SCOPE OF OUR SERVICES

We will provide the services listed in the 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. Thus, 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 CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICES

In providing our services to you, we utilise the following systems and cloud computing services provided Xero, and we rely on their security measures.

Specifically, we use Xero (a cloud accounting system), Xero Practice Manager (a cloud practice management system), Xero Tax (a cloud tax return preparation system), BGL 360 (a cloud based super fund accounting and administration system), Office 365 (a cloud email and calendar system), and Adobe ESign (a cloud electronic signature system). These cloud computing systems store files on remote servers operated by third parties.

You act as the Subscriber for Xero Business Edition subscriptions and "invite" us into that subscription as an "invited user”. Xero has different user roles, and in particular the Subscriber to a Xero subscription has the ability to control access rights to a Xero subscription.

  

RESPONSIBILITIES

In conducting this engagement, information acquired by us during the engagement, including information relating to your affairs whether it belongs to you or not or is provided by you or not, 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.

The recent changes to Section 225 (and 360) of APES 110 on Responding to Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR) requires us to report a non-compliance with laws and regulations or acts or omission, 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. If we decide that the disclosure of NOCLAR to the appropriate authority is the correct course of action, then such a disclosure will not be considered a breach of confidentiality under our code of ethics.

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. Thus, our files may be subject to review as part of the quality control review program of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia & NZ, 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.

 

SINGLE TOUCH PAYROLL

Where the  terms of engagement authorise us to prepare payroll related inputs and their process for calculating and paying your employees, as well as preparing your taxation and superannuation obligations:

You (as the employer) acknowledge and accept responsibility for:

  • providing employee salaries and worked hours information to us, before the appropriate pay-run date(s);

  • ensuring that employee remuneration amounts comply with the appropriate payroll awards and Fair Work requirements; and

  • ensuring that employee have the correct PAYG amounts withheld from each pay and the statutory rate of superannuation is paid quarterly.

 

YOUR DISCLOSURE AND RECORD KEEPING OBLIGATIONS

You are required by law to keep full and accurate records relating to your tax affairs.

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.

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.

In relation to your financial records, you will specifically be responsible for:

  • Transaction entries into your business computer records

  • Reconciling the Bank Accounts on a monthly basis

  • Obtaining and retaining sufficient records to substantiate claims made for income tax deductions

  • Retaining copies of all financial records for a period of 5 years

  • Providing to us all financial information 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.

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.

 

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.

 

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 Council’s website: http://www.psc.gov.au

 

DIRECTOR’S INDEMNITY

In the event that the entity invoiced by us for our services is unable to discharge its liabilities to us, then the entity’s Directors or Trustees agree to personally indemnify us for any such liability.

 

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 30 days from issue of Invoice. If the amount payable on the Invoice is not paid within 60 days of the date of that Invoice, this will result in a stop work being issued on your account and we may require upfront payments for all future work.

Where Payment is due 30 days from issue of invoice, Payment in full must be made before we lodge your Tax Returns with the ATO.

If you decide to leave GrowthLogic Advisors Pty Ltd and appoint another accountant, then we will rule off the work-in-progress at that point in time that you notified us of your departure or that your new accountant provides us with an ethical letter, and we will issue a final fee for the balance of work-in-progress at that point. You will need to settle this account before any records or information is provided to your new accountant.