These are the Terms of Engagement (“Terms”) between

XO Accounting Pty Ltd ABN 62 164 715 10, Lasseter In Focus P/L ATF Lasseter in Focus Trust ABN 72 866 175 080 (“We”)

and

Our Clients (“You”).

This Agreement is constituted by these Terms and any other later document that we advise you becomes part of or varies this Agreement. These Terms confirm our understanding of the nature and the limitations of the services we will provide.

 

 

 

Scope of our Services

We will provide the services listed in the attached Fee Proposal which will be conducted in accordance with the relevant professional and ethical standards issued by the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board Limited (APESB). The extent of our procedures will be limited exclusively for this purpose only. As a result, no audit or review will be performed and, accordingly, no assurance will be expressed. Our engagement cannot be relied upon to disclose irregularities including fraud, other illegal acts and errors that may exist. However, we will inform you of any such matters that come to our attention.

Our professional services are conducted and if applicable to the attached Fee Proposal, Annual Financial Statements will be prepared for distribution to the relevant specific organisation or party for the purpose specified in the report or as agreed. We disclaim any assumption of responsibility for any reliance on our professional services to any party other than as specified or agreed, and for the purpose which it was prepared. Where appropriate, our report will contain a disclaimer to this effect.

Our advice will cover income tax and Goods and Services Tax. It will not cover any other taxes such as stamp duty, land tax, or payroll tax. The scope of our engagement will be limited to the performance of the services listed above.

Use of Contractors and Other Outsourced Third Party Services

We may involve third party contractors or outsourced service providers in providing various aspects of your accounting work. These services may include:

  • Accounting file preparation and/ or Data entry into our accounting systems
  • Auditing of accounts (including Self-Managed Super Funds)
  • Actuarial (pension) analysis
  • Financial Planning & Dealing with Financial Institutions
  • Home Loan, Business Loan & Personal Loan Services
  • Investment and Insurance Services

Storage of Personal Information

As our firm uses cloud based solutions and document storage therefore this data maybe stored overseas in jurisdictions with similar privacy laws to Australia.  By signing this engagement letter you acknowledge and agree that your personal information may be stored overseas.

Period of Engagement

This engagement will start when you sign and return to our office the attached Authority to Proceed and make the specified upfront payment as listed on the attached Fee Proposal.

Responsibilities

In conducting this engagement, information acquired by us in the course of the engagement is subject to strict confidentiality requirements. That information will not be disclosed by us to other parties except as required or allowed for by law, or with your express consent.

We wish to draw your attention to our firm’s system of quality control which has been established and maintained in accordance with the relevant APESB standard. As a result, our files may be subject to review as part of the quality control review program of the CPA Australia, which monitors compliance with professional standards by its members. We advise you that 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.

Privacy Act

We may collect Personal Information about 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 the obligations that we each may have under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (as amended) (Privacy Act). The obligations may include notifying the relevant person to whom the personal information relates who we are and how we propose to use their personal information. Where you have collected personal information, you confirm that you have collected the personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act, that you are entitled to provide this personal information to us and that we may use and disclose  the personal information for the purpose/s we provide our services to you. We will handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act.

Your Disclosure and Record Keeping Obligations

You are required by law to keep full and accurate records relating to your tax affairs in order to facilitate the preparation of accurate tax returns. The responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the particulars and information provided to us by you rests with you. Any advice given to you by us is only an opinion based on our knowledge of your particular circumstances.

It is your obligation to provide us with all information that you reasonably expect will be necessary to allow us to perform work specified under this engagement within a timely manner or as requested. This includes providing accurate and complete responses to questions asked of you by us within 10 working days. Inaccurate, incomplete or late information could have a material effect on our services and/or our conclusions and may result in additional fees.

You are also required to advise us on a timely basis if there are any changes to your circumstances that may be relevant to the performance of our services. Specifically, if any subsequent event results in the information you provided to us being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading, then you are obliged to advise us as soon as possible. We take no responsibility to the extent that our advice is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading because it is based on inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information being provided to us.

By accepting the terms in this Agreement, you will be taken to have agreed that the performance of our services is dependent on the performance of your obligations relating to disclosure and record keeping. You are responsible for the reliability, accuracy and completeness of the accounting records and disclosure to us of all material and relevant information.

The Taxation Administration Act 1953 contains specific provisions that may provide you with “safe harbours” from administrative penalties for incorrect or late lodgement of returns if, amongst other things, you give us “all relevant taxation information” in a timely manner. Accordingly, it is to your advantage that all relevant information is disclosed to us as any failure by you to provide this information may affect your ability to rely on the “safe harbour” provisions and will be taken into account in determining the extent to which we have discharged our obligations to you.

You are also required to advise us if you become aware of any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest. Generally, a conflict of interest is any event which may result in us becoming unable to remain objective in the performance of our services to you. Some examples of events which could give rise to a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest during this engagement are changes to your business circumstances, events affecting your family (eg. death and/or marriage breakdown) or a legal action commencing against you.

In relation to your financial records, you will be specifically responsible for retaining copies of all financial records and source documents for a period of 5 years, and providing to us all financial information we have requested within 10 working days of our request.

Please note that if you do not provide us your financial information properly reconciled and in the format requested by us, any up-front or Fixed Quotes we have provided to you will not be applicable and the cost of our services will be higher.

Your Rights and Obligations under the Taxation Laws

You have certain rights under the taxation laws, including the right to seek a private ruling from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or to appeal or object against a decision made by the Commissioner. As relevant, we will provide further information to you concerning your rights under the Australian taxation laws while we provide our service to you. You also have certain obligations under the Australian taxation laws, such as the obligation to keep proper records and the obligation to lodge returns by the due date.

Our Obligation to Comply with the Law

We have a duty to act in your best interests. However, the duty to act in your best interests is subject to an overriding obligation to comply with the law even if that may require us to act in a manner that may be contrary to your interests. For example, we could not lodge an Income Tax Return for you that we knew to be false in a material respect.

We also have an obligation to ensure that we manage conflicts of interest as they arise. In this regard, we have arrangements in place to ensure that we manage potential or actual conflicts of interest. The effective operations of these arrangements depend, in part, on you complying with your obligation to disclose any potential conflicts of interest to us (as mentioned previously).

Our advice and/or services will be based on Australian Taxation Laws in force at the date of the provision of the advice and/or services. It is your responsibility to seek updated advice if you intend to rely on our advice at a later stage. We note that Australian Taxation Laws are often subject to frequent change and our advice will not be updated unless specifically requested by you at the time of the change in law or announced change in law.

Limited Liability

Our liability is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. Further information on the scheme is available from the Professional Standards Councils’ website.

Ownership of Documents

All original documents obtained from you arising from this engagement will remain your property. However, we reserve the right to make a reasonable number of copies of the original documents for our records.

Our engagement may result in the production of Financial Statements, Income Tax Returns, Super Fund Documents, and other electronic documents or files which will be supplied to you. Ownership of these documents will vest in you. All other documents produced by us in respect of this engagement will remain our property.

We will exercise a legal right of lien over any of your documents in our possession in the event of a dispute between us. We also have established dispute resolution processes, details of which are available on request.

Payment Terms

In the event of you being in default of your obligation to pay us within the payment terms as listed in the attached Fee Proposal and Authority to Proceed and the overdue invoice(s) are then referred to a debt collection agency and/or law firm for collection and we are charged commission and/or disbursements and/or legal fees, you agree that you will be liable to pay as a liquidated debt to us any commission, disbursements and legal fees payable by us.

Our payment terms are: Either upfront payment is required as listed on the attached Authority to Proceed or Payment due in full for all other engagements 7 days from issue of Invoice. If the amount payable on the Invoice is not paid within 30 days of the date of that Invoice, then interest will be payable by you on the total unpaid amount calculated 30 days from the date of the Invoice until the actual date of payment at the rate of 24% per annum calculated daily.

Upon acceptance of our proposal, you hereby charge in favour of us all your right, title and interest over your assets, land, realty or otherwise, and hereby authorise us to lodge a mortgage or caveat over those assets to secure payment of service fees, our legal costs and disbursements. You agree to execute any additional documents which are required to perfect the security granted herein.

Should a debt remain unpaid for more than 60 days and is over $150 we reserve the right to register the matter on your credit history with a Credit Agency of our choice.

Payment in full must be made before we lodge your Tax Returns with the ATO.

AUSTRALIA OFFICES:
Adelaide | Brisbane | Melbourne | Perth | Shepparton | Sydney | Werribee
NEW ZEALAND OFFICES:
Auckland | Pukekohe