35+ Agreement Examples in Word

There will always be instances when you will need to make or sign an agreement. Making business deals, be it simple or complicated ones, will need some kind of protection for the rights of both parties involved. While business deals can be closed with just a handshake, handshake deals work just fine until they no longer don’t. You may also see service agreement examples.

• 9+ Business Agreement Letter Examples
• 19+ Agreement Templates and Examples

And since these business deals involve a certain amount of money, you will want to protect the money that has been invested, the dignity of both parties as well as everyone’s time and effort. It may seem like an agreement document is just an extra task to do especially if your the one making it, but the clauses it covers can be beneficial to both parties involved in the transaction.

There is no one thing certain in business; one day your business is booming, the next thing you know the business is falling apart; same goes with business partnerships. It may seem that the relationship you have with the other party involved in the deal is all good and strong, but with business, it is quite common for relationships to turn sour. You can never tell how the these relationships will continue especially when it comes to business. You may also like management agreement examples.

With this in mind, you have to make sure you have the terms and conditions you have agreed on in writing. In cases that you don’t have these terms and agreements in writing, enforcing rights and protecting interests will be harder than it could have.

Agreement Between Owner and Contractor Template

Agreement Between Two Parties for Money Template

Commercial Lease Agreement Template

Apartment Lease Agreement Template

Commission Agreement Template

Business Investment Agreement Example

Call Center Agreement Example

Formal Memorandum of Agreement Example

Vendor Agreement Example

Bookkeeping Agreement Example

What Is an Agreement?

Technically, most agreements entered into by business can be considered as business agreements. A commercial agreement is basically any contract that is formed between two or more parties. These agreements can cover almost every aspect in a business; it can be about the simplest and most complicated business transactions, it can be from trade to employment, hiring, partnership, confidentiality, and acquisition.

An agreement is set upon so that a business entering any sort of business transaction can be protected from any forms of offense and to help them enforce their rights as producers and consumers.

By definition, an agreement is “a negotiated and usually legally enforceable understanding between two or more legally competent parties. Although a binding contract can (and often does) result from an agreement, an agreement typically documents the give-and-take of a negotiated settlement and a contract specifies the minimum acceptable standard of performance.” Simply put, a simple agreement starts to exist when an individual or company offers something, be it a product or service, to another individual or company, and the party being offered accepts the offer with some equivalent consideration.

An agreement can either be an oral or written general statement regarding an exchange of products and/or services between one or more parties. Regardless of an agreement being orally arranged, it still stands true. However, the disadvantage of an oral agreement is that there are no possible ways of tracing what has transpired with the conversation that led to that agreement. Therefore, a written agreement holds more ground than that of an oral agreement.

A written agreement contains all the conditions laid by both parties to come to an end point. It contains all the necessary information and all the terms that were set by both parties.

An agreement is basically when two or more persons agree upon the same thing in the same sense, i.e., who provides what to whom, how much compensation is involved, and so on. The principle behind an agreement is simple, a party provides something for another party in exchange for something else; if the other party agrees with the conditions that have been set, they are basically already in general agreement.

The only difference is that with ordinary people’s agreement, there is no need for written agreements where both parties needs to affix their signature, while in business there is a need for a legally enforcing agreement since it can involve big amounts of money. You may also see letter of agreement examples.

Therefore, an agreement is the end point of the back-and-forth negotiation on how to lay out and how to enforce certain business transactions. An agreement does not necessarily need to be written; however, a written agreement is more recommended. It can help the business protect their interests and enforce their rights as individuals or of that of the company. You may also like simple agreement letter examples.

Information Sharing Agreement Template Example

Agreement to Sell Business Example

Joint Venture Agreement Example

Aircraft Rental Agreement Example

Office Lease Agreement Example

Independent Contractor Agreement Example

Difference between an Agreement and a Contract

Although an agreement and a contract has been loosely used to mean the same thing, there are unmistakable differences between the two. In order for you to know and understand what kind of document you need to make and sign when doing business deals, you need to be able to distinguished the differences between the two. Here are some of the differences between an agreement and a contract:

1. “All contracts are agreements, but not all agreements are contracts.” Simply put, an agreement is the basis for all simple contracts, while contracts cannot all be agreed upon, some are innately compulsory.
2. An agreement is a proposal accepted by the party whom it is made for with some requisite consideration; meanwhile, a contract is an agreement that is enforceable by the law.
3. An agreement is basically the statement of the offer and the acceptance stage of the business deal. On the other hand, a contract is the signed agreement and the enforcement phase of a business deal.
4. The agreement is defined under section 2(e), while a contract is defined in section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. You may also see what is a business agreement?
5. Agreements are not necessary to be in written form; oral agreements suffice in some cases. However, contracts are normally written and registered.
6. The parties involved in an agreement are nor necessarily bound to any legal obligations. However, in a contract, the parties involved are legally bound to perform their part.
7. The scope of an agreement are wider since it covers all the terms and requirements as well as the contract agreed upon  by both parties. Meanwhile, a contract has a narrower scope since it only covers the agreement has legal enforceability. You may also like sales agreement samples.

Limited Liability Company (LLC) Operating Agreement Example

Motor Vehicle User Agreement Example

Non-Executive Director Agreement Example

Residential Lease Agreement Example

Sales and Purchase Agreement Example

General Partnership Agreement Example

Consulting Agreement Example

Importance of an Agreement

You can never ensure that all parties involved in a business transaction executes their end of the agreement. Regardless of the nature of the business transaction and the resources involved, you need to make sure that your interests as a business owner is protected and that you can easily enforce rights. Listed below are the reasons why an agreement is necessary when doing business deals with other individuals or companies:

1. An agreement can help you define the bounds of the transaction as well as the nature of the transaction and relationship you will have with the other party throughout the entire duration of the business deal. You may also see subcontractor agreement examples.
2. It lays out the mode of payment in exchange for the products and/or services offered by the other party. Through this, the scope of the transaction can be clearly defined and observed.
3. The requisites and conditions regarded as necessary by both parties in order to implement the transaction is included on the agreement, therefore, a signed copy of the agreement can be used to enforce these requisites and conditions that obligates both parties to comply. You may also like purchase agreement examples.
4. With an agreement, you can make sure receive the compensation the other party is obligated to provide for your products and/or services; likewise, the other way around.
5. In case the other party does not comply with their end of the agreement, the written agreement can be used as proof or evidence or reference. This can help lessen legal disputes and court case. However, if it comes to that point, the signed copy of the agreement can be a strong evidence against the party who failed to comply to the enforced regulations. You may also check out agreement letter for payment examples.
6. An agreement helps set realistic and achievable expectations for both parties. Since both parties were present during the drafting of the agreement, they both had a say on what should be and shouldn’t be included on the agreement for their transaction. This will help make the enforcement of the content to be easier and more efficient. You might be interested in contractor agreement examples.
7. It also helps set the limitations for both parties. This can help the both parties on how to protect their rights. This can also be a basis for applying certain consequences should there be any unmet expectations or if there are agreement clauses disregarded by both parties. You may also see business agreement examples.
8. An agreement can promote long-lasting and healthy relationships and nature of business transactions. It helps all the parties involved to make sure they are secured with the transactions they are diving into while being able to successfully provide their share of responsibility to the other party. You may also like roommate agreement examples.

Service Level Agreement Example

Driver Agreement Example

Roommate Agreement Example

Non-Compete Agreement Template Example

Consignment Agreement Example

Real Estate Purchase Agreement Example

Contents of an Agreement

An effective agreement should contain all the necessary and relevant information for the business transaction. It should be clear and thorough to avoid confusion and misinterpretation for each parties involved in the transaction. You may also see marketing agreement templates and examples.

Although there can be various ways to make an agreement, the most important thing is that it can provide all the information needed to make sure both parties understand their responsibilities for the fulfillment of the business transactions. Here are some of the most common contents found in an agreement:

1. The date of the agreement creation
2. Duration or period by which the contract is considered as valid and effective
3. Legal definition of the terms present in the agreement
4. Basic information about the entities involved in the agreement
5. Specification of sub-contracting and other special arrangements, if applicable
6. Important key dates or check-in dates for the entire duration of the agreement
7. Definition key responsibilities, tasks, call to actions, and deliverable of each parties
8. Description of the values to be exchanged; may they be products, services, and/or other goods
9. Details regarding the payment both parties have agreement upon
10. Entire payment scheme; for example, mode of payment and date/s of payment schedules
11. Provisions regarding penalties and damages
12. Agreement renewal options, if applicable
13. Arrangement and regulations related to late payments and subjects that were not delivered on schedule
14. Process to follow for conflict assessment
15. Conditions for agreement termination and dispute resolution

You may also like how to utilize rental agreement templates as a landlord.

Sublease Agreement Example

One Way Non-Disclosure Agreement Example

Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement Example

Marketing and Sales Channel Agreement Example

Commission Agreement Example

Land Sale Agreement Example

Types of Agreements

Before you go on and sign an agreement, you need to know and understand what type of agreement you are getting yourself or your business into. There are various types of agreements out there that cover all the necessary and most common business transaction there is. Here are some of the various types of agreements as well as their definition to help you familiarize them:

1. Non-Disclosure Agreement

An NDA has got to be one of the most common type of agreement. Everyone has an idea or two what this agreement is all about. A non-disclosure agreement can be interpreted literally; both parties involved in the agreement agrees not to disclose the information covered by the agreement. It is also known as a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) or a Proprietary Information Agreement (PIA). You may also see how to write sponsorship agreements.

It is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential materials or information that they wish to share with each other but also wishes to restrict it to be used generally. It can either be a mutual NDA where both parties want to share confidential information with each other, or a one-way NDA where only one party is disclosing confidential information. You may also like hold harmless agreement examples.

2. Material Transfer Agreement

This agreement is a contractual document used for acquiring various biological and research materials, and occasionally data that have been developed by nonprofit, government, and private industry. These materials are often key components for a research project and only comes from a single source or industry. You may also see car rental agreement examples.

Industries want to assert ownership on inventions made with their materials since they view as proprietary resources, but restricts publications of failed results. However, universities want to permit full dissemination of research results, and make sure it does not conflict with other university policies. You may also like non-compete agreement examples.

The negotiations that can accommodate the differing views of both parties involved in the agreement, most of the time, between universities and industries, can be time-consuming.

3. Memorandum of Understanding

This agreement is between two or more parties planning to create a research or educational partnership. This agreement will help outline the nature of the relationship of both parties, the objective for the relationship, and each of the parties’ responsibilities. And since this is not a legally binding agreement, it should not address formal plans for compensation, confidentiality, or intellectual property and licensing rights.

A memorandum or understanding is sometimes referred to as “gentlemen’s agreements”; these agreements are mostly entered into between institutions of higher education, with individuals, or with local school districts, and can be a grant proposal submission or grant award requirement. And since it has no legal binding powers, failure for the planned activity has no penalty. You may also like

4. Partnership Agreement

This agreement is entered into by two or more individuals or organizations who wants to join together as partners to form and carry on a for-profit business.

It spells out the relationship between partners as well as their individual responsibilities, obligations, and contributions to the business. It clearly states the relationship between the parties involved most especially what are their contributions and how much their share of the profit is. It helps the parties involved protect their rights as individuals as well as help them carry out their outlined obligations. For more about this type of agreement, check out partnership agreement examples that we have available on our website.

5. Indemnity Agreement

This agreement states that one party has agreed to indemnify, or “hold harmless,” the other party for damages regarding a certain agreement. It is somewhat like a risk transfer mechanism in which one party is transferring risk to another party.

Meaning if a client has acquired some damages, the professional in charge of the client is indemnified with the help of this agreement. Most people view this agreement as unfair since the person or company in charge cannot be held responsible since they are protected by this agreement; it is also uninsurable under a professional liability policy. You may also see checklist – the franchise agreement.

6. Property and Equipment Lease

Simply put, this agreement spells out the terms and conditions of a lease for a building or piece of equipment. The document includes all the necessary information regarding the lease such as monthly payment, deposits, terms, maintenance agreements, and other related items. You may also see commercial lease agreement examples.

It not only helps protect the landlord of these properties, it also helps the other party to ask the landlord for other additional things so long as they have been indicated in the agreement. It also helps both parties go after the responsible party should there be any mishaps or difficulties in the property. You may also like how to create offer letters and employee agreement templates.

7. General employment contract

A general employment contract spells out the relationship between the employer and the employee. It includes all the relevant information regarding the position an individual has been hired for such as duration, compensation, benefits, grounds for termination, and any other issues that relate to the specific business such as ownership of work produced. It helps employers inform the employees of their responsibilities and in turn helps the employee understand the nature of the job, the basis for compensation. and other employment components.

8. Non-compete agreement

A non-compete agreement specifies a period of time in which an employee is prohibited from competing with the business once he or she leaves the company. The other party agrees that he/she is prohibited from starting a similar profession or trade in  direct or indirect competition against the company he/she has come from. This helps the company make sure that the rights to the products and/or services they have offered are not copied or duplicated by the employee once he/she resigns.

9. Independent Contractor Agreement

This agreement is between two parties for a specific service or project. Basically, one party is hiring another to help out in completing a short-term task. This agreement clearly explains why the party being hired to a specific task is not an employee in order to comply to legal and tax purposes. This is important because the federal government has set a strict criteria to help determine whether a business relationship is employer/employee or independent contractor. You may also see sample letter of agreement examples.

Loan Agreement Example

Talent Release Agreement Example

Property Management Service Agreement Example

Website Development Agreement Example

Annual Salary Agreement Example

Training Agreement Example

Conclusion

A general agreement can come in different forms and types; regardless of that, an agreement is still an important document once you participate in a business transaction. It can help protect your best interests as an individual or company and help protect your rights. Although they are not strictly enforceable by law, there are circumstances where they can be.

Therefore, you should make an agreement when you make business deals to help you enforce your right as a provider and consumer. We hope this guide has helped you understand what an agreement is and we hope that you find the given examples useful. You may also see how to write a separation agreement.