Bee Group Accountants is an accounting firm located on the beautiful Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
These Terms and Conditions, together with the Engagement Letter, apply to all work performed by Bee Group Accountants for the Client with respect to the Engagement.
These Terms and Conditions are appliable for Engagement Letters commencing from the 1 July 2021. To obtain a copy of our previous Terms and Conditions, applicable for previous Engagement Letters, please contact our office.
Terms and Conditions
Definitions
Capitalised terms used in these Terms and Conditions are defined in clause. In this document:
Agreement: means the agreement between BGA and the Client as set out in these Terms and Conditions and the Engagement Letter, together any changes to the Agreement that are agreed in writing between the parties.
ATO: means the Australian Taxation Office.
Client or You: means the entity, acquiring goods or services from us in the Engagement Letter.
Commencement Date: means the date of execution of the Engagement Letter by or on behalf of the Client or the date on which the Services commence, whichever is earlier. For further information on this refer to clause “Acceptance of this Agreement”.
Confidential Information: includes but is not limited to any proposal or tender document, information, trade secrets, methodologies or documents that are not in the public domain. Exceptions to these are disclosures to legal advisors, disclosures required by law and disclosures necessary for the proper performance of the services and as set out in these terms and conditions.
BGA: means Bee Group Accountants ABN 23 102 746 905.
Engagement: means the engagement by the Client of BGA to perform the Services, as contemplated in the Engagement Letter.
Engagement Letter: means the engagement letter to which these Terms and Conditions are referenced.
Fees: means the fees described in the Engagement Letter, as amended by any changes that are agreed in writing between the parties.
GST Law: has the meaning given to that term in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth) and includes any other Act or regulation relating to the imposition or administration of GST.
Hourly Rate: means the rate disclosed on this page as reviewed annually and updated from time to time.
Intellectual Property Rights: includes all rights throughout the world in relation to patents, copyright (including moral rights), designs, registered and unregistered trade marks, trade secrets, know-how, confidential information and all other intellectual property and any right to register those rights, whether created before or after the date of the Agreement and in all cases for the duration of those rights and any renewal.
Privacy Act: Private Act 1988 (Cth).
Services: means the scope of the services specified in the Proposal, Engagement Letter, or as varied in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
Term: is defined in the Engagement Letter.
Terms and Conditions: means the terms and conditions set out in this document.
Authorisations
Bee Group Accountants (BGA) and the Client confirms that it has obtained all necessary authorisations to enter into and perform the Agreement
Performance of the Services
The scope of the Services is limited to the work specified in the Engagement Letter.
BGA may have to rely on external information or public records to carry out the Services. BGA has no liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in external information or public records.
Changes in the law may take place before advice provided by BGA is acted upon or may be retrospective in effect. Unless specifically stated in the Engagement Letter, BGA has not responsibility for informing the Client of changes in the law or interpretations affecting advice previously given by BGA.
Purpose, Scope and Output of the Engagement
Bee Group Accountants will provide professional services at your request. We will provide the services listed in the Engagement Letter which will be conducted in accordance with the relevant professional and ethical standards issued by the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board Limited (APESB).
The details of the services provided in this agreement are detailed in the Engagement Letter.
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.
Where applicable to the attached Engagement Letter/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. Unless specifically noted as part of the Service scope, 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 included in the accompanying Engagement Letter/Fee Proposal.
Unanticipated Services
Only the services which are listed in the attached schedules are included within the scope of our instructions. If we become aware that you need any extra or additional services, we will inform you as soon as we become aware of this.
If there is additional work that you wish us to carry out which is not listed in the schedule, any additional work will be quoted to you before the commencement of said additional work. Once the scope of the additional work is agreed upon, we will issue an additional or updated letter of engagement via our online proposal system, and will ask you to sign the new agreement before we commence the new work.
Furthermore, the Client will agree that if an unanticipated need arises (such as an audit, an amended tax return or a personal financial statement required as part of a loan agreement), this additional work will be performed only after arriving at a mutually agreed-upon price, or where we cannot provide a fixed rate quote you have agreed to an hourly rate.
The Change of Service Request will be considered effective, even in the absence of a digital signature, where the requirements of the Terms and Conditions clause ‘Acceptance of this Agreement’ below have been met.
Period of Engagement
This engagement will start on the date outlined in the Engagement Letter and is valid until it’s ended by mutual agreement or superseded by a newer engagement. We will not deal with earlier periods unless you specifically ask us to do so, and we agree.
You or we may agree to vary or terminate this agreement at any time without penalty, subject to the section ‘Termination of this Engagement’ in the Engagement Letter. Notice of variation or termination must be given in writing.
Timeframe for Completion of Service/s
It is your obligation to provide us with all information that you reasonably expect will be necessary to allow us to perform your work. The success of the service is dependent on your timely cooperation including:
a. Providing the materials and information we reasonably require from time to time for the services,
b. Co-operation from your employees, consultants and advisors,
c. Making decisions promptly, to facilitate the performance of the services.
d. Replying to information requests within seven (7) days.
If an estimate of time for completion is provided by us to You, it is given on the assumption that we receive your cooperation and commitment to the process. Inaccurate, incomplete, incorrect or late information could have a large effect on our services and may result in additional fees payable by you.
Where we receive incomplete or late information, this will delay our work and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to complete your work, sign any reports and lodge any returns on time. If penalties are incurred under these circumstances we will not be responsible for their payment.
Effective the 1 March 2010 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 your advantage to give us all your information for us to do the work 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.
Acceptance of this Agreement
You accept this agreement and are bound by the terms of the agreement if:
a) You accept it orally (verbally);
b) You sign and return the agreement to us (preferable); or
c) By your conduct, in circumstances where you provide further instructions to us in this matter after receipt of the agreement and without first notifying us that you do not accept the terms set out herein.
In instructing us or continuing to instruct us in a manner after you have received a copy of these Terms of Engagement, you are accepting these Terms of Engagement and agreeing to be bound by them in relation to our engagement by you.
Service and Price Guarantee
BGA will always stand behind the quality and professional nature of the services that we offer. If at any point you are not completely satisfied with the services we have performed, we encourage you to bring this to our attention immediately. We’d love the opportunity to correctly address your concerns and allow us a chance to win your trust back and prevent similar problems from happening in the future.
If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of our services, we will work towards a mutual agreement regarding the payment for services completed.
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 letter that a specified third party may rely on our work.
Ownership of Documents
All original documents obtained from You arising from the engagement shall remain the property of You. 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 product 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, in accordance with the law. We also have established dispute resolution processes, details of which are available on request.
Ownership of Data
Title to, and all Intellectual Property Rights in, the Data remain Your property. However, Your access to the Data is contingent on full payment to Bee Group Accountants for the services describe as Access Fee, Accounting Package Subscription or Technology Fee when due. To avoid all doubt, where we are paying for your data subscription (for example Xero subscription) you must keep your accounts with us current or we may suspend or cancel your data file. You grant Bee Group Accountants a licence to use, copy, transmit, store, and back-up your information and Data for the purposes of enabling You to access and use the Services and for any other purpose related to provision of services to You.
Accounting Records
We will store your records, relating to the work, for a period of five (5) years after the completion of the work. The type and method of storage will be at our discretion. The records will be destroyed upon the expiration of this five year period without notice to you. Records are all archived offsite within one (1) year after the completion of the work. Should you require access to any of the stored records an access fee may be payable.
You have an obligation to retain relevant documentation under Taxation and Corporation Laws and any other relevant laws, and this clause does not change that. The records that we obtain from you or generate as part of this engagement are not a full and complete records of all of your transactions and are not a substitute for you retaining all supporting documentation and information.
Client Responsibilities and Warranties
You are responsible for the reliability, accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, particulars and information provided and disclosure of all material and relevant information. You are also responsible for providing us with such materials and relevant information in a timely manner so that we may provide our Services to you in a timely manner.
You are required to arrange for reasonable access by us to relevant individuals and documents, and shall be responsible for both the completeness and accuracy of the information supplied to us. Any advice given to You is only an opinion which is based on our knowledge of your particular circumstances and is informed by the information, materials account records and particulars provided to us by you.
You agree 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.
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. We take no responsibility to the extent that our provided services are inaccurate, incomplete or incorrect because they are based on inaccurate, incomplete, incorrect or late information being provided to us by you.
You agree that we are entitled to rely on the accuracy and completeness of any information you provide us under this agreement and in order to provide our services to you. BGA accepts no liability or responsibility for any loss, damage, claim or expense that you may suffer as a result of you providing us with inaccurate, incomplete, incorrect out of date or untimely accounting records, particulars or information, and you waive and release us from any and all such liability.
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 completeness of the accounting records and disclosure to us of all material and relevant information.
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 a 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.
Your further obligations under this Agreement are:
a. To give the firm reasonable notice of deadlines of time frames for the work (i.e. for a finance clause)
b. Pay the firm on time;
c. Tell the firm if you change your address or contact details; and
d. You will make yourself available or stay in contact to give the firm instructions during the performance of the work
You agree to pay BGA the Fees in accordance with the Billing Schedule set out in this agreement.
You warrant that you have not relied on any representations or warranties made by BGA in respect of the Services which have not been expressly set out in this agreement.
Responsibility for Information
Any reports issued or conclusions reached by us shall be based upon information provided by you and on your behalf and we shall not be verifying its accuracy, unless we have expressively agreed or are required by the law to do so.
Accordingly, we assume no responsibility and make no representation with respect to the accuracy or completeness of any information or material provided by you or on our behalf. To the extent that any such information is inaccurate or incomplete, this could have a material effect upon the conclusions in our report.
Maintenance of Accounting Records
The law places the responsibility for the maintenance of accounting records on you. Whilst we may review these records during the process of undertaking our work, we do not verify the truthfulness or accuracy of the figures or the other information provided by you. Accordingly the aforementioned is your responsibility.
Any entity carrying on a business’ is generally required to keep records that support all transaction and other acts that are relevant for any purposes of the income tax law.
An entity is specifically required to keep records of its calculation of taxable income and the tax payable and to produce them to the Commissioner when required to do so. Such records include documents containing particulars of any election, notice, estimate, determination or calculation made under the income tax law. Particulars showing the basis on which the estimate, determination or calculation was made must also be kept.
These records must be retained for minimum period of 5 years after the date of any income tax assessment for an income tax year. Where you operate a company or a self managed superannuation fund, longer time periods may apply to you.
Other relevant record keeping requirements in the income tax law include specific requirements in relation to capital gains, tax, losses and other provisions, for instance, records relating to Capital Gains Tax must be kept for a minimum period of 5 years after the disposal year’s income tax assessment issues. This includes the acquisition details relating to capital gains assets. We can provide you with a further assistance on specific record-keeping requirements should you require.
Penalties
We are required to inform you that significant penalties will be imposed by the Authorities on discovery of:
a. Deliberate or inadvertent errors;
b. Failure to pay taxes;
c. Misstatements and omissions;
d. Late lodgement of Documents
e. Failure to supply information;
f. Failure to lodge returns;
Your Rights and Obligations under 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 it that may require us to act in a manner that may be contrary to your interest. 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 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.
Procedures & Opinion
If, as part of our engagement, Financial statements are to be prepared then they will be prepared in accordance with the mandatory accounting requirements of APE315 “Statement on Compliance of Financial Information”. Our procedures use accounting expertise to collect, classify and summarise the financial information that you provide into a financial report. As referenced in the section ‘Scope of our Services’, our procedures do not include verification or validation procedures. No audit or review will be performed on accounts or tax returns prepared and accordingly no assurance will be expressed.
If for any reason, we are unable to complete the compilation of your special purpose financial report, or we consider that information to be misleading, we may refer to such matters within our compilation report or may determine not to issue a report, however you will still be charged for the time taken to prepare and come to such conclusion.
The special purpose financial report will be prepared exclusively for your benefit. We will not accept responsibility to any other person for the contents of the financial report. No person should rely on the financial report without having an audit of review conducted. This engagement will be conducted in accordance with the relevant standards and ethical requirements of CPA Australia
Confidentiality and Discretion
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 to provide the Services; as allowed for by law; or with your express written consent. Examples of other parties who may be provided with your information with your consent are:
• Financial Planning & Dealing with Financial Institutions
• Home Loan, Business Loan & Personal Loan Services
• Investment and Insurance Services
• Real Estate Agents
All information exchanged between us which would be considered confidential (“Confidential Information”) is confidential to the discloser of the Confidential Information and must only be used for the purposes of the Agreement and may not be disclosed to any person except with the proper approval of the relevant party. On reasonable request by the discloser, the recipient must return all Confidential Information to the discloser, and if requested by the discloser provide written confirmation that all files and copies have been destroyed or returned.
Confidential information includes but is not limited to any proposal or tender document, information, trade secrets, methodologies or documents that are not in the public domain. Exceptions to these are disclosures to legal advisors, disclosures required by law and disclosures necessary for the proper performance of the services and as set out in these terms and conditions.
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 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.
Outsourced 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
• Hosting of Data on cloud based servers
Acceptance of our services in conjunction with this engagement document indicates your acceptance of the use of outsourced services as described above. Where the outsourced service requires the disclosure of personal information to an overseas recipient, a consequence of your consent is that BGA will be required to take reasonable steps to ensure that Australian Privacy Principles are complied with by the overseas recipients of the Personal Information.
Bee Group Accountants has taken all available measures to ensure the security and privacy of your data is protected and follows the notifiable data breaches scheme as outlined in the Privacy Act 1988.
Limitation of Liability
Bee Group Accountants will use reasonable skill and care in the provision of the services. To the extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any damages, costs and expenses from any cause or fault whatsoever from our provided services to you. This is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, without limitation, indirect, special, incidental and consequential damages, punitive damages, loss of data, income, profit or goodwill, legal fees, litigation costs, loss of or damage to property and claims of third parties, even if you have or have not been advised of the possibility of such damages.
You have sole responsibility for the adequate protection and backup of data and/or equipment used in connection with services rendered by Bee Group Accountants and you will not make any claim against us for viruses, fire damage, lost or stolen data, re-run time, inaccurate output, work delays or lost profits resulting from our provided services.
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: https://www.psc.gov.au/.
Applicable Law
This contract shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Queensland and the Courts of that State have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning he contact and any matter arising from it.
The parties Irrevocably waive any right they may have to object to any action being sought in those Courts, to claim that the action has been brought to an inconvenient forum or to claim that those Courts do not have jurisdiction.
Termination of this engagement
Subject to any statutory provisions that apply to the Services, and unless otherwise outlined in this Terms document, either party may terminate this engagement at any time by giving 28 days written notice to the other. We shall be entitled to be paid for the work that has been completed or costs incurred based upon either the standard hourly rates for the work completed to date along with any other reasonable costs and expenses incurred in connection with the early termination of this engagement or alternatively in line with the requirements of the Services package. If you terminate this agreement we will render a final account for work carried out on your behalf until you provided notice of termination. Any costs that are owing by you at that time will become immediately due and payable.
Either party may terminate this engagement immediately if the other commits any material or persistent breach of its obligations under this agreement, in particular the Terms and Conditions set out in the Engagement Letter (which, in the case of a breach capable of remedy, has not been remedied within 28 days of discovery by the party in breach), or if the other becomes insolvent.
The firm may, with reasonable notice, terminate this Agreement and cease to act for you for lawful cause or if you;
a) Breach this Agreement;
b) Require the firm to act unlawfully or unethically;
c) Fail to provide us with requested information;
d) Fail to give the firm adequate instructions
e) Unreasonably refuse to act in accordance with the firm’s advice;
f) Indicate that you have lost confidence in the firm;
g) A conflict of interest has arisen or it is not appropriate for us to continue to act on your behalf;
h) Fail to pay for any accounts as required by the firm in accordance with terms and conditions;
Unless a retainer arrangement has been agreed between the parties, either party may terminate the engagement if the other party fails to remedy a material breach of the terms and conditions with 28 days of written notice of a breach. On payment of all outstanding fees in full including those raised at termination of the engagement then all documents of yours held by us will be returned. If a retainer arrangement has been entered into the arrangement can be cancelled however any remaining amount due under the retainer arrangement will still be required to be paid and any amount paid to the date of termination under the retainer arrangement will not be refunded.
Termination of this engagement is without prejudice to any rights that may have accrued before termination. The Terms and Conditions of this agreement which expressly or by implication are intended to survive its termination or expiry will survive and continue to bind the parties.
Force majeure
Neither party will be liable to the other for any delay or failure to fulfil their obligations under this agreement if that delay and/or failure arises from causes beyond their control, including but not limited to fire, floods, pandemics, acts of God, acts or regulations of any government or supranational authority, war, riot, terrorist activities, strikes, lockouts and industrial disputes.
Electronic Communications
Our primary form of correspondence is via email. We will send any correspondence to the email address nominated on the Engagement Letter. You need to ensure that the email you provide us is regularly monitored and we are promptly notified of any changes. You agree that we will communicate with each other by electronic means such as e-mail, SMS etc. We and you each recognise that e-mail and the internet are inherently insecure and that emails and data can become corrupted, are not always delivered promptly (or at all) and that other methods of communication may be appropriate. In addition, the internet is prone to viruses. We and you each recognise these hazards and so each of us will be responsible for protecting our own systems and interests and neither of you nor we will be responsible to the other on any basis for any loss or damage in any way arising from the use of electronic communication.
It is our practice to scan and shred all documents received by us. This is done in accordance with the Electronic Communications Act 2001. Please notify us in writing when delivering your documents if you require your originals to be returned to you. We will store your originals at our office for collection for a period of three (3) months. After this time your records will be removed to offsite storage. All returns and documents will be provided to you in electronic format for signature. Should they be required, we will provide paper copies upon request for a small prepaid administrative fee.
Billing
Services may be billed on a fixed rate or hourly billing rate, as indicated herein. Where we cannot provide a fixed rate quote, we will quote an hourly rate in cases of project work where it is difficult to define the scope of the service required. In the case where you have been quoted an estimate based on an hourly rate, BGA will seek to inform you of the amount of time used before we issue the final bill and collect payment. Our professional fees will be based on our regular billing rates, plus direct out-of-pocket expenses and applicable GST, and are due when rendered. Fees for additional services will be established separately.
If we are required (pursuant to any order, subpoena, directive or other legal or regulatory process) to produce documents and/or information, answer enquiries, attend court or meetings or deal with any similar requests in relation to the Services for, or by, any judicial, regulatory, administrative or similar body or entity (including without limitation, any foreign regulator or similar), you shall reimburse us at standard billing rates for our professional time and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, incurred in dealing with those matters. An estimate of time will be provided prior to the conduct of any works and will be required to be pre-paid. Any additional time spent in excess of the estimate will be charged at our hourly rate.
Invoicing and Payment
We will submit our bill(s) as indicated herein. If an extension of our services is requested, we will discuss our fee arrangements at that time. Plan implementation as well as plan monitoring and updating, if needed, are separate engagements. If you choose one of these additional services, a separate engagement letter will be provided. These services will be billed separately.
We reserve the right to suspend our services or to withdraw from this engagement in the event that any of our invoices are deemed delinquent. In order to continue accessing our services, you need to make timely payments based on the Services and/or pricing plan you selected. To avoid delayed or missed payments, please make sure we have accurate payment information. If we don’t receive timely payments, we may suspend access to your subscription until the payment is made. Further, continued non-payment may result in cancellation of the Services and any subscriptions which are being paid for by BGA, irrespective of the ownership of the data contained therein.
Payment – Card Processing Fees
In the event that You choose to make payments via card, a card processing fee will be applied. This fee covers the charges for processing card transactions and is not included in the standard service fees. The card processing fee will be calculated as a percentage of the total invoice amount and will be clearly indicated when a card is entered in our platform. It will also appear on all the invoices provided.
You acknowledge and agree to the application of this fee when opting to pay by card. The specific percentage for the card processing fee can be subject to change and if so, we will communicate this as early as possible.
Payment Terms
Our payment terms are:
• Upfront payment is required as listed on the attached Proposal or as mutually agreed;
• Partial Upfront payment as listed on the attached Proposal with full payment on finalisation; or
• Monthly or Quarterly Payment by Instalment to assist with budgeting on annual engagements; or
• Payment due in full for all other engagements within 7 days from the 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. Payment in full must be made before we lodge your Tax Return with the ATO or supply you with the intended outcome of our service.
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 or Engagement Letter 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, disbursement and legal fees payable by us. This will also extend to any additional fees that may apply to other administrative collection options available to us, for example QCAT.
Hourly Rate
The following does not form part of the Terms and Conditions and is provided for information only.
Current Hourly Rate:
Our preference is for fixed fee engagements because these upfront proposals means that there are no surprises and you can pay by the month for cash flow purposes.
Where we cannot provide a fixed rate quote, we will quote an hourly rate in cases of project work where it is difficult to define the scope of the service required. Where you have been quoted based upon an hourly rate, these are the amounts that will be used as the basis for the invoice.
Our hourly rate is subject to review and may be updated on the 1 July each year. Hourly rates are charged in six (6) minute increments. The GST exclusive hourly rates effective at the 1 July 2021 are:
| Partner | $500.00 per hour |
| Virtual CFO, Management Accountant | $300.00 per hour |
| Accountant, Tax Agent, Data Analyst | $250.00 per hour |
| Junior Accountant | $150.00 per hour |
| Bookkeeper, Payroll Specialist | $100.00 per hour |
| Bookkeeping Assistant | $80.00 per hour |
| Client Manager | $150.00 per hour |
| Administration | $80.00 per hour |
