Ask the Attorney:  I sold an alarm system to a local business. The business owner wasn’t available to sign the contract, but she told me to have the assistant manager sign the contract instead. Is that OK?

The agreement is enforceable if the person who signed it had apparent authority to sign.  If the company told you (or the circumstances reasonably led you to believe) that whoever signed had authority to do so, the customer cannot later claim the contract is unenforceable because the “appropriate” person didn’t sign it. If you can, document the situation—save the emails or write a memo explaining who signed and why and keep it in your customer’s file.