Terms of engagement.

Unless otherwise agreed with you or required by law, our fees will be charged at hourly rates according to the time spent by our employees and consultants working on the matter. How we calculate our fees may be subject to change. Unless stated otherwise, our fees, expenses and charges exclude GST.

You agree that you will provide us with complete, clear, accurate, meaningful and timely instructions, and all information and documents requested by us, or necessary for us to undertake and complete the work you have engaged us to perform. You also agree that you will arrange for reasonable access to relevant individuals and documents. You acknowledge and agree that you will be responsible for the completeness, accuracy and clarity of the information supplied to us.

Personal information collected by us in the course of our dealings with you will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. The purpose of collecting your personal information is to carry out the Services and for related purposes such as staff training and education, updating and enhancing our client records, analysis for management purposes and statutory returns, legal and regulatory compliance and crime prevention. We will use and disclose personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy. The information you provide to us will be kept strictly confidential. Access to the information by our employees and contractors will be limited to the level of access required for them to complete the Services.

Our files may be subject to review as part of the quality control review program of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand and CPA Australia, which monitors its members’ compliance with professional standards. By accepting our engagement you acknowledge that, if requested, our files relating to this engagement will be made available under this program. Should this occur, we will advise you. Very occasionally, we may also be required to disclose confidential information by law, regulatory bodies, insurers or otherwise in accordance with APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.

Where you share personal information regarding a third party (including your directors and employees) with us, you confirm that you have complied with your obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (including, if you are not bound by that Act, as if you were so bound), including that the personal information was lawfully collected, that you are entitled to disclose the personal information to us, and that we may use and disclose the personal information in the manner detailed above.

To deliver our Services we utilise the following external services:

• Microsoft Office 365 Outlook to manage our email communications.
• Microsoft Office 365 SharePoint, Dropbox, or OneDrive to store workpapers and client information.
• Xero Practice Manager to prepare and lodge information to the ATO.
• Xero Practice Manager for client billings and information storage.
• QuickBooks for client bookkeeping, information storage, and STP reporting.
• Xero for client bookkeeping, information storage, and STP reporting.
• MYOB for client bookkeeping, information storage, and STP reporting.
• BGL for company secretarial matters and information storage.
• BGL for superfund accounting and administration.
• Acuity for our online booking system, which stores client contact details.
• Odyssey Resources, accounting consulting services.
• DiEn, professional recruitment agency.
• Accountant Choice, for the external audit of SMSFs.
• Super Audits Pty Ltd, for the external audit of SMSFs.
• Australian Taxation Office Portal and Business Register.
• ASIC for company and trading name administration.
• Thomson Reuters for legal and registration services.
• Patricia Holdings for legal and registration services.
• Office of State Revenue for payroll tax reporting.
• iCare for workers compensation management.
• Long Service Corporation for Long Service Leave administration.
• SBSCH, KeyPay, Beam, Precision Clearing House, Click Super and Xero Super for clearing house services.
• RightSignature, ShareFile, and Adobe Fill & Sign for electronic signatures.
• TST Advisory Wealth, authorised representatives of Meritum Financial Group Pty Ltd AFSL 245569, of 105–153 Miller Street, North Sydney NSW 2060.
• BurstSMS to manage bulk client contact, which stores client contact details.
• Amazon Web Services to perform the Services.

We provide the parties listed above with access to your data to the extent that this is required to perform the Services. This requires information being sent overseas in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

We will provide our Services with reasonable care and skill. Our liability to you is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses directly caused by our negligence or wilful default. Our liability may also be limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. Further information on schemes is available from the Professional Standards Councils’ website: psc.gov.au.

All original documents that we obtain from you to perform the Services under this engagement remain your property. However, you agree that we may make a reasonable number of copies of the original documents for our records and to provide the Services to you. We retain all copyright in any document prepared by us during the course of carrying out the engagement for you, except where the law specifically states otherwise. To the extent permitted by law or professional standards, we reserve the right to exercise a lien over all documents and records in our possession relating to all engagements for you until all outstanding fees and disbursements are paid to us in full.

We have a complaints process in place and will use our best endeavours to resolve a complaint or dispute to the mutual satisfaction of the parties involved. We may ask that you provide your complaint in writing to allow us to fully investigate the issues you raise. Either party to a dispute can request the complaint or dispute is managed through an external dispute resolution or mediation service. We and you agree that external dispute resolution will be undertaken before any legal claim is formally commenced. This does not override the rights of either party to seek legal action to enforce contractual rights under this engagement agreement.

Our business has a referral relationship with the following businesses:

• Duo Tax Quantity Surveyors
• WealthSpot Financial Advisors
• Financial Connect
• Zero Mortgage
• Sydney Tax Practice
• Aus Home Loan Group
• Outsource Financial
• Thrive Insurance

As part of our referral relationships, referral fees may be paid or received. To perform engaged Services, we may provide the parties listed above with access to your information to the extent that this is required to perform the Services.