Before any work can start, an engagement letter must be signed by the client & countersigned by an Obrien accountant’s director.
The engagement letter is a legally enforceable contract for services & is the basis for work undertaken by the firm.
Obrien accountants reserves the right to refuse to undertake any work for whatever reason & to refuse to sign the engagement letter if appropriate.
The person signing the engagement letter guarantees to pay Obrien accountant fees for his or herself including all related parties, partners, co-directors, trustees, companies, trusts, partnerships & super funds.
Failure to sign an engagement letter does not mean fees are not legally due under common law.
Fees for individual tax returns may be a percentage of refund as stated on the website obrienaccountants.com but subject to a minimum fee in certain circumstances.
Fees for business clients are based on time spent at hourly rates & at the rate attributed to various staff from time to time. Indicative hourly rates are listed on the website obrienaccountants.com. hourly rates may vary from staff member & can change from time to time without notice.
Amounts charged to clients are calculated daily or weekly by the system based on timesheet entries.
For business clients, Obrien Accountants do not conduct fixed price jobs or charge on a results basis - all jobs are based on a time basis.
Clients are welcome to request an estimate of fees but as charges based on time cannot be predicted in advance, any estimate is subject to variation at the completion.
Any indicative prices or minimum fees quoted on our website obrienaccountants.com are only estimates & can vary from client to client & cannot be accurately calculated until the job is at an end.
If a client is unhappy with the fee charged they may request a detailed printout of work undertaken on the file.
Obrien accountants reserves the right to charge all or a part of its fees at a time of its discretion. In addition, it reserves the right to carry fees forward to another billing period at its discretion.
Obrien accountants reserves the right to request a fee deposit in advance which may be all or a part of the estimated fee in advance.
If your annual work is substantial we may require fees to be paid on a regular monthly basis with an adjustment at the end of the 12-month period.
All invoices are payable within 14 days & overdue invoices will attract interest of 2% per month.
If invoices are overdue for payment, Obrien accountants reserves the right to take any or all of the following actions:
- refuse to conduct additional work, refuse to provide final financial statements, refuse to sign off or lodge tax returns and to refuse to return documents or pass on information or files to third parties.
If an invoice becomes a bad debt or a client refuses to pay, Obrien accountants reserve the right to take legal action as appropriate or to refer collection to a licenced debt collector. Such action may result in negative influence on the client’s credit rating & for which Obrien accountants bear no responsibility whatsoever.
If Obrien accountants make any errors, these errors will be remedied without charge, unless the error was caused by incorrect information supplied by the client.
If the work results in unforeseen additional work (including tax audit) additional fees will apply, also based on hourly rates.
All work on client files including phone calls, emails & correspondence including queries & time spent by our admin staff is chargeable time & will be charged.
Obrien accountants bear no responsibility whatsoever for errors on the Obrien accountants website including errors in amount & rate.
To comply with government regulation including the “Anti- money laundering & counter-terrorism act 2006 “ Obrien accountants will ask for a copy of your photo id, such as a driver’s licence or passport.
All information held by Obrien accountants is totally confidential & we will not release it to third parties without your permission. Any calls from third parties will be refused unless you provide us with authority.
Documentary evidence must be kept for all tax claims made by our firm on your behalf. There is a risk that your file may be subjected to audit by the Australian tax office or other government authority. Obrien accountants accept no responsibility in the situation where source documents cannot be supplied.