Authorisation letter template for Word (free download)
Authorisation letter template for Word (free download)
An authorisation letter is the document with which a company gives a person written permission to do something on its behalf: collect goods, enter a site, carry out an administrative procedure, or receive and hand over items. In the daily operation of a warehouse, a store or an office, this letter settles situations that come up every week and that, without a signed sheet of paper, end up depending on the memory of whoever is standing at the gate or on a message nobody can reconstruct afterwards.
The template you can download on this page is written in Word, fits on a single page and already includes the blocks an authorisation letter needs: the letterhead, the city and date, the generic addressee line, the subject, the paragraphs covering the authorisation, the validity period and the scope, the table with the authorised person details, the closing and the signature. You only replace your company and authorised person details, adjust the subject to the specific case and sign. All the text is editable and the file has no passwords or protection.
It is meant for warehouse supervisors, purchasing coordinators, small business owners, administrative assistants and internal control officers who need to put in writing who is authorised to do what, from when and until when, without drafting the document from scratch every time the situation arises.
⬇ Download authorisation letter (.docx)
What an authorisation letter is
It is a short, formal, signed communication in which a person with the authority to do so — the legal representative, the manager, the area supervisor or the warehouse officer — states that another person is authorised to act on a specific matter for a set period of time. It is not an open letter and not a general power of attorney: it is a bounded authorisation, tied to one matter, one validity period and one person identified by name and identity document.
Its value is organisational and evidential at the same time. Organisational, because it forces the company to write down who authorised whom and for what, instead of settling it with a phone call nobody can reconstruct later. Evidential, because when the gate officer, the driver, the supplier or the officer handling the procedure asks under what authority that person is acting, the answer is a sheet of paper with a signature, a name and a document number.
It is worth signing it on the same day the task takes place and filing it together with the supporting documents of the movement it authorises: the goods leaving, the access to the site, the procedure before a third party or the handover of an item. That copy is what lets you rebuild the story months later, when nobody remembers any more why that box left the warehouse or why that visitor came in with no record at all.
What an authorisation letter is used for
- Collecting goods: when the customer cannot come in person and sends an employee, a relative or a courier to pick the order up at the warehouse.
- Access to facilities: when a visitor, an external technician, a driver or a contractor needs to enter the plant or the depot and must be recorded together with the authorisation that allowed it.
- Procedures before third parties: when someone has to file or claim documents on behalf of the company and the organisation asks for written proof of the authorisation.
- Handing over and receiving items: when a tool, a piece of equipment, workwear or a document is given to someone other than the usual holder.
- Covering an absence: when the area supervisor is travelling or on leave and delegates one specific task to another person for a few days.
- Backing up internal control: when audit, a customer or a supplier asks why that person was able to make that movement, the answer is already documented and filed.
What the template includes
The file brings, from top to bottom, the blocks listed in the table. They are the same blocks a real authorisation letter uses: there are no filler sections, and none of them is mandatory if the case does not need it, except the name of the person authorising, the name of the person authorised and the validity period.
| Block of the letter | What is written there |
|---|---|
| Letterhead | Three lines with the company name, its activity or address, and the contact details. This is the first block to replace when you open the file. |
| City and date | The city where the letter is signed and the full date of the signing day. |
| To whom it may concern | The generic addressee of the letter, because an authorisation is addressed to whoever will ask for it: the gate officer, the driver, the supplier, the organisation or the officer handling the procedure. |
| Subject | A single line summing up the case: collection of goods, access to the site or an administrative procedure. |
| Authorisation paragraph | Who authorises, with full name and position, and who is authorised, with full name and identity document number. |
| Validity and scope paragraph | From which date to which date the authorisation applies, and what the authorised person may and may not do. |
| Paragraph on presenting the document | The instruction to show the letter together with the identity document and to request any change in writing. |
| Table of the authorised person | Name, identity document and signature of the authorised person. |
| Closing and signature | The courteous closing and the signature block with the name, position and contact details of the person who authorises. |
| Copy line | The copy line for the area that must be informed: the gate, the warehouse, accounting or the case file. |
| Final note | The note stating that the letter does not replace the internal dispatch or access controls. |
The table with the authorised person details is deliberately short: name, identity document and signature. It is included because at the gate what gets compared is the identity document against a written name, and because a signature on the letter makes it possible to confirm later that the person received the document and accepted the conditions of the scope.
How to use the template step by step
- Download the file and open it in Word. Check that the font and the margins look right on your computer before typing anything.
- Replace the letterhead. The first three lines hold the company name, its activity or address, and the contact details. Type your own business details, not the sample ones.
- Type the city and the date of the day the letter is signed. If the letter will be used over several days, the signing date does not change even if the collection happens later.
- Set the subject in a single line. The file suggests three cases: collection of goods, access to the site or an administrative procedure. Keep the one that applies and delete the other two.
- Write the authorisation paragraph with the full name and position of the person authorising, and with the full name and identity document number of the person authorised. If the signer is acting under delegated authority, state who gave that authority.
- Define the validity and the scope. Enter the date from which it applies and the date until which it applies, and write in one sentence what the authorised person may and may not do. The more specific the scope, the fewer arguments there will be at the gate.
- Fill in the table of the authorised person with name, identity document and signature. Ask the person to sign at the moment the letter is handed over, not afterwards.
- Give it an internal reference number and keep a copy. Write a file number in the office record, keep a copy in the area folder and hand the original to whoever will present it.
What to check before signing and sending
- That the name and the identity document of the authorised person are complete and correctly written: one wrong digit is enough for the letter to be refused.
- That the validity period is closed, with a start date and an end date. A letter with no end date gets used for months and loses its whole point.
- That the scope states clearly what is allowed and what is not: receiving but not signing, collecting one item and not the whole account, entering the warehouse but not the plant.
- That the subject matches the content. If the subject says collection of goods, the body must not talk about an administrative procedure.
- That the person signing has the authority to approve that movement. If not, the letter becomes a sheet of paper with no backing the day someone reviews it.
- That a copy is given to the gate, the warehouse or the area that will ask for it, and that the original stays signed and filed. A last-minute change should always be made in writing.
When it is worth moving to a system
The authorisation letter works well when there are few movements and few people. As volume grows, paper starts to fail for predictable reasons: nobody finds the copy when it is needed, an expired validity period is still accepted at the gate, and the collection is recorded on the letter but not in the inventory, so the stock does not reconcile at the end of the month. At that point the letter is still useful, but it is worth backing it with a record that can be checked in seconds. A system such as Kardex Tauro lets you keep the movement in the history of the item, with date, responsible person and reason, and look it up later without hunting through folders. The letter stops being the only evidence and becomes the document that accompanies a movement already recorded; Kardex Tauro does not replace the signed letter or the decision about who may authorise, it only keeps an orderly trace of what was already authorised.
This template is a general guide for internal use: review it with your adviser and adapt it to your company operation before using it. The letter does not replace the internal dispatch or access controls you already have in place, and it does not remove the need to verify the identity of the person presenting it.
