We normally agree to a weekly or monthly automatic payment when you sign up to us. The automatic payment is then offset to future invoices for Accounting work we perform. If no upfront price agreement has been made, the fee is based on the time we take to do the work and the value of the service provided. We consider factors such as expertise required, risk, responsibility, importance, complexity, urgency and results achieved. As a business we have a minimum fee of $1,500 + GST for the completion of Financial Statements and associated Tax Returns.
In some circumstances we may have a monthly fixed fee arrangement for accounting work we perform for you. Should you wish to discontinue our services for any reason any fixed fees made are non-refundable, this includes but is not limited to, fees for services already rendered, services in progress, or any preparatory work undertaken. By entering into this agreement, you acknowledge this policy.
Where appropriate we will add any authorised disbursements and expenses to our invoices incurred while performing our services for you. This includes third party service charges, such as Xero which will be billed monthly as an additional charge.
Should you choose to move to another accountant we will charge an offboarding fee of $150+GST.
Invoices are payable by the 7th of the month unless otherwise agreed.
If the work is carried out for a limited liability company, the persons who sign this letter acknowledge that the work is being carried out at their request and accept responsibility and liability with the client and each other for the payment of the account. If payment is not received by the due date, Innovative Advisory Limited is entitled to look to any or all of the parties signing this letter for payment without being obligated first to seek payment from the entity/client itself.
If payment of any invoice is not received by the due date, we may:
You retain ownership of all documents you provide to us so we can carry out your work. We will return them to you when the work is completed. All documents, workpapers and drafts that we create remain our property. We store them for seven years after the appropriate balance date. After seven years we may destroy them at our discretion using a secure document destruction service.
By signing this agreement, you authorise us to act as your tax agent with Inland Revenue for all tax types and all your associated entities. You give us permission to access your tax records, including electronic records, held by Inland Revenue. Under our tax agency you will receive an extension of time for filing your income tax returns and paying income tax, provided your returns have been filed on time in prior years.
You also agree to authorise us to communicate with your bankers, solicitors, finance companies, government agencies and any other relevant third party to obtain information required to complete our work for you.
We conduct this engagement in accordance with professional standards, rules and ethical requirements of Chartered Accountants Australia and NewZealand/CAANZ. Information we obtain in the course of this engagement is subject to confidentiality requirements, as well as our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020. We will not disclose that information to other parties, without your express consent, except as required by law or professional obligations, staff or subcontracted labour.
One such professional obligation includes a provision of the NZICA Code of Ethics which deals with actual or potential ‘non-compliance with laws and regulations’(NOCLAR). If, during the ordinary course of completing our engagement, we become aware of any such non-compliance which poses substantial harm (such as adverse consequences to investors, creditors, employees or the public), we may be required to disclose this information to an appropriate authority.
As members of CAANZ we are subject to disciplinary procedures and rules. Our work and files are subject to practice review by which compliance with professional standards is monitored. You agree that CAANZ, its reviewers and/or its disciplinary bodies may have access to our files, including client information, relating to this engagement. All CAANZ employees and contractors are required to maintain the strictest confidentiality.
To provide our services to you, we may need to access and use services and products that are owned by third parties. We may provide your information to these third parties solely as required to perform our work for you and not for any other purpose. This requires information being sent to our service provider in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Such third parties include the cloud-based software platform/s CCH iFirm, Xero, or other such provider, email and collaboration platforms such as Microsoft, and batch mail house services. If you have any concern about our use of third party and cloud-based services, please speak to us.
In accepting this engagement, you provide us with your express consent to disclose your information to:
We will not accept liability for negligence or any other reason to anyone but you, the persons who sign this letter. We will include a disclaimer to this effect in our compilation report. We set a limit on our liability to you for negligence or any other reason at ten times the annual accounting fee.
Certain third-party providers will require a direct authority in order for your information to be provided to us for use in completing the engagement. If we require a direct authority from you, we will advise you and provide you with express instructions on completing.
We will take reasonable steps to ensure any such recipient (other than a regulatory body) keeps such information confidential on the same basis we maintain regarding your information.
We may retain your information during and after our engagement:
We will continue to hold all such information confidentially.
If we want to mention that you are a client for promotional purposes, we will seek your permission before doing so.
Innovative Advisory may complete customer due diligence. We will only perform such work agreed to in these terms after we have conducted customer due diligence and have satisfied ourselves that we can proceed with the work.
We will not be responsible or liable if information we need to carry out our tasks properly is withheld, concealed, or wrongly represented to us. Any claim against us must be made and notified to us within one year of the date we complete the work set out in this agreement.
We will inform you if we become aware of any conflict of interest in our relationship with you or in our relationship with you and another client. Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests or you do not consent to the way in which we propose to manage the conflict then we will be unable to provide further services to some or all of the persons to whom this engagement applies. If this arises, we will inform you promptly.
We may act for other clients whose interests are not the same as or are adverse to yours, subject to the obligations of conflicts of interest and confidentiality referred to above.
If you have any concerns about our costs or services, please speak to the person responsible for this engagement. To resolve your concerns we have policies and procedures in place to deal appropriately with complaints and will use best endeavours to resolve a complaint or dispute to the mutual satisfaction of the parties involved. We may require you to detail your complaint in writing to allow us to fully investigate any concerns that you raise.
You are the best judge of our performance. If you are not satisfied with our work or think our fee is excessive, we invite you to contact any partner of the firm, who will investigate without cost to you and suggest a remedy. If you are still not happy you can also lay a complaint with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.