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Terms of Engagement

This agreement applies to all services provided by us to you. By signing this you agree you have read and accepted the terms below.

Tailored Support - What will we do?

Simple packages to remove the guesswork

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  • If you are on one of our fixed fee packages, we will provide you all of the services listed in your package, for one year.

  • We will tell you exactly what services are included in your package in a separate proposal, for you to agree to.

  • If we provide you anything else that is not on your package list, it will be treated as an extra service.

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‘No Surprises’ extra support and growth services

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  • Extra Services are any that are outside of your Fixed Fee Package or offered separately to our Fixed Fee Packages.

  • We work on a ‘no surprises’ basis. This means if you ask for extra services, we think you could really benefit from them, or it looks like your Fixed Fee Package is going to take more work that we thought, we will chat with you about how we can help.

  • We will then set out exactly what services we are proposing to provide in a separate proposal, including an estimate of cost, for you to agree to. This means you know the cost of this extra work up front.

No Hidden Costs - What and when we will charge?

Monthly subscription to spread your cash flow, with no hidden costs

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  • We will tell you exactly how much we will charge in a separate proposal, for you to agree to.

  • Our package fees are estimated yearly amounts, spread out into monthly payments, to help with your cashflow. The yearly amount is based on our best guess of how long that type of work takes for most clients and assumes that you will stick with us for the full year.

  • Payment for our fixed fee packages is due monthly, via direct debit from your nominated bank account. This is invoiced and processed via a Xero integrated secure service. 

  • These will be processed on the first working day of each month.

  • These amounts are subject to change if it takes more than our best guess, based on what we know about your needs (doesn’t happen very often).

  • If it seems like it might take more work than we thought, we will chat with you first and decide on a plan together.


Extra services 50% paid on start, and 50% when complete

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  • If we provide Extra Services, then we will send you an invoice for 50% of the total once you have accepted our proposal. You will need to pay this within 7 days. We will start work once we have received this payment.

  • The other 50% will be invoiced as each part of the proposal is finished and will also need to be paid within 7 days.

  • Extra services estimates are subject to change if it takes more than our best guess, based on what we know about your needs (doesn’t happen very often).

  • If it seems like your extra services might take more work than we thought, we will chat with you first and decide on a plan together.

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Fees and Services could change each year

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  • The fees for our packages could change each year from 1 April. We will let you know about any changes before they happen, and these will only apply from when your annual term rolls over.

  • If at any point while working together, it looks like we need to change what is in your package, then we will decide together what services you need, and change the package services and fee if needed.

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Services will otherwise automatically roll over

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  • These services are offered on an annual basis, commencing on the acceptance date of this proposal. These arrangements will automatically roll over each year until a new agreement is reached.

 

 

If you need to leave, we might charge you a bit more, or pay you back a bit

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  • If you need to move on at any point during your current year, we might charge you a bit more, or pay you back a bit at our discretion. This is because some of the work in the packages takes us a long time, and some doesn’t. So, it depends on what % of the work has been done if you leave part way through a year. 

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Example A: Company A engages us in July, and we do their annual accounts in August. Then they leave at the end of August. Annual accounts are a big part of the yearly amount, and two months’ worth of fees would not fairly cover our time. We would then work out what percentage of the yearly package had been delivered and send an invoice for the catch up % of the yearly total.

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Example B: Company B engages us in July, and we provide our normal services, but haven’t got to any big stuff yet. Then Company B leaves at the end of August. We would work out what % of the yearly package had been delivered and transfer the amount they had probably overpaid back to them.​

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Catching up on payments

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  • If you don’t pay by the due date, we may charge interest from the day an invoice is overdue at 3% above the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cash rate. We may also charge expenses, admin fees and collection costs and legal fees if we need to use the services of a debt collection company or lawyer.

  • We can also suspend our services or end this agreement if payment is overly delayed. We will only do this if it is fair and reasonable to do so.

  • These Terms stay in place after service is ended, until all fees are paid.

Hands On - How will we connect with you?

We will communicate electronically
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  • We will communicate with you and third parties via email or electronically (unless you ask us not to).

  • Electronic services and communications can be subject to interference, interception, or corruption. We will do our very best, but unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that electronic communications will always be free from viruses or other defects, are secure or will be received, complete or confidential.

  • You agree to receive promotional material from us. You can opt out of this at any time.

Partnership - What do you need to do?

Please provide information in time

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  • We will agree a timeframe with you for providing information, then for us to complete the work.

  • We can't guarantee that we will be able to complete the work if your information is not provided within the agreed timeframe.

  • To help, we will be proactive with you from early on to avoid unnecessary stresses and pressures on you.

  • We will rely on such information being true, correct, and complete and will not audit it.

  • Please let us know if your circumstances change in a way that may affect our services.

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You will need to pay your tax to Inland Revenue

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  • We can discuss tax payments to be made before they are due, and recommend a suitable payment based on the information known to us at that time.

  • Payments to Inland Revenue can be made electronically or at any branch of Westpac Banking Corporation.

  • It is your responsibility to complete tax payments, and we strongly recommend you establish your own reminder systems. If payments are made late, additional tax, penalties or interest may be incurred.

  • We may from time to time engage the services of an Inland Revenue approved tax pooling intermediary to purchase Tax Credits. This will be done with your approval and where we believe it relevant to reduce any interest or penalties due to Inland Revenue.

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You will need to review our work

  • You will be required to review and approve final returns and reports for reasonableness and correctness.

  • You will need to understand the importance and risks of signing income tax returns or other statutory documents as being true and correct statutory records. We will explain and run through all this with you.

Trust - Our professional obligations and confidentiality

We are bound by a code of ethics

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  • We are required to comply with all applicable by-laws, rules, regulations, professional and ethical standards and guidelines of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ).

  • This includes the NZICA Code of Ethics, including the principles of integrity, objectivity, Professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behaviour.

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We will keep your information confidential and private

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  • We may collect, store, use and disclose your personal information to provide our services to you. We will comply with the Privacy Act and our legal obligations when doing this.

  • You provide us express consent to disclose your information to:

    • our service providers or regulatory bodies to the extent required to perform our services or to comply with the law

    • our professional advisors or insurers to the extent required to protect our interests

    • our external peer reviewer to the extent required to perform our services

    • third party outsourcing services to the extent required to perform our services.

  • This requires information being sent to our service providers in accordance with our Privacy Policy​​

  • We will take reasonable steps to ensure anyone who receives your information (other than a regulatory body) keeps the information confidential on the same basis we do.

  • We may keep 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 and also for professional reasons (e.g. to perform the work under this engagement or to comply with our professional and ethical obligations).

  • We will continue to hold such information confidentially.


We will keep an eye out for conflicts of interest

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  • We will let you know if we become aware of any conflict of interest in our relationship with you, or with you and another client.

  • We will do our best to figure out a way to manage this conflict with you.

  • If we can’t do this in a way that protects you, or you do not agree, then we will probably have to end this agreement.

Duty - Other legal stuff we need you to know

Some documents are yours, and some are ours

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  • Material that you provide to us remains yours and will be returned if the engagement is ended.

  • Work Papers and other documents that we create remain our property.

  • Unless we agree otherwise, anything we create may only be used by you for the purpose for which you have engaged us.

 

We will comply with the law

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  • Nothing in this engagement letter reduces our obligations to provide our services in line with the law.

  • Your financial statements will be prepared in accordance with taxation principles contained in the Income Tax Act 2007 and disclosure requirements contained in the Tax Administration Financial Statements Order 2014.

  • We will comply with the by-laws, regulations and ethical guidelines of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants. This includes the NZICA Code of Ethics, 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 or the public), we may be required to disclose the matter to an appropriate authority.
     

 

There are limits on our advice

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  • You must not act on advice we gave you in the past without checking with us again that the advice is still valid.

  • We will communicate our advice to you in writing. You may not rely on any advice given orally, in draft, or on an interim basis.

  • We are not auditors; our services cannot be relied on to disclose irregularities and errors, including fraud and other illegal acts, in your affairs.

  • We are prohibited from providing you with investment or financial advice regulated under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, as amended by the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act 2019.

 

 

There are limits on our liability

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  • Our services are provided for your use only and we accept no responsibility or liability to any other person.

  • Under no circumstances will we be liable to you for any loss of profits, business, or anticipated savings or for any indirect or consequential loss.

  • If for any reason we are held liable to you for any loss, injury, damages, or costs arising directly or indirectly from the breach of any duty we owe to you, our liability will be limited to the lesser of three times the amount of the professional fees you have paid to us for performing the services or three times the annual fees paid in the case of recurring work.

  • Any claim you may have against us will be limited if you or anyone acting for you has contributed in any way to any loss or damage you have suffered.

  • The provisions in this clause are however subject to any other laws which limit our ability to limit our liability.​

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We sometimes receive third party service discounts

 

  • Depending on your Xero subscription we may receive a 15% percentage discount on your fee based on our Xero status.

  • Depending on whether you to take up our Audit Shield insurance offer, we may receive a commission to cover our administrative time.


We might need to amend these Terms of Engagement

  • These Terms of Engagement will be reviewed once a year, and if any changes are needed to keep them up to date, they will be re-issued or amended for you to agree to in writing.

 

You can make a complaint at any time

  • If you have a complaint that our work doesn’t comply with professional standards and applicable laws and regulations, or an allegation that we have not performed quality work in accordance with our obligations, you can raise this concern with any of our staff.

  • Complaints will be investigated following our Client Complaint Policy, and we will work with you to keep you informed of the progress until the problem is resolved. 

  • If the complaint cannot be resolved by us, and you think that we have breached our professional or ethical standards, then you can take your complaint to the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) under its complaints process.

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