Video transcript:

Probably the most important of an engagement letter is defining the scope of services. This is a huge issue when professional liability claims arise. So what does defining scope of services mean? I think it is fairly easy when you are in an audit or review or compilation situation, where your scope of service is, “we are going to audit your financial statements and we are going to issue an opinion.” There it’s fairly easy. A little bit more complex when you get to tax services. Even if it’s tax compliance services, because you’ll — what I see a lot of times is, “we are going to prepare your federal and state returns.” Well, which state returns there? Is it state income tax returns or state sales tax returns or any of the other taxes that are out there? In which states? Is it all 50 states or is it just your home state? So what we recommend is you actually put the form numbers on there.