Terms of Engagement

Terms of Engagement

Accountants who provide professional services are bound by a professional obligation under the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards 305 (APES305) to document and communicate the basis of any engagements with their clients.

Best practice as part of our APES305 obligations recommends we regularly take the opportunity to:

  1. Communicate the basis of our engagement and
  2. Ensure the basis of our engagements are understood.

In addition, the Tax Practitioner Board, along with its Code of Conduct encourages this same approach.

Scope of the Engagement

We will provide you with professional accounting services in compliance with APES Standard 110 Code of Ethics.

The scope of this engagement is set out under agreed services.  In the event you require additional services outside the scope of this Agreement, we will raise these with you and agree on the scope. This will be our responsibility and we will address this before we undertake any significant part of the work.

Unless otherwise specified in this communication of engagement, audit and assurance or review are not included in this engagement.

 Our Agreement

This is to affirm the basis of our engagement with you which are to ordinarily provide the services listed in Schedule 1 (unless we are specifically otherwise engaged) on the terms and conditions in this communication.

The terms upon which we work together may be accepted by you:

  1. by signing and returning the attached copy of this engagement communication to us.
  2. orally
  3. in writing, by advising us of your acceptance; or
  4. by conduct, if you instruct us to provide the Services, either in writing or orally, after the date of this engagement communication.

If you accept this offer, the terms and conditions of this engagement communication and its Schedule 1 will apply to the performance of the Services and each future matter in which you instruct us to act, unless we enter into another agreement with you.

Where we provide additional services throughout the year these services will be covered under the terms of this engagement communication.

Our Services

  1. O’Brien Accountants & Advisors will provide the Services with reasonable skill and care and to an appropriate professional standard in accordance with this Agreement.
  2. We will not commence preparation of your work until such time as we have received all information necessary to enable completion. Upon receipt of all information, we will complete the assignment within 4-5 weeks provided that we receive co-operation and commitment from you. Should we look like exceeding this time frame we will notify you and agree on an amended date.
  3. In order to manage workflows necessary to meet our service commitments under our engagement, and to satisfy price points, our office may engage third-party service providers (who operate either locally or offshore) on your behalf as and when required. In the event this occurs, our office is satisfied those third parties meet all Australian Privacy Law obligations as set out under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) standards.
  4. In preparing your Financial Statements and Tax Returns O’Brien Accountants & Advisors will be limited to the collection, classification and summarisation of financial information. Therefore, we will not be expressing an opinion as to the truth and fairness of the Financial Statements.
  5. We will perform procedures (guided by the APES suite of standards) required that are directly related to the engagement consistent with our fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, professional behaviour, and identifying, avoiding and dealing with conflicts of interests.

Your Responsibilities

The success of the Services is dependent on your timely co-operation, including;

  1. You agreeing to use reasonable skill, care and attention to ensure that all information we may reasonably require is provided on a timely basis and is accurate and complete. You agree to also notify us if you subsequently learn that the information provided is incorrect or inaccurate or otherwise should not be relied upon.
  2. You being responsible for completing your own bookkeeping requirements. The completeness and accuracy of the information you supply will affect the relevance and reliability of the Financial Statements and other reports we prepare.
  3. Your full disclosure of all relevant information.
  4. You providing us with documents requested in relation to your financial affairs.  This may include – bank and loan statements, finance agreements, copies of invoices, stock reports.
  5. The reliability, accuracy and completeness of the particulars and information provided to us by you.
  6. You retaining paperwork for as long as legally required.
  7. You are responsible for ensuring that your business activities are conducted in accordance with laws and regulations that are applicable to you in your state and within Australia
  8. Providing the materials and information we request within 10 days of the request.
  9. You retaining copies of all financial records for a period of 5 years.
  10. That you obtain and retain sufficient records to substantiate claims made for income tax deductions.
  11. Our time and fee estimates are given on the basis that we receive timely co-operation and assistance from you and employees in your organisation. If you do not provide, or delay in providing, that cooperation, we will issue an interim account for work completed to date and that you agree to pay the fee.

Fees and Additional Services

  1. Either party may request changes to the services to be provided under the scope. We will work with you to consider and, if appropriate, to vary any aspect of the engagement, subject to payment of reasonable additional fees and a reasonable additional period to provide additional services.
  2. Our fees, which will be billed as work progresses, are based on the time spent and level of expertise of our personnel assigned to the engagement plus direct out-of-pocket expenses. Individual hourly rates vary according to the degree of responsibility involved and the level of experience and skill required.
  3. We reserve the right to progressively invoice our work under an interim invoice should the work be delayed for any reason including additional costs being incurred due to unnecessary delay as a result of circumstances beyond our control. This could include a delay by you or another 3rd party in providing information.
  4. Our professional fees and disbursements are inclusive of GST. Our tax invoice will include details of GST charged.
  5. Our standard terms of payment are 14 days from date of invoice. If payment of any invoices is not received within 30 days we may suspend the provision of the services until all sums due are paid in full.
  6. You agree to guarantee the payment of fees and expenses owing for work performed including any costs incurred to recover any outstanding liability or otherwise. This guarantee is enforceable without any need for us to first seek payment from any other individual or entity.

Privacy

Our collection use and disclosure of your personal information may be subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and accordingly we will only collect personal information about you that relates to our engagement.

We may disclose personal information about you with your implied consent for the primary purpose of this engagement or to third parties by express consent or as required by law.

We may collect personal information about you, your representatives, your clients and others when we provide services to you.  If we do, you agree to work with us to ensure that we both meet our respective obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).  Your obligations may include ensuring your privacy policy and contracts include a reference to your collection practices, how you will use the personal information and that you may disclose the personal information to an agent for public accounting services.

Where an outsourced service requires the disclosure of personal information to an overseas recipient, we will take reasonable steps to ensure, by contract or otherwise, the recipient complies with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Your personal information may be disclosed to CPA Australia Ltd and its service providers (if requested) for the purpose of conducting a CPA Australia Best Practice Program assessment on the services provided, which is aimed at maintaining high industry professional standards. CPA Australia Ltd will handle your personal information in accordance with the CPA Australia Privacy Policy.

Professional Standards

We have a professional obligation to act lawfully and in our client’s best interests. We are required to comply with taxation laws in the conduct of your personal affairs. Under our professional standards we are required to terminate an appointment if we are requested to act unlawfully.

The attached Tax Practitioners Board factsheet which can also be found on our website and the Tax Practitioners Board website includes details of:

  1. Your obligations to the Australian Tax Office
  2. Our obligations as Tax Practitioners to:
    1. You
    2. The Tax Practitioners Board
    3. The Australian Tax Office

Conflicts

Should it transpire that any conflict or potential conflict arises during the course of our engagement, then we will communicate this to you immediately and determine the scope of our continued involvement in the engagement.

Confidentiality

We will preserve the confidential nature of the information received from you in accordance with the firm’s established policies and practices. Any disclosure to a third party will require your consent.

We, along with other major accounting firms, are subject to the Quality Control Review Program conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. Our files may be made available under this program with your prior written consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld.

See here for the Tax Practitioners Board Information For Clients Document