Scope and deliverables should be explicit
The agreement should name each recurring deliverable, the date it will be provided, and the assumptions on which the fee depends, including transaction volumes and headcount. Deliverables described only by category, such as 'accounting services', leave the practical question of who does what unanswered.
Fees, review and out-of-scope work
Look for the mechanism by which the fee changes: indexation, volume thresholds, an annual review, or a new quotation. Look also for the hourly or daily rates that apply to work outside the agreed scope, because that is where cost variance appears.
Responsibility and liability
Check who is accountable for meeting statutory deadlines, what the provider's liability is limited to, whether professional indemnity insurance is maintained, and how the client must supply information and by when. An obligation to file on time is meaningless if the agreement makes the client responsible for delivering the underlying records later than is workable.
Data, confidentiality and retention
The agreement should state where records are held, who can access them, how long they are retained, what happens on termination and what the client receives at the end. Where data is processed in a third country, the agreement should say so.
Termination and transition
Notice periods, termination fees and the handover process are the clauses most often reviewed only when it is too late. Read them before signing, and ask the provider to explain in ordinary language what would happen if either party wanted to end the relationship.
Applying this
A well-drafted agreement does not make a provider better; it makes the provider's obligations testable. That is what a comparison guide can prepare you to check, and it is what the provider's own terms will ultimately decide.