Acceptance is one of the most important terms in any Consulting Services Project.

• Most payment obligations are triggered by acceptance, so if it’s not accepted, it’s not invoiced and the Customer does not pay for the Service;
• The Customer’s warranty rights start on the date of acceptance;
• The Consultant is allowed to recognize revenue upon acceptance;
• The Consultant generally does not reassign project personnel until acceptance

So Acceptance is a tremendously important event in the world of Consulting Service Project delivery whether you are the Customer or the Consultant. From the Consultant perspective if acceptance is unfairly delayed they are often forced to try to continue to deliver Services beyond those that they expected to induce the Customer to accept. One of the key issues with any acceptance clause is to place a duty on the Customer to faithfully proceed with the acceptance process upon competition. If this is not properly addressed in the Agreement or SOW it can be very challenging.