According to USPAP, the party or parties who engage an appraiser in a specific assignment defines the:

• A. Client
• B. User
• C. Lender
• D. Regulator

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that the client is whoever hires the appraiser for that particular assignment. The client pays for the work, defines the problem to be solved, sets the scope of the assignment, and controls the intended use of the appraisal. The appraiser owes duties to that client in carrying out the assignment and in reporting the results, and the report should clearly identify who the client is.

The user, on the other hand, is anyone who will rely on the appraisal’s conclusions, but who did not necessarily hire the appraiser or define the assignment. A lender can be the client if they directly engaged the appraiser; otherwise, they may simply be a user of the report. Regulators aren’t the client by default; they oversee practice unless they are the party that actually hires the appraiser for the assignment.