Use case
NDAs and confidentiality agreements
Get confidentiality agreements signed before sensitive information changes hands: with new staff, subcontractors and outsourced bookkeepers, and with clients or buyers during a due diligence or the sale of a business. Both parties sign, in the order you choose.
Signed before anything is shared
Accounting practices handle a great deal of confidential information, and much of it passes through people outside the firm: a subcontractor covering a busy season, an outsourced bookkeeper, a new starter on their first day.
NDAs also come up on client work. When a client is selling the business, the buyer and its advisers usually sign a confidentiality agreement before they see the accounts, management information or the client list. That signature is often the thing holding up the next step.
The usual problem is the countersignature. One side signs, the PDF sits in someone's inbox, and nobody is sure which copy is final. Sending the agreement as one pack, in a set order, leaves a single completed copy with both signatures on it.
Both parties sign
The other side and your practice sign the same agreement in one pack
Signing order
Send in order, so you countersign once the other party has signed
Per-document access
Each recipient sees only the documents you choose
A typical NDA workflow
Example: Sale of Brightwell Joinery Ltd
1 document · 2 signers · In order
- 01Confidentiality Agreement.pdf5 pages
Recipients
- 1. Northgate Holdings (Buyer)Signed
- 2. Practice partnerNext
- 01
Upload your agreement
Use your standard NDA for staff and subcontractors, or the agreement prepared for this transaction. Save the standard version as a template so it is ready next time.
- 02
Add both parties and set the order
Add the other party and whoever signs for your practice. Choose 'In order' so the countersignature is requested only after the other side has signed.
- 03
Place the fields
Add signature, name and date fields for each party. If there are schedules or attachments, choose who can see each document.
- 04
Share once it is signed
When the pack completes, each signer is emailed a link to their signed copy and you keep the evidence record. Then send the information it protects.
NDA questions
Can both parties sign the NDA in the same pack?
Yes. Add the other party and the person signing for your practice as recipients. Each signs in the places you marked, and the completed pack carries both signatures and one evidence record.
Who should sign first?
Usually the other party, so the practice countersigns a copy it knows is final. Choose 'In order' when you send and the next person is invited only when the previous one has finished. Choose 'Everyone at once' when order does not matter.
Can a buyer see the NDA without seeing the rest of the pack?
Yes. You choose which documents each recipient can see. A buyer can be given the NDA alone, and the information pack sent separately once it is signed.
Is an electronic signature enough for an NDA?
A confidentiality agreement is usually a simple contract, and in the UK an electronic signature can generally be used for simple contracts. If an agreement is to be executed as a deed, take advice first. PractiSign provides simple electronic signatures with an audit trail.