The letter in the drawer
A client joined five years ago for quarterly bookkeeping. Since then they registered for VAT, took on two employees, started a second company and switched to monthly management figures. You do all of it. The engagement letter on file still says quarterly bookkeeping for one company.
Nobody thinks about it until a dispute, an insurance renewal, or a regulator or professional body asks to see engagement terms. Then someone has to go through the client list and compare every letter with reality.
Why letters and service drift apart
The letter is a document; the service is a set of jobs in your practice tool. New jobs get added when the client asks. Nothing in that step says 'this needs a new letter'. Letters are also tedious to redo, so even when someone notices, it goes on a list that never gets done.
Templates change too. Your standard terms may have been updated, but older clients are still on terms from years ago because nobody has sent them the new version.
What mismatched letters cost
If a disagreement arises, the letter is what you point to, and a letter that does not cover the work is weak ground. Scope and fees become harder to discuss when the written agreement is out of date. Your own requirements, and those of your insurer or supervisory body, may expect letters that reflect the current service, and a review exercise to fix them all at once is a large and unwelcome project. What exactly is required is for you and your advisers to decide; the system only shows where the gaps are.
| Change at the client | Letter usually updated? |
|---|---|
| New service added, such as payroll | Rarely |
| Frequency changed | Rarely |
| New company in the group | Sometimes |
| Fee changed | Sometimes, by email only |
| Firm's standard terms revised | Only for new clients |
How we build a service register that keeps letters honest
- We read the recurring jobs and service lines for each client from your practice tool, such as Xero Practice Manager or Karbon, and list what you actually deliver.
- We read the current letter for each client, extracting the services, entities, fees and terms version, with a language model doing the first pass and a person checking anything unclear.
- The register compares the two and flags every client where they differ, with the specific gap shown.
- When a new service is added to a client in the practice tool, the register flags that client within a day rather than at a review years later.
- An updated letter is generated from your current templates with the services and entities filled in, for a partner to check and approve.
- Approved letters go out for e-signature through the tool you already use, and signed copies are filed back to the client record.
We do not write your terms. The templates and wording are yours, set by you and your advisers. The system fills them in and tracks them.
Letters that match the work
Every client has a letter that describes what you do for them now. New services trigger a new letter as a normal part of adding them. When your standard terms change, you can see who is on the old version and send updates in batches. And if anyone ever asks to see your engagement terms, you can show them without a scramble.
Could your letters be out of date?
- Some letters are older than the services they should describe.
- Services get added to clients without a new letter.
- Clients are on several different versions of your standard terms.
- Fee changes are agreed by email and never written into a letter.
- Checking letters against services would take someone weeks.