Standard Terms & Conditions
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.
Ownership of Documents
All original documents obtained from the client arising from the engagement shall remain the property of the client. However, we reserve the right to make a reasonable number of copies of the original documents for our records.
Our engagement will result in the production of income tax returns and other documents of the engagement including, if applicable, electronic documents or files, which will be supplied to the client. Ownership of these documents will vest in you. All other documents produced by us in respect of this engagement will remain the property of the Firm.
The Firm has a policy of exploring a legal right of lien over any client documents in our possession in the event of a dispute. The Firm has also established dispute resolution processes.
Responsibilities
In conducting this engagement, information acquired by us in the course of the engagement is subject to strict confidentiality requirements. The information will not be disclosed by us to other parties except as required or allowed for by law, or with your express consent.
Clients 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.
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 potential conflict of interest during this engagement are changes to your business circumstances, events affect your family (eg death and/or marriage breakdown) or a legal action commencing against you.
Terms of Trade
All invoices are issued with payment terms of 14 days from invoice date. Overdue invoices may result in a stop action on your work, and as a result your work may take longer to complete whilst any stop action is imposed. Failure to pay invoices within terms may also result in future work requiring an upfront payment prior to commencement.
The Firm reserves the right to interim bill for any work that exceeds 30 days and in all expectation will be not be completed within 60 days. We reserve the right to charge interest on any accounts not paid within 30 days of the date of the invoice. The interest rate applicable will be the monthly “Small Overdraft” rate set by the RBA.
Oral Advice and Draft Advice and Reports
During the course of this Engagement, we may supply oral advice and/or draft advice or reports. Any such oral advice or draft advice or reports are provided on a no-reliance basis. If you wish to rely on any oral advice we give you, you must inform us and we will provide written advice to you on the relevant matter.
We will in no circumstances be liable for any oral advice provided to you unless it is subsequently confirmed by us in writing. We will not be liable for any advice or opinion expressed in any letter or report that is stated to be in draft form. You may only rely on the final version of any written advice or report.
Outsourcing and Cloud Computing Services
Kreston Stanley Williamson ensures its compliance with ethical standards in the use of Outsourcing and Cloud Computing resources and in accordance with the requirements of APES 305 Terms of Engagement we provide below certain key information in relation to our such resources when we engage with you.
Accepting the terms of this engagement letter confirms your acknowledgement of our use of Cloud Computing resources and the reliance we place on the security standards of such providers. You also confirm your permission to the use of these providers to enable us to complete the delivery of our services to you.
Should you have any queries in relation to these terms, or do not accept these terms, please do not hesitate to contact your Engagement Manager or Partner.
Outsourcing
In the interest of enhancing our availability to meet your professional services needs while maintaining service quality and timeliness, we may use a third-party provider to assist us in the preparation of your work or provide us with qualified accounting professionals to help us manage our workload. To perform the services, we may provide the provider with access to your data to the extent this is required to perform the services.
This provider has established procedures and controls designed to protect client confidentiality and maintain data security. As the paid preparer of your work, our firm remains responsible for exercising reasonable care in preparing your work, and this will be subjected to our Firm’s normal quality control procedures. Our key outsourcing service providers are:
| Outsourcing Service Provider | Location and nature of service |
|---|---|
| Outsourced Accountant Pty Ltd For more information, please refer to The Outsourced Accountant | Kreston Stanley Williamson ensures uses The Outsourced Accountant, an Australian Company, to assist with the management of accounting professionals and their infrastructure based in Philippines. The accounting professionals we engage are directly under our supervision and an extension of our professional team. |
| Premier SMSF Solutions Pty Ltd For more information, please refer to Premier SMSF Solutions | Kreston Stanley Williamson ensures uses the provider to assist with SMSF administration services and are located in Australia. |
Cloud Computing
KrestonSW uses information technology and cloud computing resources sourced usually from various third-party providers (as required). Cloud Computing means such computing resources that are provided over the internet, including but not limited to on-demand access to networks, servers, data storage, databases, software and applications. Cloud Computing entrusts the respective remote third party with data and information of our Clients. Our key cloud computing resources are as follows:
| Cloud Computing Service Provider | Cloud Computing Service Provider | Cloud Computing Service Provider |
|---|---|---|
| BGL Corp BGL Corp is a technology company that offers SMSF administration and corporate compliance management solutions. For more information, please refer to BGL. | BGL Corp is hosted on Amazon Web Services in Australia. | Full details are available at BGL Cloud Subscription Agreement. |
| CaseWare Australia & New Zealand CaseWare Australia & New Zealand are the authorised distributor of CaseWare Cloud to the Australian Audit and Accounting industries. For more information, please refer to CaseWare Australia & New Zealand. | Client data is stored in the CaseWare Cloud application, a secure online engagement application certified under international security standards with data encrypted in transit to and from the application and while at rest, which runs on Amazon Web Services (‘AWS’) servers. Back-ups are taken daily and stored encrypted. | CaseWare Cloud security requirements and measures are continuously monitored assessed, and updated to reflect the changing needs and potential threats that may arise. Full details are available at CaseWare Cloud – Data, Security & Assurance. |
| FYI Docs FYI Docs is a new generation document management platform. For more information, please refer to FYI Docs. | FYI Docs is hosted on Amazon Web Services in Australia. | Full details are available at FYI Docs Security Statement. |
| Karbon, Inc Karbon, Inc is a software company that offer a collaborative platform for accounting firms to manage workflows, communicate with teams and deliver client work. For more information, please refer to Karbon, Inc. | Karbon is hosted on Microsoft Azure. | Full details are available at Karbon, Inc Privacy Policy. |
| MindBridge AI MindBridge AI is a leading risk discovery and data analysis platform. For more information, please refer to MindBridge. MindBridge is hosted on fully redundant cloud infrastructure that provides the highest level of protection from both a physical and cybersecurity standpoint. | Client data is stored in the MindBridge cloud application, a secure online engagement application certified under international security standards with data encrypted in transit to and from the application and while at rest. Back-ups are taken daily and stored encrypted. | MindBridge security requirements and measures are continuously monitored, assessed and updated to reflect the changing needs and potential threats that may arise. Full details are available at MindBridge Support Security. |
| Microsoft Australia Microsoft is a technology company which produces computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers and related services. For more information, please refer to Microsoft. | Microsoft is hosted on Microsoft Azure in Australia. | Full details are available at Microsoft Privacy Statement. |
| Practice Ignition Practice Ignition is a proposal and engagement letter service provider. For more information, please refer to Practice Ignition. | Practice Ignition is hosted in Australia. | Full details are available at Practice Ignition Security. |
| Practice Protect Practice Protect is a cybersecurity platform specifically built. For more information, please refer to Practice Protect. | Practice Protect is hosted in private data centers in Sydney, Australia. | Full details are available at CyberArk Identity. |
| XERO XERO is a technology company that offers a cloud-based accounting software platform for small and medium-sized businesses. For more information, please refer to XERO. | XERO is hosted on Amazon Web Services in the United States of America. | Full details are available at XERO Security. |
Our membership of Kreston International
Kreston International is a global network of independent accounting firms which provide professional services to clients. Each firm is a member of Kreston International (“Kreston International”), a UK company limited by guarantee, which provides no services to the clients of its members. Members of Kreston are separate legal entities and are only associated with each other through the common membership of Kreston International. Some of the members of Kreston use Kreston as part of their business name.
Nothing in the arrangements or rules of Kreston constitutes or implies an agency relationship or a partnership between Kreston International and/or the member firms of Kreston.
We may, from time to time, introduce you to partners or staff from other members of Kreston to assist us in providing services to you. If you use the services of such partners or staff in connection with this Engagement you must make your own contractual arrangements directly with them and they are not deemed to be acting as our servants or agents.
Accordingly, we are not liable for work which they carry out on your behalf. Neither Kreston International nor any other Member Firm of Kreston assumes any responsibility to you in connection with this Engagement unless you contract directly with them. The fact that you may have been introduced to us by an associated Kreston entity does not make that associated Kreston entity or any of its staff members responsible for any of our acts or omissions.
By engaging us you agree that any claim arising from this Engagement shall be brought only against this firm and that no claims in respect of this Engagement will be brought against any other Member Firm of Kreston or against Kreston International or personally against any other persons involved in the performance of this Engagement.
You agree that we may disclose your confidential information to other members of Kreston or to Kreston International where this relates to services we are providing or have provided, to you.
Termination
We may terminate this Engagement if:
- you fail to meet your responsibilities; or
- circumstances arise that, in our reasonable opinion, may prevent us from providing our services to you in accordance with the rules and principles set out in any code of conduct or professional standard which we are held accountable to, including if any actual or potential conflict of interest arises or you fail to take or act contrary to our advice.
If this Engagement is terminated by us or you, you must pay us any outstanding costs for the work performed up to and including the date of termination (including any unbilled work in progress and GST on such amounts).
Non-Solicitation
During the period of this Engagement and for 1 year after the date on which we last provide services to you or any individual or entity that is associated with you (your “associates”), you agree not to, and must procure that your associates do not, directly or indirectly induce or solicit, or attempt to induce or solicit, any of our employees to leave their employment with our firm and enter into a services or employment arrangement with you or any of your associates, nor to contact any such employees with a view to persuading them to leave their employment with our firm.
If you breach this clause and an employee of ours takes up a position (either as an employee or on a contract basis) with you or any of your associates, you must pay us an amount equal to 20% of the value of the relevant individual’s then current annual salary package. You agree that the amount payable under this provision represents a genuine pre-estimate of the loss or damage which we are likely to suffer in such circumstances.
Declaration by Authorised Representatives
This provision applies where this letter of Engagement is signed or otherwise accepted by a person (being the “authorised representative”) on behalf of the person, company, trust or other entity who this Engagement is with (being the “client”).
In consideration for us providing services to the client, the authorised representative declares they have the appropriate authority to accept the terms of this engagement on behalf of the client and can ensure due and punctual payment will be made by the client of all money which is or becomes payable to us under this Engagement.
Privacy
We manage and protect your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy which is available on our website here. By accepting the terms of this Engagement, you are agreeing to the terms of our privacy policy.
Acceptance and confirmation of our Terms
Please review and digitally sign this letter below to indicate that it is in accordance with your understanding of the engagement. You will in any event be deemed to have accepted the terms of this engagement if you continue to instruct us (in writing or orally) to perform the work specified in this letter or use our services. This letter will be effective for future years unless we advise you of any change.
Should you have any queries regarding the terms contained therein, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kreston Stanley Williamson
