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Engaging Your QuickBooks Diagnostic Clients

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Note: The author is not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services in this publication. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Have you ever had a client, out of breath and panicked, call you and tell you that they have an emergency with their QuickBooks® financial software? Perhaps an account is out-of-balance, the profit and loss statement just doesn't look right, or the entire file has gotten lost in a hardware glitch.

Before you rush over to help the client, I would strongly encourage you to put your ideas in writing, in the form of an engagement letter.

The fourth offering in our series of QuickBooks engagement letters covers diagnostic services. This type of service is appropriate when a client has been using QuickBooks for a while and needs help to solve a problem. It may even be considered an emergency by the client.

Often, this type of engagement tends to balloon into more than what was originally intended. A detailed engagement letter with all issues and problems enumerated and described can help to clarify the size and scope of the project to be taken on. So, before you enter into the heat of the battle, step back and agree on specific items to be completed.

Two sections of the sample engagement letter need special mention:

What We'll Do. This section describes in detail the services to be performed and should be customized to the client's specific needs. List each issue that you'll be working on so that you can control the scope of the engagement. Be as specific as possible when writing this section of the engagement letter.

When We'll Do It. This sentence provides an estimated project schedule. The start date is specified, but the end date is left open. You may want to put in a 30-day notice sentence, meaning that either party may terminate this agreement by giving the other party 30 days notice.

A sample engagement letter specifically written for QuickBooks diagnostic services is provided in Word format. Each word or phrase in bold should be replaced with the appropriate phrase that fits the particular client and project that you're writing the letter for. Be sure to further customize the What We'll Do section. The letter should be provided on the accountant's letterhead, signed, and presented to the client for signature.

You should always check with your own attorney before creating or signing any business contracts. If you're not a CPA, consider asking your attorney her opinion of engagement letters when starting a relationship with a new client.

• Sample Engagement Letter — QuickBooks Diagnostic Services   Word file (16K)

Last Updated: 08/12/2003