Sending letters for e-signature and filing them
How a firm sends an engagement letter or other document for e-signature in Achekam, who can sign without an account, and where the signed PDF is filed.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
An engagement letter that sits unsigned for a month is not just an administrative irritation. Under ISA 210 and ISRE 2400 (Revised) the terms of the engagement should be agreed before the work starts, and a firm that starts without them is carrying risk it did not mean to. Very often the letter is unsigned for no better reason than the client's director needing a printer, a pen and a scanner on the same day.
Electronic signature removes that excuse. This article explains how a firm prepares and sends an engagement letter, or any other document, for signature in Achekam, what the signer needs, what comes back, and exactly what kind of signature the firm ends up with.
Finding the signing console
There is no menu entry for e-signing, which surprises people the first time. The signing console opens from the "Out for signature" tile on My Dashboard, from a document's own page, or from Settings, RFI Templates, Signing templates.
The document itself can come from three places: an uploaded PDF, a document composed from text blocks with merge fields, or a saved template. For engagement letters, a saved template with merge fields saves retyping the client's particulars and keeps the firm's standard wording intact.
Fields, signers and order
Staff place signature and initials fields on the document. They then add the people involved, who can be signers, approvers or copied recipients, and set the order. Signers can sign in sequence or all at once, and the envelope can carry an expiry and reminders.
Order matters for an engagement letter. A sensible sequence is: the engagement partner approves the final wording, the client's director signs, and the firm's partner countersigns, with the client's financial manager copied so they know the engagement is agreed.
An envelope with a signer from outside the firm must be linked to a client or a CRM lead before it is sent. That keeps the signed document attached to the right relationship, and it means a prospect needs to exist as a lead before its first engagement letter goes out.
The signer needs no account
The signer signs from an e-mailed link, without an Achekam account. Signing links last 30 days by default.
The covering e-mail
When sending an envelope, staff can ask AI to draft the covering e-mail. A person must read and send it, and the message is recorded as AI-drafted. The prompt carries no e-mail addresses, IP addresses or file contents. Keep the message short: what the document is, what the client is asked to do, and who to call with questions.
What comes back, and where it goes
When everyone has signed, Achekam produces the signed PDF with a completion certificate. The certificate lists each signer's e-mail address, the times, the IP address and browser used, and the document's fingerprint. Both are filed in the client's "Signed documents" folder in the vault, which has a folder for every client and lead.
The fingerprint is what makes the certificate useful later. If anyone questions whether the document a client signed is the one on the file, the fingerprint of the file can be compared with the one on the certificate.
What kind of signature this is
Be precise about this, especially in engagement letters and with clients who ask.
In South Africa, Achekam's e-signatures are simple electronic signatures. The completion certificate cites section 13 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act and says they are not advanced electronic signatures. The official text of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, which gives legal recognition to electronic communications, transactions and electronic signatures, is on the government's website. Do not describe them to clients as advanced or qualified signatures. For documents where the law requires an advanced electronic signature, use a different route.
For Nigerian and Kenyan firms there is a limitation to know about: the completion certificate always describes the signatures under South Africa's Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, whatever the workspace's country. Consider how that wording sits with the electronic signature rules in your own country, and take advice if a document's validity matters.
From proposal to signed letter
For new clients, e-signing is usually the second step, not the first. A client opens the firm's proposal from a link and can accept or decline it. Acceptance is recorded with the person's name and the time, but it is not an electronic signature: accepting raises the engagement letter for the client to sign. Letters are tracked under CRM & Sales, Engagement Letters / Contracts, and can also be recorded as signed on paper when a client insists.
Once the engagement letter is signed, Achekam turns the lead into a client, activates a service for each mapped quotation line and drafts, but does not issue, the invoice. Someone at the firm still reviews and issues that invoice.
Before pressing send
- The document is the final wording, approved by the engagement partner.
- Signature and initials fields are on every page that needs them.
- The signer list, approvers and copied recipients are right, in the right order.
- The envelope is linked to the correct client or lead.
- The expiry and reminders suit the client's timetable.
- The covering e-mail has been read and edited by a person.
- For Nigerian and Kenyan clients, you are comfortable with the certificate's South African wording, or have chosen another route.
Once signed, the documents live in the vault described in a vault folder per client. Businesses on Achekam use the same signing tools for their own documents, for example in approving an order form before signature.
A practical start
Turn your standard engagement letter into a saved signing template with merge fields this week. The next letter is then a matter of filling in the client and sending, and the signed copy files itself.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
