

Please sign and return this letter through [portal]. We will not open the books until we have it.

[Firm signer name], [Title]

Accepted: [Client signer], [Date]

Hi [First name],

Attached, and in the portal at [Upload link], is the engagement letter for monthly bookkeeping for [Client legal name]. It names what we will do, what we will not do, the close day, and the fee we discussed ([Amount] per month).

Please read it, send any edits in a reply, and sign in the portal. We will not ask for logins or start coding until it is signed.

If anything in the letter does not match what you thought we agreed, say so on this email before you sign. It is cheaper to fix the letter than to argue in month three.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Firm] | [Phone]

Hi [First name],

We have your signed letter on file. Thank you. Here is what we need so we can open the file. Please do these in the portal, not by emailing a password.

[Access list]

A complete [Access list] looks like this:

• Invite [Firm email] as accountant on the QuickBooks Online or Xero file for [Client legal name] only
• Connect the operating account and the card ending [last four], or tell us in writing that a feed is not available and you will upload statements
• Name one person we should email with coding questions

When those three are done, we will send the first close calendar.

[Your name]

Hi [First name],

Access is working. We will close [Month] by business day [N] ([Date]). To hit that date we still need:

[Outstanding list]

Upload here: [Upload link]

After this first close, the monthly rhythm is: we send a named missing list on business day 1, you answer by business day [X], we send the pack on business day [N]. If something will not arrive, reply with the item and a date. We will park it on the pack rather than guess.

[Your name]

Hi [First name],

[Month] is closed and the pack is in the portal. Going forward:

We will email questions as a named list, not as a forward of a bank line with "???" in the subject. You can reply on that email or upload a receipt. If an item does not apply, say so in a sentence we can file ("that Amazon charge was personal, reimburse me" is usable; "ignore" is not).

If you want us to add payroll, bill pay, a second entity, or a tax return, we will send a new letter or an addendum first. We will not add it because it came up on a call.

Questions about this pack? Reply here or call [Phone].

[Your name]