Reusable signing templates for recurring documents
How a firm builds reusable signing templates in Achekam for documents it sends every year, from merge fields to signer order and filing.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Count the documents your firm sends clients for signature in a year and most of them are the same few, repeated: engagement letters, representation letters, the directors' approval of the annual statements, the client's approval of a tax return, a consent to share statements with the bank. Each time, someone opens last year's version, changes the names and dates, hunts for the signature blocks, works out who signs first, and sends it. Each time, something small is missed.
Signing templates turn that repetition into a set-up task done once. This article covers which documents deserve a template, how Achekam's templates and merge fields work, how to make field placement and signer order consistent, and where the signed copies land.
Documents that repeat every year
Start with a list. For most practices, these documents recur often enough to justify a template:
| Document | Usual signers |
|---|---|
| Engagement letter, by engagement type | Client director or trustee; firm partner |
| Management representation letter | Financial director, then a director for the board |
| Directors' approval of the annual statements | Directors |
| Client approval of a tax return or computation | Taxpayer or a director |
| Consent to share statements with a third party | A director |
| Payroll change authorisation | The client's authorised person |
Build templates for the documents with the most volume first. A firm with many compilation clients gains more from a compilation engagement letter template than from anything else.
Templates and merge fields
In Achekam, any document can be sent for electronic signature: an uploaded PDF, a document composed from text blocks with merge fields, or a saved template. Signing templates are kept under Settings > RFI Templates > Signing templates, which is also one of the places the signing console opens from; it has no menu entry of its own, and otherwise opens from the 'Out for signature' tile on My Dashboard or a document's own page.
Merge fields are what make a template reusable. Build the document from text blocks, and use merge fields for anything that changes per client or per year: the client's name, registration number, financial year end, the engagement partner and the signatories. Keep in the fixed text only what genuinely never changes.
Two cautions about content:
- A template is a standard, not a shortcut past review. The wording in an engagement letter or representation letter template should be approved by a partner and reviewed whenever standards or the firm's terms change.
- Specific content still needs a person. A representation letter template holds the standard representations; the specific ones for this client come from this year's file.
Placing fields once
Signature and initials fields are placed on the document for each signer. The time-consuming part of preparing an envelope is usually finding where they go, so design templates to make that easy:
- Put all signatures in one signature block at the end, in a fixed layout.
- If initials are needed on each page, put the initials space in the same position on every page.
- Name each signature line with the role, not the person: "Director", "Financial director", "For the firm".
A predictable layout means whoever prepares the envelope places fields the same way every time, and a reviewer can see at a glance that every signer has a field.
Signer order and approvers
Documents can go to signers in order or all at once, with an expiry and reminders. Staff can add signers, approvers and copied recipients in order, and each signer signs from an e-mailed link without an Achekam account. Links last 30 days by default.
Order matters more than it seems. For a representation letter, the financial director should read and sign before the director signing for the board. For an engagement letter, the firm's partner may want to sign last, after the client has signed the terms. Copy the engagement manager so they see completion without having to check. Write the standard order for each template into the firm's procedures, so it does not depend on who prepares the envelope.
The covering e-mails Achekam sends for the firm carry its logo and recorded particulars. A particular the firm has not recorded is left blank rather than invented, so keep the firm profile complete before relying on it.
Where the signed copies go
When everyone has signed, Achekam produces the signed PDF with a completion certificate listing each signer's e-mail, the times, IP address and browser, and the document's fingerprint. It files both in the client's 'Signed documents' folder. A template therefore also standardises the filing: every signed representation letter, for every client, ends up in the same place.
Know what kind of signature this is. In South Africa, Achekam's e-signatures are simple electronic signatures, and the certificate cites section 13 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act and says they are not advanced electronic signatures. The text of section 13 of the ECT Act sets out when an electronic signature is valid and when the law requires an advanced electronic signature; documents in the second group need a different route. Firms in Nigeria and Kenya should note that the completion certificate currently describes the signatures under South Africa's ECT Act whatever the workspace's country, and should check how their own law treats the documents they send. Sending a single letter end to end is covered in sending letters for e-signature and filing them.
A worked example
A firm builds a signing template for its representation letter, with merge fields for the client's name, year end and signatories, a single signature block at the end, and the standard representations approved by the partners. At each audit, the senior adds this year's specific representations, attaches the uncorrected misstatements summary, and sends it with the financial director first and the chair second, copying the manager. The signed letter and its certificate land in the client's 'Signed documents' folder, and the same steps are repeated for the directors' approval of the statements, covered in directors signing statements electronically.
Start with two
Pick the two documents your firm sends for signature most often, build a template for each, and have a partner approve the wording. Use them for one season, then add the next.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
