Contracts and engagement letters

Firm owners, billing managers, and practice administrators can use contracts and engagement letters to formalize scope of work, set pricing terms, collect client e-signatures, generate invoices, and activate client services.

Contract templates vs client contracts

Contract Template: A reusable agreement setup saved under Settings > Templates > Contract Templates. Defines legal terms, dynamic shortcode placeholders, default billable items, bundles, and total pricing.
Client Contract: A client-specific engagement letter created from a template under a client record. Populates client-specific data, sets effective start/end dates, generates contract PDFs, and tracks client e-signatures.

[ Contract Template ] ──► [ Add Contract to Client ] ──► [ Setup & Send Signature ]
  (Terms, Shortcodes,       (Dates, Customized Terms,       (Client Portal / Email
   Billable Services)        Client Details)                 E-Sign Dispatch)
                                                                   │
[ Active Services ] ◄───── [ Create Invoice ] ◄────────── [ Client E-Signed ]

Create a contract template with shortcodes

Build reusable contract templates for standard engagements (such as Annual Tax Preparation, Monthly Bookkeeping Agreement, or Payroll Services Contract):

Open Settings > Templates > Contract Templates.
Select Add (the plus icon).
Enter a Template Name (such as Annual Accounting & Tax Engagement Letter).
Enter the agreement Title.
Write the contract Body. Use shortcode token buttons to insert dynamic fields:
- [client_name]: Client Name.
- [client_email]: Client Email.
- [client_phone]: Client Phone.
- [contract_no]: Contract Number.
- [contract_start_date]: Contract Start Date.
- [contract_end_date]: Contract End Date.
- [Year-End Date]: Year-End Date.
- [contract_service_names]: Contract Service Names.
- [account_manager_name]: Account Manager Name.
- [account_manager_email]: Account Manager Email.
Attach billable service items or service bundles under Services & Bundles. Set quantities, unit rates, tax IDs, and percentage/amount discounts.
Review the calculated Total Amount.
Select Add.

Issue an engagement contract to a client

When onboarding a new client or renewing an annual engagement:

Open Clients and select a business or individual client.
Select the Contracts tab.
Select Add Contract.
Choose the Template (such as Annual Accounting & Tax Engagement Letter).
Set the Start Date and End Date for the contract term.
Select Add.

Assisterp creates the client contract record and generates the agreement draft. Open the contract row to review the formatted document, billable items, provider details, and agreement body.

Tip: Use the edit control on the contract detail page if you need to customize specific agreement clauses or override pricing for a particular client before sending.

Dispatch contracts for client e-signature

Open the client contract detail page under Clients > Contracts.
Select Setup E-Signature from the action menu. This option is hidden once the contract is Voided or has already been sent for signature.

Setup E-Signature opens a full Send Contract page, not a popup. On this page, assign a signature field to each signing party (such as First Party) directly on the contract document. Until every party has at least one field assigned, the page shows an Action required before sending notice and no Send button.

Once every party has a field:

Select Send.
In the Recipients window, enter the Name and Email for each party.
Select Preview to review the email before it goes out, or Send Now to dispatch it immediately.

Three things called “status”

Contracts carry three separate indicators. They answer different questions, and reading one for another is the usual source of confusion.

The contract’s own status describes where the agreement stands in its life: Draft, Active, Expired, Renewed, Terminated, or Voided. Assisterp tracks this independently of whether the contract has been signed, so confirm both rather than reading one as the other.

Setting a contract to Voided also closes any in-progress digital signature request for it, so a recipient who still has the signing link open can no longer complete it.

Whether it has been signed is a simple yes or no. The contract page shows Signed or Sign Pending, and the contract list has a Signed column reading Yes or No. Use the column to find every unsigned contract at once.

What each signing document did lives in the Contract Signature History panel on the contract page. Each entry shows the contract title and number, a badge marking the signature as Digital or Manual, and when it was recorded. Select View on an entry to open Document Signature Status, which reports that document as:

Pending: sent, not yet acted on.
Completed: signed.
Declined: the signer refused it.

Declined appears only here — there is no declined state on the contract itself, so a refused contract still reads Sign Pending until someone acts on it. Check the history panel rather than trusting the top-level indicator.

When a document is completed or declined, View Document Log opens its audit trail and View Document opens the document itself.

Once every signer has completed a digital signature, Assisterp also emails a PDF copy of the fully signed document to everyone who signed it.

Resend a pending signature request

The Submitters section on the contract page lists each recipient with their name, email, and status. Next to a recipient whose status is not yet Completed or Declined, select Reminder to resend that recipient’s signature request email. Reminder is not available once the contract is Voided, or once that recipient has completed or declined.

Generate invoices from signed contracts

Once a contract is signed, you can bill the engagement directly from the contract record:

Open the signed contract detail page under Clients > Contracts.
Select Create Invoice.
Assisterp populates an invoice pre-loaded with the contract’s attached service items, agreed quantities, rates, and discount rules.
Review payment terms (or select This is a retainer deposit invoice if collecting an advance deposit).
Select Save.

The generated invoice links directly to the contract record for audit tracking.

Set up the services a signed contract covers

Signing a contract does not create the client’s services. The contract records what was agreed; the services on the client record are what actually generate work and billing, and you set those up yourself.

After a contract is signed:

Review the signed contract on the client record to confirm what was agreed.
Open the client’s Services tab and check that a service exists for each billable item in the contract.
Add any that are missing from the matching Service templates, which is what establishes the recurring schedule, the Pipeline triggers, and the generated jobs.

See Services on a client record for how a service’s schedule turns into work.

Contract renewal and expiration tracking

Open Clients > Contracts or review contract insights under Accounting / Insights.
Filter contracts by End Date to identify agreements expiring within the next 30 to 60 days.
Select Duplicate on an expiring contract to quickly generate a renewal draft with updated fiscal dates and pricing terms.