Draft a bookkeeping or accounting engagement letter
Drafts a clear engagement letter that defines scope, exclusions, client responsibilities, and fees to prevent scope creep.
The prompt
Help me draft an engagement letter for bookkeeping or accounting services.
My practice: [NAME, credentials if any - e.g. bookkeeper, EA, CPA]
Client: [business type, entity type, size]
Services in scope: [e.g. "monthly bookkeeping for 2 bank accounts and 1 credit card, bank reconciliations, monthly P&L and balance sheet by the 15th"]
Explicitly out of scope: [e.g. tax return preparation, payroll, catch-up work before [DATE], audits, CFO advisory]
Fees and billing: [fixed monthly / hourly / per transaction volume tier, payment terms, what happens if volume grows]
Client responsibilities: [providing statements and receipts by [DATE], answering questions within [X] days, approving payments]
Term and termination: [start date, notice period]
Jurisdiction: [STATE/COUNTRY]
Include: services and deliverables with timing, exclusions, client responsibilities, the fact that we don't audit or verify the client's records (unless we do), fees and how out-of-scope work is quoted, data access and confidentiality, record retention, limitation of liability, termination, and signature block.
Return:
1. The letter in plain English.
2. A one-paragraph cover email to send it.
3. A list of clauses I should have reviewed by a lawyer or my professional body, marked [LEGAL REVIEW].
If I'm a licensed CPA or EA, flag standards or rules that may require specific wording as [CHECK PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS].
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Legal & Compliance prompts
What to fill in
- NAME, credentials if any - e.g. bookkeeper, EA, CPA
- business type, entity type, size
- DATE
- providing statements and receipts by [DATE
- start date, notice period
- STATE/COUNTRY
- LEGAL REVIEW
- CHECK PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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