GENERAL TERMS
1. GENERAL TERMS
This document provides information regarding your retainer of HQ Client.
Together with the information contained above, this document will constitute the Agreement by which you retain HQ Client.
The law of the State of New South Wales applies to this Agreement and generally to service costs regarding your matter.
At HQ client we provide professional services only in relation to the processing and the facilitation of compliance tasks. All work are prepared in accordance with strict instructions and agreement from our clients.
By accepting our terms and conditions, Client(s) have also agreed that when receiving advice or opinions expressed by our Team, that these advice and opinions are informal, a personal expression of thoughts and judgement that may require further research or fact checking. Clients should not take these opinions as formal professional advice when taking into account for decision making, regardless of forms and nature. These opinions are not formally engaged and will not be invoiced.
Our formal advice will be engaged separately from the usual engagement and will be, in most cases, formally presented and be invoiced accordingly.
You are entitled to obtain independent legal advice before entering into this Agreement should you wish to do so.
1.1 Acceptance
By selecting the service terms box you indicate your acceptance to the terms of this Agreement. Alternatively your continued instructions to HQ Client will be taken to indicate your acceptance of the terms of this Agreement.
1.2 Your obligations
This Agreement requires you to meet certain conditions. You must:
• At all times tell HQ Client openly and honestly everything relevant to your matter;
• Fully co-operate with HQ Client and do everything that HQ Client reasonably asks;
• Accept and follow all reasonable advice that HQ Client gives you;
• Make payment of any fees or disbursements as required by this Agreement.
HQ Client will be engaged to carry out and perform specific tasks on your behalf and in accordance with strict instructions from you and where it is not clear the abovementioned will be accepted as fact. It is your responsibility to make sure that the information provided to HQ Client is accurate and reliable.
We offer no guarantee or assurance on the outcome or results of the services proposed in this agreement and expect an assurance from the director(s), client(s) and shareholder(s) of the company and its representative and of all its subsidiaries that the companies and/or client(s) are not dealing in any way deemed illegal by any legislation in any country including Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Dubai, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam. By accepting our terms, you have agreed to provide the assurance mentioned.
In cases where HQ Client is requested to provide professional guidance or advice, unless these guidance and advice are formerly engaged with terms and payment, HQ Client will not be held responsible and/or liable for the result nor consequence of the unengaged guidance and advice.
If you fail to comply with any of these conditions, HQ Client has the right to terminate this Agreement.
1.3 Your Right to End this Agreement
You may terminate this Agreement at any time by providing HQ Client with notice in writing.
1.4 Termination of this Agreement
If this Agreement is terminated either by your failure to comply with any of your obligations or by you exercising your right to terminate, then HQ Client will charge you for your service costs incurred up to an as at the date of termination.
HQ Client reserves the right to terminate the services at any time with seven (7) days notice of intention to terminate this Agreement, and the grounds on which the notice is based. On termination, HQ Client will provide you with a bill for the service costs for which you are liable.
When HQ Client does transfer your file it will only include official and original documents that relate to your matter, in particular, it will not include any documents relating to the general knowledge, expertise, paperwork, or other resources held by HQ Client.
1.5 Interest
If a Bill of Costs is not paid within fourteen (14) days of you receiving it, HQ Client is entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding provided HQ Client notifies you in the Bill of Costs of our intention to charge interest. HQ Client may charge interest of up to 9% per annum for all late payments.
1.6 Recovery of Costs
If in the proceedings to which this Agreement relates to an order is made requiring another party to pay your costs of the proceedings, that order will not affect your liability to pay costs to HQ Client under this Agreement.
Your liability to pay costs will not be deferred until costs are recovered from another party other than in exceptional circumstances; interest will then be payable as referred to earlier in this Agreement.
Should you instruct HQ Client to settle your matter at some point, HQ Client will give you an estimate of the amount of costs payable by you at that point and an estimate of any likely contributions to your costs by another party.
1.7 Authority
By retaining HQ Client, you irrevocably authorise HQ Client:
• To receive or make payments out of monies in our GOC account under your name.
• To pay part or all of your service costs from those monies seven (7) days after our bill (tax invoice) has been sent to you.
1.8 Retention of Documents
Upon completion of your matter you are entitled to request all copies of official statements, tax returns and completed forms which HQ Client has prepared as part of your file, unless there is money owing to HQ Client for service costs. If you do not request the documents, HQ Client will keep them in a storage facility on the understanding that HQ Client has your authority to destroy the file after seven (7) years. HQ Client is entitled to retain possession of your papers and documents while you remain liable to HQ Client for any of your service costs. When HQ Client does provide your file to you, it will only include official
documents lodged or completed on your behalf. It will not include any documents relating to the general knowledge, expertise or other resources held by HQ Client. If you do request return of your papers, HQ Client is entitled to keep paper and/or electronic copies of them.
1.9 Goods & Services Tax
All fees charged by HQ Client will be subject to GST, unless you are exempt. Disbursements incurred by HQ Client in the course of acting for you will be charged to you net of any input tax credit to which HQ Client is entitled plus GST at the applicable rate.
1.10 Complaints
If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service, HQ Client invites you to raise your concerns either directly with your accountant or with a Partner by phoning (02) 8188 3450.
2. FEE CALCULATION METHOD
2.1 Professional Fees
Professional fees are our charges for performing accounting work on your behalf. HQ Client may charge fees by reference to time spent, as a fixed fee or a combination of both.
If this Agreement provides for fees charged by reference to time spent, HQ Client will charge a fee per hour or proportion of an hour, depending upon the time spent on the matter, by reference to a minimum unit of six (6) minutes. The minimum unit is chosen as commercially practical, given that any work HQ Client does on your behalf requires proper notes of even short activities and file and record those notes and other details. Fees will be charged for all work carried out including file work, meetings and travelling. HQ Client will not increase hourly fees more often than once each year.
If this Agreement provides for a fixed fee, HQ Client will charge a fixed fee in an Engagement letter or email. Those fixed professional fees are determined by reference to the experience of HQ Client, considering the likely issues and evidence required.
Throughout the course of your matter HQ Client is entitled to increase its fees in line with inflationary pressures, additional service(s) and/or service(s) complexity.
2.2 Disbursements
Disbursements are the external expenses that HQ Client incurs and pays on your behalf in the course of your matter. All reasonably incurred disbursements will form part of the services costs payable by you to HQ Client.
In addition to the disbursements HQ Client pays on your behalf, HQ Client will incur internal expenses such as telephone calls, facsimiles and internal office copying. HQ Client will not render a separate charge for those internal expenses, they will form part of the professional fees referred to above.
Disbursements incurred by HQ Client in the course of acting for you will be charged to you net of any input tax credit to which HQ Client is entitled plus GST at the applicable rate.
2.3 Payment of Costs
HQ Client is entitled to send a Bill of Costs to you for payment of services rendered or you may request an interim Bill of Costs for professional fees and/or disbursements at any time.
3. PRIVACY – COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
HQ Client deals with the collection, security, quality, use and disclosure of personal information in accordance with the federal and state privacy and other legislation.
Information including medical records, Medicare and earnings information provided by you to HQ Client or obtained by HQ Client on your behalf will be used in order to fulfil our obligations in accordance with the terms of your Retainer of our firm and the associated regulations.
Information provided by you to HQ Client may be disclosed as required by law and/or to the following, which you authorise by entering into this Agreement:
• Tax Practitioners Board, ICAA and/or CPA
• Our Auditors and/or Accountants.
• Barristers or other firms of solicitors retained on your behalf.
• Experts retained on your behalf such as medical practitioners, accountants and engineers.
• Insurers and lawyers representing other parties to your matter.
• Regulatory bodies in other States and/or foreign countries.
• Law Societies in other States and/or Territories.
• Financial Institutions providing banking services to our firm.
Information provided by you to HQ Client and information regarding your matter may also be disclosed to a Union or Association of which you are a member, where you have been referred to HQ Client for accounting services by that Union or Association.
On some occasions, media organisations such as newspaper publishers, television broadcasters and radio broadcasters will report on matters before a Court or similar tribunal, which they are entitled to do.
By this Agreement you authorise HQ Client to respond to enquiries of media organisations on your behalf. HQ Client will not seek out media reporting in relation to your matter without your prior approval.