The service provider typically prepares the Letter of Engagement, be it a law firm, accounting agency, consultancy, or any professional offering services.
When should the engagement letter be sent and signed? The audit engagement letter should be sent after verbal confirmation of the appointment of you as the auditor and ideally signed before the start of any audit work.
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.
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.
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.
For an engagement letter to be binding, there must be agreement to the terms on both sides. The engagement letter is drafted and, in most cases, signed by the firm, therefore there is clear evidence of the agreement of the contents of the letter on the firm's side.
While a proposal is focused on showcasing your services and convincing a client to engage with your firm, an engagement letter is a legal document that sets the terms of the agreement, including the scope of work and other contractual terms.
Who Prepares a Letter of Engagement? An engagement letter is drafted by the company rendering the service, often with the help of a lawyer. It is than presented to the client, and both parties must sign in order for it to be legally binding.
In general, the basic difference between an audit charter and an engagement letter is that the latter one is prepared for a specific audit in an organization. On the other hand, an audit charter covers the overall audit scopes and objectives of an organization.