Perform the acceptance and continuance

Content in this topic requires Caseware Audit.

The documents that you need to complete to perform the acceptance and continuance procedures are automatically generated based on your responses to the 010 Planning optimiser questions.

For example, you may specify that:

  • This is not the first year of operation.

  • You are the accountant who performed the audit for this client last year.

  • The accounting framework is ASPE.

Based on the above, the following documents populate in the Documents page:

  • 410 New or existing engagement - Acceptance/continuance

    This is a checklist assessing whether the level of risk is acceptable for the firm and the engagement preconditions have been met.

  • 415.1 Engagement letter - ASPE - Standard

    This is a letter to be reviewed prior to sending it to the client.

  • 415.2 Client query - Engagement letter - Standard ASPE

    This is a query document used for file sharing and collaboration with your clients. This is where you send the letter to the client, and the client returns the signed letter.

Review and edit the engagement letter

A draft version of the engagement letter is automatically generated based on your responses to the 010 Planning optimiser. Notes and guidance information are available in the sections marked with a lightbulb icon (). These sections are visible by default, but excluded when you print the letter.

To edit the letter, simply select any text or image area. Note that text areas highlighted in yellow cannot be edited.

Replace text and field placeholders

The letter's content can include placeholders for some text and fields that you need to replace with specific information related to your engagement, organization or client. Placeholder content is highlighted in blue.

The Placeholders indicator at the top of the document tracks your progress on placeholders. It shows the number of placeholders that haven't been replaced by actual information. You can also select the indicator to navigate to the next empty placeholder.

To replace a text placeholder:

  1. Select the text placeholder.

  2. In the Text Placeholder dialog, replace the placeholder text and select Save.

Note: If you want to use the placeholder text and clear the placeholder indicator, select the text placeholder and Save without entering any text.

To replace a field placeholder:

  1. Select the field placeholder.

  2. Select a value or specify a date as indicated in the placeholder field.

Modify engagement glossary terms and dynamic text

Your documents may contain engagement glossary terms or dynamic text fields. Engagement glossary terms are words and phrases that can be reused throughout the engagement. When you modify a term, the change is applied everywhere in the engagement where the term is used. Dynamic text fields change if certain conditions are met. For example, if you respond 'Yes' to a procedure in a checklist, then 'Agreed' shows in the dynamic text field.

Note: The override option must be enabled in your product to modify these items.

To modify an engagement glossary term or dynamic text:

  1. Select the text area you want to modify. Areas highlighted in gray are either glossary terms or dynamic text fields.

  2. Select the glossary term or dynamic text to open the Engagement Glossary or Data Link dialog.

    Note: If you select a glossary term, hover your cursor over the information icon () to view how many times the term has been used.

  3. Modify the Output field as desired and select Save.

When the Output condition is met, the text changes in all the places it's used in the engagement. If a different condition is met after the change, the output changes to match the configured output text for that condition.

Insert the firm logo

You can insert the firm logo in any text area or in the document head or footer.

To insert the firm logo:

  1. Select the text area where you want to insert the logo.

  2. From the formatting toolbar, select Insert Logo ().

The firm logo is added to the text field. If no logo is available in the firm template, a placeholder with a link to Cloud displays so you can upload a logo.

Note: You can only upload a firm logo in the firm template. To access the firm template, you must have the Settings Admin role or equivalent permissions. For more information, see Built-in roles and Assign system-wide security roles.

Add a page break

You can add a page break anywhere in the document to manually mark where a specific page ends and a new one begins. This allows you to control the page layout for printing.

To add a page break:

  1. Hover your cursor between the two text areas where you want to add the page break.

  2. A blue line with an Add () icon displays.

  3. Select Add () | Page Break.

The page break is added to the document. To delete a page break, hover your cursor over it and select More actions () | Delete.

Note: You cannot add a page break in an empty grouping area. You must add text areas or guidance sections first.

Edit the print settings

You can print any document or convert it to a PDF by selecting the Print icon (). To customize the printed output, edit the print settings.

To edit the print settings:

  1. At the top of the document, select More actions () | Edit print settings.

  2. Edit the print settings as required. If you want any setting to diverge from the document defaults (As defined in Document Map | Document settings () | Document print settings), select the applicable Custom option and enter your customizations.

  3. Select Save.

Send the engagement letter to clients

To obtain the client signature, you can send your draft engagement letter directly to clients using query documents in Audit. Query documents are intended for client collaboration, such as:

  • Requesting information from clients (send inquiries).

  • Requesting documents (ask the client to upload one or more files).

  • Sending deliverables to the client to sign and return.

When client contacts sign in to Cloud, they can directly respond to queries.

To send the engagement letter to clients:

  1. Open the 415.2 Client query - Engagement letter - Standard ASPE document.

  2. In the top-right corner, select Send. The Open Query dialog displays.

  3. In the date picker, select a query due date.

  4. Specify the contacts assigned to the engagement, or simply assign it to all contacts associated with the entity.

  5. Enter an appropriate email message.

  6. Select OK.

Contacts receive an email with your message and a link to the engagement where they can download a PDF version of the letter, sign it and upload the signed copy.