A signature that releases the work
FigsFlow is e-signature and approvals for accounting firms — engagement letters, consents and firm documents go out from the same client record the work runs on, after the right person inside the firm has approved them. The signed copy files itself, the trail stays with the record, and the job opens on signature rather than when somebody notices.
Partner or principal, start with the approval queue in the tour below. Risk or ops, go straight to what breaks when signing sits outside the record.
- Document Assembled from the clause library
- Approved Partner sign-off · before it left the firm
- Signers Two named · in the order you set
- Delivered Portal link · no account to create
- Trail Every event · dated · stored
the job opened on signature — nobody had to notice
Two queues: what the firm owes a sign-off, and what a client owes a signature
A manager opens FigsFlow and sees both — everything waiting on a partner inside the firm, and everything waiting on a client outside it. A preparer opens the same system and sees one screen: the documents they sent, and which ones came back. Switch between the two, then move through the sections to look around.
| Document | Status | With | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|
Engagement letter — Ridgeline Foods Inc. Sofia Romano | Draft | Partner | Awaiting approval 2h |
Consent to disclose — Beaumont Retail Group Aaron Shaw | Sent | Client | No open 6d |
Engagement letter — Hale & Co Daniel Cole | Viewed | Client | Opened, not signed 3d |
Scope change — Fielding Developments Sofia Romano | Partially signed | 2nd signer | Signer 2 idle 8d |
Bank authorization — Turner Properties Priya Patel | Declined | Client | Reason recorded |
| Document | Client | Status | Last event | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Engagement letter 1120-S + sales tax | Beaumont Retail Group | Viewed | Opened 14h ago | |
Consent to disclose Lender request | Bennett Holdings | Sent | Sent 2d ago | |
Scope change addendum Added payroll | Kingsley Holdings | Partially signed | Signer 2 idle 8d | |
Engagement letter Bookkeeping cleanup | Northgate Clinics | With partner | Sent for approval 3h | |
E-file authorization Individual return | Harper Dental Group | With partner | Sent for approval 1d |
| Document | Client | Type | Signers | Status | Sent by | Last event | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Engagement letter 1120-S + multi-state sales tax | Beaumont Retail Group | LETTER | 2 of 2 named | Viewed | AS Aaron Shaw | Opened 14h ago | |
Consent to disclose Lender copy request | Bennett Holdings | CONSENT | 1 of 1 named | Sent | AS Aaron Shaw | Never opened · 6d | |
Scope change addendum Payroll added mid-year | Kingsley Holdings | ADDENDUM | 1 of 2 signed | Partially signed | AS Aaron Shaw | Signer 2 idle 8d | |
Engagement letter Payroll setup | Hale & Co | LETTER | 1 of 1 named | Viewed | DC Daniel Cole | Opened 3d ago | |
E-file authorization Individual return | Harper Dental Group | AUTH | 2 of 2 named | Sent | PP Priya Patel | Sent 1d ago | |
Engagement letter Year-end + bookkeeping | Fielding Developments | LETTER | 1 of 1 named | Viewed | SR Sofia Romano | Opened 2d ago | |
Consent to use Advisory cross-service | Ardent Logistics | CONSENT | 1 of 1 named | Sent | PP Priya Patel | Sent 2d ago | |
Bank authorization Read-only feed access | Oakwood Retail Partners | AUTH | 2 of 2 named | Viewed | DC Daniel Cole | Opened 5h ago | |
Engagement letter S-Corp election setup | Vale & Sons Construction | LETTER | 1 of 1 named | Sent | JW James Whitfield | Sent today |
| Document | Client | Signed | Signers | Filed to | What it released | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Engagement letter 1120 + payroll | Ridgeline Foods Inc. | Today · 09:14 | 2 of 2 | SHAREPOINT /Clients/Ridgeline/2026 | Job opened · 1120 prep | |
Consent to disclose Lender copy request | Meridian Fabrication LLC | Yesterday · 16:02 | 1 of 1 | SHAREPOINT /Clients/Meridian/Consents | — | |
Scope change addendum Added sales tax filings | Turner Properties | 2d ago · 11:47 | 1 of 1 | SHAREPOINT /Clients/Turner/2026 | Job scope updated | |
Engagement letter Bookkeeping cleanup | Northgate Clinics | 3d ago · 08:29 | 1 of 1 | SHAREPOINT /Clients/Northgate/2026 | Job opened · cleanup | |
E-file authorization Individual return | Reed Estates | 4d ago · 19:55 | 2 of 2 | SHAREPOINT /Clients/Reed/2026 | Filing step unblocked |
| Document | Client | Outcome | Reason | Recorded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bank authorization Read-only feed access | Turner Properties | Declined | Wants the request from their bank first | By the signer · 2d ago | |
Consent to use Advisory cross-service | Hale & Co | Expired | Not opened before the expiry date | Automatic · 9d ago |
| Field | On the proposal | On this letter |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $6,400 | $7,200 |
| Services | 1120 + payroll | 1120 + payroll |
| Clauses | — | 9 · all from the library |
Third-party access always needs a partner. Drafted by Daniel Cole.
Disclosure to a named third party. Drafted by James Whitfield.
Adds a service outside the original engagement. Drafted by Sofia Romano.
| Document | Client | Why it stopped here | Drafted by | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Engagement letter 1120 + payroll | Ridgeline Foods Inc. | Fee moved >10% from the proposal | Sofia Romano | 2h | |
Bank authorization Read-only feed access | Oakwood Retail Partners | Third-party access | Daniel Cole | 3d | |
Consent to disclose Named third party | Northgate Clinics | Disclosure outside the firm | James Whitfield | 1d |
| Template | Type | Signers | Approval rule | On completion | Used 12m | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard engagement letter Assembled from the clause library | LETTER | Client, then firm | Only if the fee moves >10% | Opens the job · files to SharePoint | 186 | |
Consent to disclose Named third party per request | CONSENT | Client only | Always · partner | Files to /Consents | 94 | |
Scope change addendum References the original letter | ADDENDUM | Client, then firm | Always · manager | Updates the job scope | 61 | |
E-file authorization Per return, per taxpayer | AUTH | Both taxpayers | None | Unblocks the filing step | 58 | |
Bank / third-party authorization Read-only access request | AUTH | Client only | Always · partner | Files to /Authorizations | 37 | |
Internal sign-off sheet Reviewer and partner, no client | INTERNAL | Firm only | Two-stage | Marks the review complete | 22 |
Signed 12 Aug 2026 · named recipient recorded on the document
Signed 19 Aug 2026 · lender copy request
Sent 18 Aug 2026 · advisory cross-service
Expired 11 Aug 2026 · never opened
Usually months later, usually by someone who was not on the engagement. A consent buried inside a letter is a consent nobody can produce.
Separate from the engagement, so the record has to know when each one lapses rather than assuming the letter’s dates.
The recipient is part of the record, not a detail in an email thread — which is what makes the trail readable to someone who was not there.
Standard engagement letter · 9 clauses · Sofia Romano
Rule matched: fee moved more than 10% from the priced proposal
Partner · approved without changes
Delivered by email and posted to the client portal
Link opened · device and timestamp recorded
Name and role as named on the envelope
Automatic · matched the template’s reminder cadence
All named signers accounted for
/Clients/Ridgeline/2026 · in your own Microsoft tenant
Released by the completed signature, not by a person
This is the read-only tour. Opening an envelope, approving a letter, editing a template and exporting a trail all happen in the live product — we walk you through those with your own letter and your own approval rules on the call.
Take the guided product tourNobody decided the signature would live somewhere else. It happened because the tool was bought on its own.
It is the second week of March. A preparer asks whether the Hartley letter came back, and three people look in three places before anyone can answer.
The letter was drafted in one system and sent from a signing tool, so the status lives there. The signed PDF arrived as an email attachment to whoever set the envelope up, and she is out today. Somebody saved a copy to a folder last week, but nobody is sure it is the final version rather than the one before the fee was corrected. The work has already started, on the assumption that a signature exists.
Checking three systems is not the problem. It is the symptom. The problem is that the signature is an event in a different product — so the record that should prove the engagement exists, and the record the firm actually works from, are two different things that have to be kept in agreement by hand.
Approved inside, signed outside, filed and released — one record
This is what makes it e-signature inside a practice system rather than a signing tool the firm also happens to own. The document, the internal approval, the client’s signature, the filed copy and the job it releases are five stages of one record — so the seams in the last fold are not shortened, they are gone. The test for signing software in an accounting firm is not how fast a client can sign; it is whether the firm can prove what happened six months later without opening a second product.
An engagement letter assembled from your clause library, a consent, an addendum or an authorization — already carrying the client, the services and the fee.
A rule decides whether a human has to look: a fee that moved, a third-party authorization, a clause outside the library. Everything else goes straight out.
A tokenized link, no account to create, in signer order where the template requires it. Every open, reminder and signature is recorded as it happens.
Written to the client’s folder in your own Microsoft tenant on completion, under the retention policy your firm already administers.
Completion opens the job or unblocks the step it was gating. Nobody marks it done, so the signed date and the start date cannot disagree.
- The engagement letter — assembled from approved wording, so the document going out is already the firm’s
- The priced proposal — which is what the approval rule compares the fee against
- The client record — signers, roles and contact details come from the party, not from a form someone fills in again
- Your template library — signer order, reminder cadence and the approval rule travel with the template
- The job — completion opens it, or unblocks the step that was waiting on an authorization
- Your SharePoint — the signed version, filed under the client, in your tenant
- The client record — the trail sits on the party, readable by whoever picks the work up in February
- The firm’s reporting — completion rates and where the time goes, counted from events rather than statuses
Getting it signed is one side. Proving it, and acting on it, is the other.
A signature has two jobs in an accounting firm. It has to be collected — quickly, from people who are busy and often not at a desk. And it has to be evidence: readable months later, tied to the engagement it belongs to, and capable of starting the work it authorized. Most tools are built for one job or the other, and the gap between them is cleared by hand.
Judge e-signature software for a firm on that gap rather than on a signature-count allowance. The question is not how many envelopes you can send — it is whether, in February, somebody who was not there can open one client record and see which version was signed, who inside the firm approved it going out, when each signer signed, and what that signature released. That is the whole case for signing inside a practice system rather than beside one.
One record. The document, the internal approval, the signature, the filed copy and the job are the same object, so there is nothing to reconcile and nothing to re-key.
Two systems. The gap is where the approval, the version that was actually signed and the step it should have released stop existing together — and somebody checks two products to answer one question.
A signing tool records who sent the envelope. It has no concept of whether that person was allowed to send it, or whether a partner saw the fee first. In most firms the internal approval is an email above the send — which means the approval and the document it approved live in different systems, and only one of them is kept.
Templates get corrected. Fees get amended after a conversation. When the document lives in one place and the signature in another, the firm ends up holding a current template, a saved PDF and a signing record, with nothing that authoritatively says which one the client agreed to.
The point of the letter is that work can start; the point of the authorization is that a step can proceed. When completion is an email notification, somebody has to read it and then go and do the thing — so work starts before the signature in a busy week, and after it in a quiet one.
Every size of firm, and the moment each one stops trusting email
Signing stops being a preference at the point where one person can no longer vouch for what went out. That point arrives at a different headcount for every practice — and the first thing a firm should switch on is different every time too.
Same choice as the comparison above — pick once, both sections follow
Short list, honestly labeled
Signing connects to the three things a US firm already governs — the mailbox, the document store and the client’s own view of your firm. Everything else on this page is what is not connected, because finding that out in month two is worse than reading it now.
Envelopes are delivered on your firm’s mail, and people inside the firm approve using the identity your IT already administers. There is no separate signing login to provision when someone joins, and none to remember to revoke when they leave.
- OUTLOOK — DELIVERY
- ENTRA ID SSO
- GRAPH
The completed document is written to the client’s folder in your own tenant when the last signer finishes — under the retention and access policy your firm already runs. Nothing is held hostage in a vendor’s vault, and nobody keeps a personal copy.
- FILED ON COMPLETION
- YOUR TENANT, YOUR POLICY
- CLIENT FOLDER STRUCTURE
A signer opens a tokenized link and signs — no account to create, no password to reset, and it works in a phone browser. The same place they upload documents and answer requests is the place they sign, so there is one thing to explain rather than three.
- NO ACCOUNT TO CREATE
- WORKS ON A PHONE BROWSER
- SAME PLACE AS REQUESTS
Every envelope and every event exports in full — for an internal review, for a reviewer who wants their own copy, or for whatever you want to build in a spreadsheet. There is no report builder here, so the export is the answer to that, and it is deliberate.
- CSV / EXCEL EXPORT
- FULL EVENT HISTORY
- PER-ENVELOPE TRAIL PDF
Signers are the named recipients on the envelope. There is no knowledge-based authentication, document check or third-party identity step before someone signs, and the trail does not claim one.
Not in this releaseNo notary session, no witnessing and no recorded signing ceremony. Documents that need notarizing still need a notary.
Not in this releaseNo integration with the return-preparation tools a US firm files from. An authorization signed here unblocks the step in FigsFlow; it does not push anything into your tax software.
Not in this releaseEnvelopes are raised against a client record one at a time. There is no campaign-style send of the same document to two hundred clients at once.
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