Bookkeeping Services Agreement Template

What is a bookkeeping services agreement?

A bookkeeping services agreement (often called a bookkeeping engagement letter) sets out what a bookkeeper does each month for a client business and what the client has to do in return. Most disputes between bookkeepers and clients come from the same places: records arriving late, work creeping beyond the monthly fee, confusion about whether tax returns are included, and who is responsible when the numbers turn out to be wrong. This template deals with each of them in plain English.

It lists the standard monthly services — recording and categorising transactions in the client's accounting software, reconciling the accounts you name, keeping receivables and payables up to date, and a monthly profit and loss statement and balance sheet — with room to add anything else you offer. Payroll support is optional: describe it and a clause about the employer's responsibilities appears, or leave it empty and the agreement says payroll is not included. An optional one-off catch-up fee covers bringing past months up to date, and a separate clause makes clear that bookkeeping is not an audit and does not include tax returns unless you list them.

When to Use a bookkeeping services agreement

• Starting monthly bookkeeping for a new small-business client
• Putting an existing handshake arrangement with a client into writing
• Taking on a client whose books need a catch-up before monthly work begins
• Adding payroll processing to a bookkeeping engagement
• A virtual bookkeeper working in a client's QuickBooks Online, Xero or similar account

What You Fill In

20 blanks, then the name and email of each person who signs: bookkeeper, client.

What the bookkeeping services agreement Covers

1. Monthly services
2. Payroll support
3. What is not included
4. The Client's responsibilities
5. Timing
6. Access to accounts
7. Fees and payment
8. Records and confidentiality
9. Liability
10. Term and ending the agreement
11. General

Using the bookkeeping services agreement, step by step

1 Describe the monthly work

Name the accounting software and the accounts you reconcile each month, for example "2 bank accounts and 1 credit card". Add any extras you include, such as entering bills for approval or sending customer invoices.

2 Decide on payroll

If you run payroll, describe exactly what you do — the payroll system, how often, how many employees, and whether payroll tax filings are included. The agreement adds that the client approves every pay run and stays responsible as the employer. Leave it empty if payroll is not part of the engagement.

3 Set the timing and the fees

Choose the day of the month the client's records are due and the day your reports are delivered. Enter the monthly fee, an optional transaction limit, an optional catch-up fee and period, and your hourly rate for extra work.

4 Send it for signature

Add the client's signer and email. VergeHR builds the PDF with both signature blocks, job-title lines and initials boxes on each page. Both of you get the signed copy, and yours is filed in Files.

Tips Before You Send It

• Use read-only or accountant-level access to bank accounts wherever the bank offers it. The agreement says you will not move money or approve payments without written authority.
• A transaction limit protects your monthly fee if the client's volume grows. The agreement lets you propose a new fee with 30 days' notice if the limit is regularly exceeded.
• If you also prepare tax returns, list that in "Other services included" — otherwise the agreement says tax returns are not included.
• Keep the client's source documents and your working papers organised by month; the agreement promises to hand them over when the engagement ends.

Bookkeeping services agreement: frequently asked questions

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This template is a general starting point, not legal advice. Laws differ between countries and states — have a lawyer review the agreement for your situation before you rely on it. Page last reviewed 2026-09-29.