Disclaimer & Terms

All information contained in this website is of a general nature and is not intended to be exhaustive. It is made available in good faith and believed to be correct at the time of preparation. The information does not provide specific accounting, tax, business or financial advice. The information is not intended to replace professional advice and we recommend you consult a qualified professional before making any accounting, tax, business or financial decision. We do not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the information (including third-party links) nor that the website is free from viruses or that access to it will be uninterrupted. The information is provided for Australian residents and not for the use of any person outside of Australia as the information may not comply with non-Australian laws. References to currency in this website are to Australian dollars, unless otherwise specified.

Terms of Engagement

The following explains the terms of our engagement and the nature and limitation of the services that we provide to our clients (“you”).

1. Who may instruct us

You confirm that you, and any other person you nominate in writing from time to time (provided we have acknowledged such nomination), are authorised to give us instructions and information on behalf of all persons we are acting for and to receive our advice and documents on their behalf.

If we are acting for a business, and we receive conflicting advice, information or instructions from different persons, we may refer the matter to the board of directors, partners or proprietors (as applicable) and act only as requested by them.

2. You and your partner

We will advise you and your partner on the basis that you are a family unit with shared interests. 

We may deal with either of you or discuss with either of you the affairs of the other. If you wish to change these arrangements please let us know

3. Verifying your identity

We may be required to verify your identity for the purposes of the anti-money laundering laws. We may request from you such information as we require for these purposes and make searches of appropriate databases.

4. Your responsibilities

You must provide us with all information necessary for dealing with your affairs including information which we reasonably request, in sufficient time to enable our services to be completed before any applicable deadline.  We will rely on such information being true, correct and complete and will not audit the information.

You authorise us to approach such third parties as may be appropriate for information that we consider necessary to deal with your affairs.

You must keep us informed on a timely basis of changes in your circumstances that may affect our services including change of address, telephone and email. We cannot be responsible for communication delays due to uninformed changes.

5. Qualifications regarding our services

To the extent our services involve the performance of services established by law, nothing in the Engagement Brief or these terms reduce our obligations under such law.

You must not act on advice given by us on an earlier occasion without first confirming with us that the advice is still valid.

We will not undertake any work on your behalf unless and until we have received your instructions to do so.

Our services are limited exclusively to those you have engaged us to perform as specified in our Engagement Brief. 

Our services cannot be relied upon to disclose irregularities and errors, including fraud and other illegal acts, in your affairs. Neither an audit nor a review will be conducted and, accordingly, no assurance will be expressed.

Where our engagement is recurring, we may amend our engagement brief and these terms where we consider it is necessary or appropriate to do so.  If you do not accept such amendments, you must notify us promptly in which case you may terminate our engagement in accordance with section 17 below and those amendments will not apply prior to such termination. 

6. Reliance on advice

We will endeavour to record all advice on important matters in writing. Advice given verbally is not intended to be relied upon unless confirmed in writing.

If we provide verbal advice (for example during a meeting or telephone conversation) that you wish to rely on, you must ask us to confirm the advice in writing.

7. Investment and financial advisory advice 

We will not provide you with investment or financial advice. We do not hold a licence to do so.

8. Professional obligations

We will comply with the professional and ethical standards of the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board, available at apesb.org.au. This includes APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards), which among other things contains provisions that apply if we become aware of any actual or potential ‘non-compliance with governing laws or regulations’ (NOCLAR).

Where any such non-compliance poses substantial harm (such as serious adverse consequences to investors, creditors, employees, auditor, group auditor or the public), we may be required to disclose the matter to an appropriate authority.

9. Conflicts of interest

We will inform you if we become aware of any conflict of interest in our relationship with you (including between the various persons this engagement brief covers) or in our relationship with you and another client.

Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then we will be unable to provide further services to some or all of the persons to whom this engagement applies. If this arises, we will inform you promptly.

We may act for other clients whose interests are not the same as or are adverse to yours, subject to the obligations of conflicts of interest and confidentiality referred to above.

10. Fees and payment 

Our fees will be charged based on the level of skill, responsibility, importance and value of the advice, as well as the level of risk. 

If we have provided you with an estimate of our fees for any specific work, this is an estimate only and our actual fees may vary.

We will normally issue our invoice on completion of the engagement however, where it is ongoing, we may issue interim invoices. Our invoices are due for payment within 14 days of issue.

Our fees set out in our engagement brief are inclusive of GST. Any disbursements and expenses we incur in the course of performing our services will be added to our invoices where appropriate.

Unless otherwise agreed to the contrary, our fees do not include the costs of any counsel, or other professionals or third parties engaged with your approval.

We may charge interest on late paid invoices. We may also suspend our services or to cease to act for you on giving written notice if payment of any fees is unduly delayed.

We intend to exercise these rights only where it is fair and reasonable to do so.

11. Lien

If permitted by law or professional guidelines, we may exercise a lien over all materials or records in our possession relating to all engagements for you until all outstanding fees and disbursements are paid in full.

12. Confidentiality

We will take all reasonable steps to keep your information confidential, except where:

• We need to disclose your information to our service providers (including auditors of client monies if applicable) or regulatory bodies in performing the services, our professional advisers or insurers or as part of an external peer review from time to time. Our files may also be subject to review as part of the quality review program of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. By accepting this engagement you acknowledge that, if requested, our files relating to this engagement will be made available under this program. We will take reasonable steps to ensure any such recipient (other than a regulatory body) keeps such information confidential on the same basis;

• We are required by law, regulation, a court of competent authority, or those professional obligations referred to in section 8 above, to disclose the information;

• You give us permission to disclose the information.

We may retain your information during and after our engagement to comply with our legal requirements or as part of our regular IT back-up and archiving practices. We will continue to hold such information confidentially

13. Privacy

You must make all necessary notifications and obtain any necessary consents for us to process personal information you provide to us. We collect and use that personal information for the purposes of providing the services described in the engagement brief to you and we will comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) when processing that personal information. Our privacy policy provides further details of our privacy practices. 

14. Ownership of materials

We own the copyright and all other intellectual property rights in everything we create in connection with this engagement. Unless we agree otherwise, anything we create in connection with this agreement may be used by you only for the purpose for which you have engaged us.

All working papers prepared by us (in any form whatsoever, including physical and electronic) remain our property. We will retain these papers in accordance with our normal record keeping practices in accordance with our professional and legal obligations.

You agree we can use your logos and trademarks for the sole purpose of providing advice to you in connection with the engagement, unless you tell us otherwise.

15. Limitation of 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 –

http://www.psc.gov.au/professional-standards-schemes/Scheme-documents

You agree not to bring any claim against any of our directors, shareholders or employees in their personal capacity.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable to you for:

• indirect, special or consequential losses or damages of any kind; or

• liability arising due to the acts or omissions of any other person or circumstances outside our reasonable control, or your breach of these terms.

16. Limitation of third party rights

Our advice and information is for your sole use, and we accept no responsibility to any third party, unless we have expressly agreed in the engagement brief that a specified third party may rely on our work. 

17. Termination

Each of us may terminate this agreement at any time by giving notice in writing to the other party. Termination will not affect any accrued rights.

18. Communication

You must advise of any changes to your contact details.  We may send any communications to the last contact details you have provided.

Unless you instruct us otherwise, we may, where appropriate, communicate with you and with third parties via email or by other electronic means.

The recipient is responsible for virus checking emails and any attachments. There is a risk of non-receipt, delayed receipt, inadvertent misdirection or interception by third parties in any form of communication, whether electronic, postal or otherwise.  We are not responsible for any such matters beyond our control.

19. Applicable Law

These engagement conditions and the contract arising from it and all aspects of our engagement with you and the performance of work for you are governed by the law of New South Wales and you agree to be bound by the laws of New South Wales.

20. Interpretation

If any provision of the engagement brief or these terms is void, that provision will be severed and the remainder will continue to apply.  If there is any conflict between the engagement brief and these terms, these terms prevail.

21. Disputes and complaints

If you have any concerns about our costs or services, please speak to the person responsible for this engagement, who is identified in our engagement brief. 

To resolve your concerns we have policies and procedures in place to deal appropriately with complaints and will use best endeavours to resolve a complaint or dispute to the mutual satisfaction of the parties involved.

We may require you to detail your complaint in writing to allow us to fully investigate any concerns that you raise.

22. Third party responsibilities

We may utilise outsourced service providers and cloud computing service providers to perform services required and we may provide these third parties with access to your data to the extent this is required to perform the services.

Your data will be stored in servers with the security practices of the third-party service provider and our Privacy Policy.

23. Special purpose financial statements

Services will be conducted in accordance with the relevant professional and ethical standards issued by the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board (APESB).

Accounting and taxation services will be provided to assist the entities listed in the Engagement Brief to meet their reporting and compliance obligations to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and to meet their other reporting and compliance needs.

No audit or review will be performed and, accordingly, no assurance will be expressed in relation to any report prepared by us.

Any financial statements and income tax return/s prepared for you and the entities listed in the Engagement Brief will be prepared for distribution to the specified parties for the purpose noted above. We disclaim any assumption of responsibility for any reliance on our reports to any person or entity, other than those parties indicated, and for any purpose other than for which it was prepared. Our report will contain a disclaimer to this effect.

24. Taxation services specifically

We are a registered tax agent. Our tax agent number is 28144-009. We are responsible for providing our services in a competent and timely manner.

You must provide all information and documents relevant to the proper performance of the work at the outset of the engagement and during the engagement. This includes promptly advising us of anything that occurs subsequently to render information already provided misleading or incomplete, or advising of any change in your circumstances relevant to the work.

If during the engagement you become aware of any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest or there is a change of circumstances which may result in a conflict, you must advise us. Events which may give rise to a conflict of interest or potential conflicts during the engagement include events affecting you, such as deaths, matrimonial disputes as well as litigation (threatened or actual) or changes in the nature or structure of your business or your business relationships.

There are provisions in the Taxation Administration Act 1953 that provide you with “safe harbours” from administrative penalties for incorrect or late lodgement of returns if, among other things, you give us “all relevant taxation information” in a timely manner. This means that it is to your advantage to give us all information necessary for us to do the work. While the work is within our knowledge and skills, any changes to the work may necessitate making new arrangements with you.

We will act in your best interests but like all citizens, we must comply with the law, even where that may be contrary to your interests. For example, we must comply with certain statutory notices from the (ATO).

You must provide all information and documentation which we should take into account in applying the taxation laws. Any failure by you to provide all such information and documentation, both voluntarily and in answer to our questions, may affect your ability to access the safe harbour provisions and will be taken into account when assessing our obligations under the law.

Our obligations under this principle are also limited to the extent of any disclosure by us of specific specialties, skills, or lack thereof, or other limitations.

Subject to the law, we must not disclose any information relating to your affairs to a third party without your consent.

The taxation laws confer on you certain rights (such as to challenge a decision of, or an assessment issued by, the ATO) but also impose obligations on you (such as the keeping and retaining of adequate and accurate records and the filing of relevant returns with the ATO within the required time limits).

We will keep you informed of specific rights and obligations under the taxation laws that become relevant from time to time during the course of the work we perform for you.

25. Acceptance of our Services

You may accept the Engagement Brief in writing or verbally. Your decision to use our services after receiving our Engagement Brief signifies your acceptance and understanding of these terms of engagement.