By Danielle Smyth Updated February 12, 2021
It is quite common for a supervisor, manager or boss to ask third parties to draft, compose and sign letters for them. Writing a letter on behalf of your boss could feel awkward at first, but many employees do it as often as several times a day. Doing this with emails is also part of business as usual. There are some standard guidelines to follow when writing and signing your boss’s correspondence, and they are not hard to follow.
What is a P.P. Designation?
According to The Law Dictionary, staff members sometimes have to sign letters for managers and others when those people are too busy or not available to sign for themselves. The staff member must be authorized to sign before doing so. Forging a signature is illegal, and can lead to trouble.
The word “procuration” is the formal term for signing something on another person’s behalf. It is derived from a Latin word, procurare, which means “to take care of.” So when signing for someone else, the signature should be preceded by “p.p.” which stands for per procurationem. This can be used in letters or emails, with written or digital signatures.
Here are two versions that show a signing an email on behalf of someone else example with a p.p. designation:
Ms. Alice Jones, Chief Executive Officer
p.p. Staff member signature
-or-
p.p. Staff member signature
Ms. Alice Jones, Chief Executive Officer
It is always best to check with the supervisor first, to ask them what their preference is.
Power of Attorney
Employees may also use power of attorney (POA) to sign for someone else. Legal Zoom explains that a POA is a document that allows one person to execute signatures for someone else; it also lets a person appoint someone else to manage their financial, medical and property affairs. With a POA in place, an assistant would sign their boss’s name first, followed by their own.
The word “by” also needs to be written next to or under the boss’s name. Then, the assistant has to write “power of attorney” or “POA.” There are several types of POAs, including durable POA, health care POA and so on.
To make a POA legally binding, there must be a power of attorney document obtained, signed and notarized. Additional copies must also be certified. Power of attorneys are useful for many situations, but are not usually required for simple business matters.
Writing Letter on Behalf of Someone Else Example
Try speaking with your boss first to learn the purpose of the correspondence; take a few notes during the discussion. When writing a business letter, it is best to use letterhead as it adds credibility. If this is not available, the boss’s name, title, company and address should be at the top, under the date. You can begin with “Dear,” followed by the addressee’s name, title and a comma, explains a writer from CalPolyPomona.
Start out by explaining that you are writing the letter on behalf of the boss if this is appropriate (such as a letter to a court). Otherwise, this is not necessary. The block-format is used for business letters, which is flush left with extra lines in between the paragraphs.
The tone should be formal, and the language concise and easy to understand. A strong conclusion will close the letter effectively, and you can use “Sincerely,” “Regards” or another standard closing. Always proofread your letters for spelling and grammar before sending them. The team at Purdue University explains that you can use your initials at the end of the letter to illustrate that you are the typist.
