E-Signatures lets you collect a client signature on any PDF as part of a Client Task. Your client signs in the same task list they already use, the task completes itself when everyone has signed, and you can download the signed copy or copy it into the client's files. Standard signature requests are free and unlimited on every plan.
Check access and costs
E-Signatures is available on every Financial Cents plan. There is no limit on the number of standard signature requests you send.
Your firm can use 1 e-signature provider at a time: Financial Cents E-Signatures or the Adobe Sign integration. If any team member has Adobe Sign connected, even if the connection is expired, your Client Tasks use Adobe Sign. To switch to Financial Cents E-Signatures, remove Adobe Sign for every team member who connected it:
Go to Settings > Integrations and click the Adobe Sign card.
Click Remove next to each connection and confirm.
You'll see every team member's connection if you have the Manage Integrations permission. Otherwise, you see only your own, so ask the other team members to remove theirs.
Your account login needs the Send Signature Requests permission to send a request. Every default role has it. Without it, you can still prepare a draft for someone else to send.
Knowledge-based authentication (KBA) is an optional identity check. It has a fee, works only for US-based contacts, and needs an active paid Financial Cents account with available KBA credits. Each signatory who has KBA turned on uses 1 credit when you save the request for your client. See E-Signatures: FAQs for pricing.
Add a signature request to a Client Task
Open the client's project. A client must be assigned to the project before you can request a signature. If the project has no Client Tasks section yet, click Client Request, then Client task section.
Start the request in the Client Tasks section:
New Client Task: click Add client task..., then click Select next to Request an eSignature in the Client Task Wizard.
Existing Client Task: expand the task and click Request Signature.
In New E-signature Request, enter a Task Title. Your client sees it in their task list. If you started from an existing task, its description appears below the title for reference.
Under Signatory, click Add Signatory and choose each client contact who needs to sign, up to 10 per request. The list shows contacts who have an email address, and each signatory needs a different email address.
Turn on Enable KBA for each signatory who needs identity verification. KBA requires a first and last name on the contact.
Click Select PDF Document, or drag your PDF into the upload area. Each request takes 1 PDF up to 20 MB, and password-protected PDFs are not accepted. Combine files and convert Word documents to PDF before uploading.
Open More Options to adjust 2 settings. Financial Cents remembers your last choices for your next request.
Time Format on Signature: choose 12-hour or 24-hour. This sets how signing times appear, for example 2:30 PM or 14:30.
Certificate of Completion: choose Include to add a page with the document details and each signer's details, or Don't include. Include is the default.
Click Prepare Document. If you are not ready, click Save Draft instead. Reopen the draft later with Edit signature request on the task.
ℹ️Heads up! Signature requests do not have their own reminder settings. Reminders follow the Auto Reminders on the Client Task section, and you can also send a reminder yourself. See Track and manage the request below.
Place fields on the document
Select a person in the Signatory panel, then drag the fields they need onto the PDF. Each signatory has a color to help you keep their fields together.
The available fields are:
E-signature
Recipient Name
Date
Initials
Text
Checkbox
New fields are required by default. A Checkbox is never required, so it has no Required switch. Click a placed field to open Field Properties, where you can check Assigned To, add an optional Label, and change the Required switch.
Assign at least 1 field to every signatory, then save the request. The button name depends on whether you already sent the Client Task section to your client:
Save for Client: adds the request to the Client Task section. If you have not sent the section yet, nothing goes to your client until you send it, and the task shows Not Sent. If you already sent the section, the system emails your signatories the request right away.
Send request: appears instead when you already sent the section and a signatory is not on that task list yet. Financial Cents asks you to confirm Share the task list with the contact's name, because they get access to the whole task list. Click Confirm, and it emails them the request right away.
If you don't have the Send Signature Requests permission, you'll only see Save Draft.
Send the Client Task section
Add any other Client Tasks you need, then click Schedule or Send on the section and send or schedule it as usual. Your client receives 1 task list email, and the signature request is included. If the email doesn't reach a signatory, such as when you send only by text message, they get their own signing email separately.
In Send To, each signatory is locked in with a lock icon and a Signatory tag, because they need access to the task to sign. You can add other contacts who need to see the document without signing it.
What your client sees
Your client opens their task list and clicks Review & sign on the signature task. They cannot check this task off themselves. It is marked complete once every signatory has signed. If you enabled KBA for them, they verify their identity first by confirming their phone number, date of birth and home address, then answering identity questions.
Your client clicks each highlighted field. For a signature or initials field, they choose Type, Draw or Image (PNG or JPEG) and click Apply Signature. They click Next to move to the next required field, and Finish signing when every required field is complete.
If your client cannot sign, they can click Decline to Sign, enter an optional reason, then click Decline Request. Declining ends the request for every signatory, and the Client Task is marked complete.
A contact you added to the task list but not as a signatory sees "No action needed from you" and can open the document in View, but cannot sign it.
Track and manage the request
Expand the Client Task to see the signature card. It shows the document name, how many signatures are collected, and each signatory as Awaiting, Signed by or Declined by, with the date and time once they act. The task also carries a status badge: Draft, Not Sent, Awaiting Signature, Partially Signed, Completed, Voided, Expired or Declined by with the name.
Click View signature request to open the request details, which show the signatories, the last reminder and last opened times, and an activity history. You see each decline reason there too. If a client fails KBA, an alert icon appears next to their name. Hover over it and click Restart Verification to let them try again. See What happens if my client fails KBA? for how many attempts they get.
The team member who created the request gets an in-app and email notification when every signatory has signed. To change it, go to Settings > Notifications and look for A document you sent for signature is fully signed.
To nudge your client now, click the bell icon (Send a reminder) on the signature card. It is available once the Client Task section has been sent. In the request details, you can also click Resend next to a signatory, or open the menu and click Resend to Pending Signatories. You can email a signatory again 15 minutes after the last email. You need the Send Signature Requests permission for these actions.
Once the request is complete, you can:
Download the signed PDF with the download icon on the signature card (Download signed copy), or Download Signed PDF in the request details.
Click the folder icon (Copy to Client Files) to copy the signed PDF into a folder in the client's files, or the root folder.
To cancel an active request, click View signature request, open the menu in the top right, and click Void Request, then confirm.
Voiding closes the request so no one can sign it. Signers who already received the request are emailed that it was voided, the Client Task is marked complete, and the request stays visible as Voided for your records. KBA credits are not returned. You can edit a request only while it is a draft, so to change a saved request, void it and send a new one.
Deleting the Client Task also closes the request. An unsent draft is deleted, and an active request is voided.
Have questions about costs, KBA identity verification or Adobe Sign? See E-Signatures: FAQs.
Need more help? Click the chat bubble in the bottom right corner of your screen to contact our support team.