Engagement Letter—A Positive Factor in Client Communication

Source: Pennsylvania CPA Journal

This is a brief summary of an article by Jonathan S. Ziss, JD, partner with the law firm Margolis Edelstein in Philadelphia.

Most engagements are collaborative. You expect to rely on the client to perform certain functions. The client may be responsible for providing documents, creating worksheets, obtaining appraisals, etc. The engagement letter should delineate these responsibilities, including time deadlines. Further, the engagement letter should indicate that successful and timely completion of the engagement depends on the client’s performance.

But you must follow up to make sure the client performs. You should do so in writing, and your message should reiterate the provisions in the engagement letter about the relationship between engagement success and client performance.

You may feel that communicating this way is brusque, but it actually may enhance your relationship by:

• Demonstrating you are disciplined as well as caring.
• Increasing communicating events. There usually can’t be too many.
• Increasing the efficiency of the engagement.

For the complete article, click here and select the article Reminders Help Client Relations in the Fall 2007 issue.

From Pennsylvania CPA Journal, Fall 2007.