The service provider typically prepares the Letter of Engagement, be it a law firm, accounting agency, consultancy, or any professional offering services.
Your designated audit firm will prepare the specific terms of engagement using the appropriate AICPA-issued engagement letter template. It should be noted that there are many terms for audit engagements that are deemed required by the AICPA and therefore unable to be negotiated.
An auditor's engagement letter most likely would include: management's acknowledgment of its responsibility for maintaining effective internal control. the auditor's preliminary assessment of the risk factors relating to misstatements arising from fraudulent financial reporting.
Standard on Related Services (SRS) 4400, “Engagements to Perform Agreed-upon Procedures regarding Financial Information” should be read in the context of the “Preface to the Standards on Quality Control, Auditing, Review, Other Assurance and Related Services”1, which sets out the authority of the Engagement Standards.
The content of an engagement letter often includes important details such as the scope of services to be provided, fees or billing arrangements, confidentiality clauses, dispute resolution mechanisms, and any other relevant terms agreed upon by both parties.
1. We are pleased to accept the instruction to act as auditor for your company and are writing to confirm the terms of our appointment. 2. The purpose of this letter, together with the attached terms and conditions, is to set out our terms for carrying out the work and to clarify our respective responsibilities.
The internal auditor and the auditee should agree on the terms of the engagement before commencement. The agreed terms would need to be recorded in an engagement letter.
When Should an Engagement Letter Be Sent? Engagement letters need to be presented to the client at the beginning of the relationship before work commences. They should also periodically be reissued, especially when the scope of services changes or if the business changes its prices.
It is in the interests of both the entity and the auditor that the auditor sends an audit engagement letter before the commencement of the audit to help avoid misunderstandings with respect to the audit.