What is the signing authority request form template?
Many companies keep a delegation of authority: who can sign which contracts and approve how much. Requests to change it often arrive as a quick message to finance with no limits stated. This form asks for the authority, the limits, the reason and how long it's needed, and ends with a signed undertaking.
Logic covers the details. Asking to sign contracts lists contract types. Becoming a bank signatory asks which accounts. Signing alone below a set amount asks where joint signing starts. Fixed-period or cover requests ask for an end date, and cover asks whose authority is being covered. A personal interest in suppliers or customers asks for a description.
Each request is saved as a PDF in FileIt, giving finance a signed record behind every change to the authority list.
- Best for
- Finance teams, company secretaries and legal teams managing a delegation of authority
- Filled in by
- Employees and managers who need signing or approval rights
- Time to complete
- About 8 minutes
- Includes
- Requester, entity, manager, authority types, contract types, bank accounts, per-transaction and total limits, cost centres, sole or joint signing, reason, duration, training, conflicts, undertaking, signature
Who uses a signing authority request form?
- A new head of department who needs to approve purchase orders
- A sales director asking to sign customer contracts up to a set value
- Cover for a finance director's leave
- Adding a bank signatory for a new subsidiary
- A project lead approving supplier invoices for one budget
Questions on this signing authority request form
27 questions over 4 pages · includes signature, conditional questions, multiple pages, consent checkbox.
1 About you
- Your name*
- Job title*
- Department*
- Work email*
- Employee ID
- Company or legal entity*
- Line manager*
2 Authority requested
- What authority do you need?* Sign contracts · Approve purchase orders · Approve invoices for payment · Approve expenses · Approve hires and pay changes · Bank account signatory · Sign regulatory or tax filings
- Which contract types?* asked only when it applies Non-disclosure agreements · Customer contracts · Supplier and purchase contracts · Software and SaaS licences · Leases · Employment contracts · Partnership or reseller agreements
- Which bank accounts?* asked only when it applies
- Limit per transaction or contract*
- Annual or total limit
- Budgets or cost centres covered
- Sign alone or with someone else?* Alone, up to my limit · Always with a second authorised signatory · Alone below a set amount, jointly above it
- Second signatory needed above* asked only when it applies
3 Reason & duration
- Why do you need this authority?*
- Who handles these approvals today?
- For how long?* Permanently while in this role · A fixed period · Cover for someone's absence
- Start date*
- End date* asked only when it applies
- Whose authority are you covering?* asked only when it applies
- Have you completed the company's approvals or signing training?*
- Any personal interest in suppliers or customers you'd be approving?*
- Describe the interest* asked only when it applies
4 Confirmation
- Has your manager agreed to this request?*
- Undertaking*
- Signature*
The signing authority request form, page by page
1 About you
Name, job title, department, work email, employee ID, the company or legal entity, and line manager.
2 Authority requested
"What authority do you need?" covers signing contracts, purchase orders, invoices, expenses, hires and pay, bank signing and regulatory or tax filings. Contracts ask "Which contract types?" and bank signing asks which accounts. The requester gives the limit per transaction and an annual or total limit, the budgets covered, and "Sign alone or with someone else?", with the amount above which a second signatory is needed if it varies.
3 Reason & duration
"Why do you need this authority?" and "Who handles these approvals today?". "For how long?" is permanent, a fixed period or cover for someone's absence, with start and end dates. Training and personal interests in suppliers or customers are each a yes or no, and a personal interest asks for a description.
4 Confirmation
"Has your manager agreed to this request?", a note that authority starts only when confirmed in writing, a signed undertaking to act within the limits, and a signature.
Make the template yours
- Match the authority types and contract types to your own delegation of authority policy
- Add your legal entities as a dropdown if you run several
- Notify the company secretary or legal team as well as finance
- Link your policy in the cover text
- Add a question for the bank mandate form if your bank needs one
Tips for a better signing authority request form
- Check the requested limit against the person's budget responsibility
- Set a review date for fixed-period and cover requests so authority doesn't outlive the need
- Update the authority list and the bank mandate together
- Read the conflicts answer before granting supplier-facing authority
- Export requests to CSV each year for your audit trail
Every response becomes a PDF in your vault
Each signed request is saved as a PDF in the folder you choose and finance is emailed. The requester gets a copy if you leave that on.
Use the Responses table as a history of who asked for which authority and why. The CSV export gives auditors a list of requests and limits.
- Start from this template. It opens in the FileIt Forms designer — change any question, add pages, set the rules for when questions appear.
- Share it. Turn on a public link, or send it to people by email, each with their own link. They don’t need a FileIt account.
- Get the answers as PDFs. Each response is saved as a PDF in the vault folder you choose, with uploaded files attached — and listed in a Responses table you can export to CSV.
Signing authority request form: frequently asked questions
Is this signing authority template free?
Yes. It's one of the starter templates in the Forms app, included on every FileIt account, and you can edit any question.
Does submitting the form grant the authority?
No. Finance and the authorising director review it. The form says authority only starts when it's confirmed in writing.
Can we use it for bank signatories?
Yes. Ticking bank account signatory asks which accounts. Your bank will probably have its own mandate form as well.
Does it collect approvals from the director?
The form is completed and signed by the requester. Approvers review the PDF and record the decision in your usual way.
Can staff fill it in without a FileIt account?
Yes. They open your link, answer the questions and submit. No account is needed.