Terms of Engagement - Redlands Accounting

Standard Terms of Engagement

Prepared by: Redlands Accounting and Taxation

Address: PO Box 2680, Wellington Point QLD 4160

Phone: 07 3067 2446

Email: admin@redlandsaccounting.com.au

Tax Agent No.: 25188847

Purpose

This page outlines the standard terms of our engagement and the services we will provide to clients. This document sets out our terms of engagement. Any changes must be mutually agreed and confirmed in writing.

Scope of Services

We will provide services which have been outlined in your engagement and/or Pricing schedule.

Please be aware that we will not conduct an audit or review as a service to be performed for you and accordingly, no assurance will be expressed.

Unless specified above as a service to be performed for you, this engagement cannot be relied upon to disclose irregularities including fraud, other illegal acts and errors that may occur. However, we will inform you of such matters if they come to our attention.

We will perform services in accordance with professional and ethical standards. These standards require that, in undertaking this engagement, we comply with the relevant ethical requirements of APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards).

Pursuant to the Responding to Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR) requirements of APES 110, we are required to report any non-compliance with laws and regulations or acts of omission or commission, intentional or unintentional by a client or by those charged with governance, by management or by other individuals working for or under the direction of a client which are contrary to the prevailing laws or regulations.

Any additional services will be subject to a separate agreement or fee estimate.

Your Responsibilities

You agree to:

• Provide complete and accurate information in a timely manner.
• Retain all necessary records for five years as required by law.
• Review any documentation provided to you for accuracy and completeness before signing.
• Promptly advise us of any changes to your contact details or business structure.
The Taxation Administration Act 1953 contains specific provisions that may provide you with “safe harbour” protection from administrative penalties for incorrect or late lodgement of returns. These safe harbour provisions will only be available to you if, amongst other things, you provide “all relevant taxation information” to us 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 your liability to an administrative penalty.

It is your responsibility to show that you have brought all matters to our attention if you want to take advantage of this legislative safe harbour.

Events Required to be Disclosed

In accordance with the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 (the Determination), I advise you that there are no events which have occurred within the last 5 years which require disclosure.

TPB Register and Complaints Process

The TPB maintains a register of tax agents and BAS agents (tax practitioners) and this register can be accessed and searched at https://www.tpb.gov.au/public-register.

The TPB’s register confirms that I am a registered tax practitioner with no conditions imposed on my registration.

All complaints should be raised with us at first instance with the view that your concerns can be resolved amicably between us.

In the event that your concerns cannot be satisfactorily resolved, you may wish to raise a complaint with the IPA and/or the TPB:

• IPA’s complaints process can be accessed at https://www.publicaccountants.org.au/about/complaint-investigation/complaints-about-an-ipa-member.
• The TPB’s complaints process can be accessed at https://www.tpb.gov.au/complaints

Further information is contained in an Information for Clients document on the TPB’s website: https://www.tpb.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-10/Information%20for%20clients%20factsheet.pdf.

Period of Engagement

Your engagement starts on the date signed 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 the agreement at any time without penalty.

Notice of variation or termination must be given in writing. Any work that has been completed prior to notice will be invoiced accordingly.

There is no assumption of responsibility for any reliance on our services provided by any person or entity other than you and those parties indicated in the service schedule. The work completed in the service schedule shall not be inferred or used for any purpose other than for which it was specifically prepared.

Fees

Our fees for the services provided are outlined in the attached service schedule. They are based on time and complexity.

We will invoice upon completion of services unless otherwise agreed.

Payment terms are strictly 7 days unless agreed on otherwise. If you do not pay your account by that date, we reserve the right to use a debt collection agency or any other legal means to recover any outstanding fees. This costs of recovery will be borne by the client.

Ownership of Documents

The final documents which we are specifically engaged to prepare, together with any other original documents given to us, shall remain your property. Documents brought into existence by us including all working papers, remain our property at all times. However, we will provide you with copies of any documents you require from time to time.

Lien over Documents

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

Quality Review

As a member of the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA), we are subject to the IPA’s Quality Review Program (QRP) mandated by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). QRP reviews assess member compliance with the professional and ethical standards and by accepting our engagement you acknowledge that, if requested by IPA, our files relating to this engagement may be made available for QRP review. Unless otherwise advised, you are consenting to your files being part of a QRP review.

Professional Standards Scheme

As a member of the IPA, we are part of the IPA Professional Standards Scheme and our liability is limited by a Scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. For more information on the IPA Professional Standards Scheme or Professional Standards Schemes generally, please refer to: www.psc.gov.au.

Confidentiality and Privacy

We understand the importance of protecting the privacy of your personal information.

In handling personal information, we comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), as amended from time to time, and with the 13 Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act and other applicable privacy-related legislation.

We collect, use, disclose and store your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy, a copy of which can be found on our website or otherwise made available to you upon request.

We may collect your personal information directly from you or your authorised representatives, from third parties where you have provided your consent, or where the collection of your personal information is permitted by law. The types of personal information we collect includes: general identification information such as names, occupation, and date of birth, contact details such as address, email address, and mobile phone number, government-issued identification numbers such as tax file numbers, financial information, and information regarding your superannuation and/or insurance arrangements.

Generally, we collect, use and disclose your personal information for the purposes of providing you with the agreed services. If you do not provide your personal information to us, this may affect our ability to assist you. We may also use your personal information for the purpose of providing marketing information to you. Please let us know if you do not want this information to be sent to you.

To provide the required services, we may disclose your information to third parties engaged to perform administrative or other business management services.

We may also disclose your personal information to third parties engaged to undertake specific processes, functions or activities and/or provide services for us. Any disclosure is always on a confidential basis.

We may also disclose your personal information if required or authorised by law.

We may disclose personal information to overseas recipients in order to provide necessary services and for administrative or other business management purposes.

Before disclosing any personal information to an overseas recipient, we take steps reasonable in the circumstances to ensure the overseas recipient complies with the Australian Privacy Principles or is bound by a substantially similar privacy scheme unless you consent to the overseas disclosure or it is otherwise required or permitted by law.

If you would like to access, or seek correction of, the personal information we collect and hold about you, or otherwise enquire or complain about our approach to privacy, please contact us 07 3067 2446 or at admin@redlandsaccounting.com.au.

Our privacy policy contains further information about these processes.

Third Party Involvement

We may outsource some of our work which involves us entering into an agreement with a third party to provide specific processes, functions, services or activities for us. If we decide to do this as part of performing the services for you, we will contact you first to seek your approval to engage other parties.

We have outsourcing arrangements with D & V Philippines in the Philippines with whom we engage permanent offshore staff to assist us. These staff assist in all aspects of our work.

In providing our services to you, we utilise cloud computing systems provided by various providers. Our main software providers are Microsoft, BGL, Xero, MYOB, Intuit, Karbon, Content Snare, Suitefiles and Adobe. These providers may back up their services in offshore locations. They also may have support desks located in offshore locations. Further details can be found by contacting the suppliers directly.