Security questions to ask any e-signing provider.

Before you send contracts, employment agreements or client documents through any e-signing service, it is worth asking a few pointed questions. This checklist covers what to ask, why each question matters, and how SignAndGo answers it. Use it to compare any providers on your shortlist on the same terms.

Who can get into your account?

Ask whether the service offers two-step sign-in, and whether an administrator can control who in the team does what. A shared login with no roles is a risk the moment someone leaves.

SignAndGo offers optional two-step sign-in on every account, and team workspaces with admins who set roles for each person.

What does the record of signing show?

An audit trail is only useful if it records enough. Ask what is captured for each view and each signature, and whether it stays attached to the document.

Each SignAndGo envelope keeps an audit trail of every view and signature, with names, email addresses, times and IP addresses, and each completed envelope comes with a completion certificate.

• Is every view logged, or only the final signature?
• Are names, email addresses, times and IP addresses recorded?
• Is there a completion certificate for each envelope?

Can someone check a document later?

Months after signing, a counterparty may want to confirm a copy is the one that was signed. Ask whether the provider gives each signed document a reference that can be checked independently. SignAndGo puts a verification ID on every signed document, and anyone can check it online.

Where are documents kept, and who else touches them?

Ask each provider to say plainly where documents are kept, which other services handle them, and whether AI features send text anywhere. Get the answer in writing rather than relying on a sales call.

Our data storage page says where SignAndGo keeps documents, our FAQ explains how AI features are used, and our services we use page lists the other services involved.

What do signers need, and what can they do?

If signers have to open a login of their own before signing, some will reuse a weak password or give up. Ask whether signers can work without one, and whether they can decline and explain why. With SignAndGo, signers open a secure link on any device without an account, and can decline with a reason.

How does it connect to your other systems?

Every connection is another way in. Ask what each integration can do, and whether you control it. SignAndGo offers an API and webhooks, and lets you connect your AI assistant to check envelopes and send documents when you choose to.

What happens when something goes wrong?

Most providers look alike when an envelope runs smoothly. The differences show up at the edges, so ask about those directly.

• If a signer declines, does the envelope stop, and do you see their reason? In SignAndGo it stops, nobody after them is asked to sign, and the reason shows on the envelope.
• If a document must change after sending, how is that handled? With SignAndGo you correct it and send a fresh envelope, so each signed copy matches what each person saw.
• Can you see who has opened a document and who has not, without asking the signer? SignAndGo's envelope status shows both.
• Can a colleague pick up an envelope when the sender is away? In a SignAndGo workspace, envelopes sit with the team rather than one person's inbox.

A worked example: running this checklist at a Columbus accounting practice

Here is how a six-person accounting practice in Columbus, Ohio (an illustration) might use this page. The practice manager wants to move engagement letters and client authority forms off paper. She turns the questions above into a one-page table, sends it to each provider on the shortlist, and asks for written answers by a set date.

Then she tests the two that answer best. She sends a short document to herself and a colleague, opens it on her phone, declines it once with a reason, and signs it once. She reads the audit trail and completion certificate that come back, and checks that the verification ID can be looked up online without an account.

Before the first client envelope goes out, every staff member switches on two-step sign-in, an admin sets each person's role, and the practice saves its engagement letter as a shared template so nobody places fields differently.