Use case
eSignature for financial advisors: agreements, fees and advice on record
Financial advisors are judged on their files years after the advice. An auditor or a complaint asks what the client was told, what it cost and when they agreed. If each acknowledgement is signed on the client's phone and sealed the day you give the advice, that answer stays one click away.
Free to start, no card needed. See pricing
- documents a month on the free plan
- 3
- documents a month on the free plan
- accounts or apps a signer needs
- 0
- accounts or apps a signer needs
- ways to send: email, WhatsApp or SMS
- 3
- ways to send: email, WhatsApp or SMS
- ways to pay while signing: card or mobile money
- 2
- ways to pay while signing: card or mobile money
Why use it
A record that holds up at review
Every document finishes as a PDF with an audit trail of who signed, when and from which device. On the Business plan it is sealed with an audit certificate and a verification code, so a compliance reviewer can confirm the file is the one the client signed.
Compliance sees it before the client does
The Business plan adds an approver role and signing order. Your compliance officer or a supervising advisor can approve a suitability letter or fee disclosure before it goes to the client, and the record shows that the approval came first.
The advice fee paid as the client agrees
With Sign & Pay on the Business plan, an initial advice fee can be collected as the client signs the service agreement. Payment is taken by card through Stripe, or by card and mobile money through Paystack, and it goes straight to your account.
The documents, and how each is signed
Client service agreements
You send the agreement and the client signs from their phone, followed by any joint client in the order you set, with your countersignature last. On the Business plan the initial advice fee can be collected through Sign & Pay as they sign. The sealed PDF shows each signature with its time and device.
Risk profile questionnaires
After completing the questionnaire with the client, send it for them to confirm and sign, one field at a time in their browser. Joint clients sign separately so each person's attitude to risk is on record. The audit trail time-stamps the profile before any recommendation is made.
Fee disclosures
The client acknowledges the disclosure before the advice is given, and on the Business plan a compliance approver can check it first. The record shows the disclosure was signed, and when, so the fee was clearly agreed before the recommendation.
Advice acknowledgements
Your compliance officer approves the suitability report as an approver, then the client signs to confirm they received and understood the recommendation. The sealed PDF with its audit certificate and verification code is the document you produce if the advice is questioned later.
Account transfer forms
Where the receiving provider accepts electronic signatures, the client signs first, then any joint holder, then you, in a set order. Check each provider's rules first, since some require their own form, wet ink or a signature guarantee. The audit trail shows when each holder signed.
Advice paperwork has a fixed order, and a reviewer will check that order later. The client agrees your terms. They complete a risk profile. They are told in writing what you will charge. Only then do they accept a recommendation, and often they sign a form that moves money from one provider to another. Each step depends on the one before. A recommendation signed before the risk profile, or a fee disclosure dated after the advice, is the kind of gap an auditor or a complaints handler finds years later. Your clients are often retired, busy or abroad, and asking them to print, sign and post a form is how files end up incomplete.
How the documents move
You or your paraplanner prepare each document as a PDF and send it from Salsox by email, WhatsApp or SMS. The client opens it in their browser with no account or app and signs one field at a time, which suits a long questionnaire read on a phone. Joint clients sign as two separate signers. On the Business plan you can set the order: compliance approves, the clients sign, and you countersign last. Approvers and signing order are explained in signing workflows.
A typical new-client sequence looks like this:
- Client service agreement, with the initial fee collected at signing if you charge one.
- Risk profile questionnaire, confirmed and signed by each client.
- Fee disclosure, acknowledged before any recommendation is made.
- Advice acknowledgement for the suitability report, after compliance approval.
- Account transfer forms, where the receiving provider accepts electronic signatures.
What goes wrong today, and what fixes it
- Dates out of sequence. Paper forms signed at one kitchen table carry whatever date the client writes. With Salsox, the audit trail records the actual time of each signature, so the order of your file is a matter of record.
- Questionable copies. A scan of a scan proves little. Each completed document is a PDF with an audit trail, and on the Business plan it is sealed with an audit certificate and a verification code that can be checked on the verify page.
- Unchecked documents reaching clients. The Business plan's approver role lets a compliance officer sign off before the client sees anything. See what the audit trail records.
- Fees chased after the advice. Sign & Pay collects the agreed fee in the same step as the signature, by card through Stripe or by card and mobile money through Paystack.
- Clients who never check email. Send the signing link by WhatsApp or SMS instead.
Where more than an e-signature is needed
Electronic signatures are generally accepted for client agreements, questionnaires and acknowledgements, but not every document in an advice file is yours to format. Product providers, platforms and custodians often insist on their own transfer or application forms. Some still require a wet ink signature. In the US, certain transfers need a medallion signature guarantee, which no e-signature replaces. Powers of attorney, trust deeds and some pension documents may need witnesses or a notary, depending on the country. Regulators also set how long you must keep advice records and in what form, so check those rules with your compliance function. Country-by-country legal background is on the e-signature law page.
A setup that suits an advice practice
Most advisors should be on the Business plan, at $19 a month or $190 a year. It is the plan with sealed PDFs, audit certificates, verification codes, the approver role, signing order and Sign & Pay, and those features are what make the file defensible. The Personal plan, at $9 a month, gives unlimited documents and an audit trail but no seal, approver or payment. The free plan sends 3 documents a month, which is enough to try the client experience on a few existing clients.
Prepare five PDFs once: the service agreement, the risk profile questionnaire, the fee disclosure, the advice acknowledgement and your internal approval cover sheet. Put the compliance officer in as approver on anything that contains a recommendation. Remember there are no team seats, so each advisor who sends needs their own account. There is no bulk send either, so annual disclosures go out client by client. If your client system should log each signature automatically, the API sends and finds documents, and webhooks report every event.
Try it on your own document
Upload any PDF and send it for signature. Signers need no account, and the free plan needs no card.
Frequently asked questions
Will an electronically signed advice acknowledgement satisfy a regulator?
In most countries an electronic signature is valid for client agreements and acknowledgements, and what reviewers usually look for is evidence of what the client saw and when they agreed. Each completed document carries an audit trail, and on the Business plan a sealed PDF with an audit certificate and verification code. Check your regulator's own record-keeping rules, and keep any regulator-prescribed form in the format it requires.
Can joint clients both sign the same document?
Yes. Add both clients as signers. On the Business plan you can set a signing order, for example the first account holder, then the second, then your countersignature, and the audit trail records each one separately.
Can I send this year's fee disclosure to every client at once?
Not today. There is no bulk send, so each client's disclosure goes out as its own document. Paid plans have no document count, so a long client list does not cost more. The API can send documents and webhooks report every event if you want to connect your client system.
Our firm has several advisors. Do we get team seats?
There are no team seats today. Each paid plan has one sender, so a firm where several advisors send their own documents would need an account for each of them. A firm that sends everything from one practice account can work on a single plan.
Keep exploring
- Audit trailWhat an e-signature audit trail records: every view, signature and payment, with time, IP and device, plus a sealed PDF and a verification code.
- Signing workflowsSet up document signing workflows: parallel or sequential signing, approvers before signers, copies for people who only need to see it, expiry and reminders.
- Sign and payCollect a deposit or fee in the same step as the signature: card payments through Stripe, card and mobile money through Paystack, paid straight to your account.
- Business eSignaturesE-signatures for small businesses: collect a deposit with the contract, set signing order and approvers, and keep sealed PDFs with an audit certificate.
- AccountantsE-signatures for accounting and bookkeeping practices: engagement letters, onboarding forms, payment plans and staff contracts, signed with a clear record.
More industries and roles
- eSignature for freelancers: get the yes and the deposit in one messageE-signatures for freelancers and consultants: get the client's signature and deposit in one step, from their phone, for a flat price with no envelope count.
- eSignature for enterprises: an honest checklist, and where Salsox fitsWhat larger organisations need from e-signatures (SSO, admin controls, API, integrations, scale) and an honest account of which of those Salsox provides today.
- eSignature for HR: from offer letter to signed policy, with a record of eachE-signatures for HR teams and small employers: send offer letters, employment contracts and policy acknowledgements, track who signed, keep the record.
- eSignature for customer success: onboard, expand and renew with signed paperworkE-signatures for customer success teams: onboarding forms, SOWs for expansions, renewals, payment plans and work orders signed by customers on their phones.
Send your first document for signature
A free account sends 3 documents a month for signature. Signers need no account, and every step is recorded in an audit trail.