Effective 1 July 2025
Dry Kirkness
Business Terms and Conditions
Our engagement terms include our engagement letter (including any schedule, attachment or annexure) and these business terms and conditions. They replace any prior agreement between us in relation to the services being provided as set out in our engagement letter.
The receipt by you of our services will be deemed to be under these engagement terms.
We review our business terms from time to time and if we change these terms, the revised version will be published on our website.
1. Who may instruct us
You confirm that you, and any other person you nominate in writing from time to time (provided we have acknowledged such nomination), are authorised to give us instructions and information on behalf of all persons we are acting for and to receive our advice and documents on their behalf.
If we are acting for a business, and we receive conflicting advice, information or instructions from different persons, we may refer the matter to the board of directors, partners or proprietors (as applicable) and act only as requested by them.
2. You and your spouse/partner
We will advise you and your spouse/partner on the basis that you are a family unit with shared interests. We may deal with either of you, and may discuss with either of you the affairs of the other. If you wish to change these arrangements, please let us know.
3. Your responsibilities
The timely completion of our services requires your cooperation in the provision of information, documents and resources relevant to our services. Estimates of time for completion of our services are given on the assumption that we receive this cooperation. We may charge additional fees and expenses which result from delays in providing this cooperation.
We will rely on such information being true, correct and complete and will not audit the information, except to the extent we are specifically engaged to provide audit-related services, in which case you will be provided with a separate engagement letter.
You agree to:
- Provide all information, documents and resources (“materials”) that we reasonably require to enable us to provide our services including arranging access to third parties, your premises and systems, and providing reasonable working facilities for us (where applicable);
- Ensure that appropriate back up, security and virus checking procedures are in place for any computer facilities you provide;
- Make senior staff available for consultation on request;
- Make decisions promptly to facilitate the performance of our services;
- Promptly notify us of any changes in the materials provided to us as originally presented and ensure that materials supplied by you or on your behalf, to the best of your knowledge and belief, are accurate, not misleading and do not omit any material particulars.
If requested by us, you will provide to us personal identity documentation to enable us to comply with our duties under the law to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). Unless we notify you, we will not retain copies of your identity documents in our systems.
You authorise us to approach such third parties as may be appropriate for information that we consider necessary to deal with your affairs.
You must keep us informed on a timely basis of changes in your circumstances that may affect our services.
4. Your obligations and rights
The Tax Agents Services Act 2009 requires us to advise you of your rights and obligations where we are acting for you on taxation matters. In relation to the taxation services provided:
- You are subject to the self-assessment system in relation to any of your income tax returns. The Commissioner is entitled to rely on any statements made in your income tax returns. Where those statements are later found to be incorrect, the Commissioner may amend your income tax assessments and, in addition to any tax assessed, you may also be liable for penalties and interest charges.
- You have an obligation to keep proper records that will substantiate the taxation returns prepared and which will satisfy the substantiation requirements of the Income Tax Assessment Act. Failure to keep such records could result in claims being disallowed, additional tax being imposed, and the imposition of penalty or general interest charges.
- You are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the particulars and information required to comply with the various taxation laws. We will use this information supplied in the preparation of your returns.
Your rights as a taxpayer include:
- The right to seek a private ruling;
- The right to object to an assessment by the Commissioner;
- The right to appeal against an adverse decision by the Commissioner.
Certain time limitations may exist for you to exercise these rights. Should you wish to exercise these rights at any time you should contact us so that we can provide you with the relevant time frames and to discuss any additional requirements that may exist.
5. Qualifications on our services
To the extent our services involve the performance of services established by law, nothing in the engagement letter or these terms reduce our obligations under such law.
You must not act on advice given by us on an earlier occasion without first confirming with us that the advice is still valid.
Our services are limited exclusively to those you have engaged us to perform. Unless otherwise specified in the engagement letter, our services cannot be relied upon to disclose irregularities and errors, including fraud and other illegal acts, in your affairs.
Our services are not legal services and do not constitute legal advice.
Dates in our Scope of Services or any other timetable provided to you are intended for planning and estimating purposes only and are not contractually binding.
Where our engagement is recurring, we may amend our engagement letter and these terms where we consider it is necessary or appropriate to do so. If you do not accept such amendments, you must notify us promptly in which case you may end our engagement in accordance with clause 24 and those amendments will not apply prior to the end of the engagement.
6. Reliance on advice
We will endeavour to record all advice on important matters in writing. In the course of providing our services, we may provide verbal comments or draft reports, presentations, letters, schedules and other documents. You may not rely on such verbal comments or draft documents, conclusions or advice as they may be subject to further work, revision and other factors. You may rely on written advice provided by us.
7. Investment and financial advisory advice
We will not provide you with investment or financial advice regulated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) as we do not hold the required Australian Financial Services Licence to do so.
8. Professional obligations
We will comply with the professional and ethical standards of the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board, available at apesb.org.au. This includes APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards), which among other things contains provisions that apply if we become aware of any actual or potential ‘non-compliance with governing laws or regulations’ (NOCLAR). Where any such non-compliance poses substantial harm (such as serious adverse consequences to investors, creditors, employees, auditor, group auditor or the public), we may be required to disclose the matter to an appropriate authority.
We will also comply with the requirements of the TPB. As a registered tax agent we refer you to a summary of our respective obligations which can be found here.
9. Conflicts of interest
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 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.
10. Fees and payment
Our fees will be charged based on the prevailing charge-out rates at the time of performing the engagement.
We can provide an estimated fee for the engagement or details of our prevailing charge-out rates on request. Please contact your Engagement Partner if you require an estimate.
General assistance with issues that you may face from time to time outside of this engagement will be billed at an hourly rate.
Where you require additional work to be completed beyond this engagement then this will represent a separate engagement. We will agree the nature and fee for this work with you prior to commencement.
Tax Invoices will be issued progressively as work segments are completed under this engagement. Invoices are payable within 14 days.
We reserve the right to suspend work where these invoices remain unpaid.
Our letter of engagement and these terms and conditions will be effective for future years unless we advise you of its amendment or replacement, or the engagement is terminated.
The above rates will be charged on the basis set out in the engagement letter and have been set based on the level of skill, responsibility, importance and value of the advice, as well as the level of risk.
If we have provided you with an estimate of our fees for any specific work, this is an estimate only and our actual fees may vary.
We may provide a fixed fee for the provision of specific services. If it becomes apparent to us, due to unforeseen circumstances, that a fixed fee is inadequate, we may notify you of a revised figure and seek your agreement to it.
In some cases, you may be entitled to assistance with your professional fees, particularly in relation to any investigation into your tax affairs by the ATO. Assistance may be provided through insurance policies you hold or via membership of a professional or trade body. Other than where such insurance was arranged through us, you will need to advise us of any such insurance cover that you have. You will remain liable for our fees regardless of whether all or part are to be paid by someone else.
We will bill monthly and our invoices are due for payment within 14 days of issue. Our fees are exclusive of GST which will be added to our invoice where it is chargeable. Any disbursements, expenses and other taxes we incur in the course of performing our services will be added to our invoices where appropriate.
Unless otherwise agreed to the contrary, our fees do not include the costs of any counsel, or other professionals or third parties engaged with your approval.
We may charge interest on late paid invoices at the rate of 2% above the RBA cash rate. We may also suspend our services or cease to act for you on giving written notice if payment of any fees is unduly delayed.
We intend to exercise these rights only where it is fair and reasonable to do so.
11. Lien
If permitted by law or professional guidelines, we may exercise a lien over all materials or records in our possession relating to all engagements for you until all outstanding fees and disbursements are paid in full.
12. Client monies
We maintain a trust account for dealing with client monies on their behalf. We can only accept money into our trust account on your behalf if you have provided us with a written trust account authority letter which details the authority given to us in relation to that trust money.
We may ask you to pay us an amount on account of future costs. You authorise us to draw on this amount in payment of our fees as they become due.
13. Confidentiality
In the course of our engagement, we will prepare various working papers and notes consistent with our internal quality control system. These working papers remain the property of our firm and will be retained by us to support any future queries on work completed. Original source records provided by you to us to assist in the completion of your work will be returned to you at the completion of each engagement. Where appropriate, we may take copies to retain for our client files.
We will take all reasonable steps to keep your information confidential, except where:
- we need to disclose your information to our service providers (including auditors of client monies if applicable) or regulatory bodies in performing the services, our professional advisers or insurers or as part of an external peer review from time to time. Our files may also be subject to review as part of the quality review program of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. By accepting this engagement, you acknowledge that, if requested, our files relating to this engagement will be made available under this program. We will take reasonable steps to ensure any such recipient (other than a regulatory body) keeps such information confidential on the same basis;
- we are required by law, regulation, a court of competent authority, or those professional obligations referred to in section 8 above, to disclose the information;
- we provide limited information (but only to the extent reasonably necessary) to potential purchasers (or their professional advisors) of our practice but we will take reasonable steps to ensure that any such recipient keeps the disclosed information confidential; or
- you give us permission to disclose the information.
We may retain your information during and after our engagement to comply with our legal requirements or as part of our regular IT back-up and archiving practices. We will continue to hold such information confidentially.
We may mention that you are a client for promotional purposes.
14. Privacy
You must make all necessary notifications and obtain any necessary consents for us to process personal information you provide to us. We collect and use that personal information for the purposes of providing the services described in the engagement letter to you and we will comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) when processing that personal information. Our privacy policy provides further details of our privacy practices. You may also request a copy of our privacy policy by phoning our office on 9481 1118 or emailing dk@drykirkness.com.au.
15. Ownership of materials
We own the copyright and all other intellectual property rights in everything we create in connection with this engagement. Unless we agree otherwise, anything we create in connection with this agreement may be used by you only for the purpose for which you have engaged us.
If our engagement includes the provision of accounting or tax advice, it is provided to the parties named in the engagement letter. It is given solely for the use of those parties and our duty of care does not extend to any other entity or individual.
You must obtain our written consent if you wish to discuss our advice with any other person.
16. Limitation of liability
Our liability is limited by a scheme approved under the Professional Standards Legislation.
You agree not to bring any claim against any of our Partner or employees in their personal capacity.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable to you for:
- indirect, special or consequential losses or damages of any kind; or
- liability arising due to the acts or omissions of any other person or circumstances outside our reasonable control, or your breach of these terms.
17. Communication
You must advise of any changes to your contact details. We may send any communications to the last contact details you have provided. Unless you instruct us otherwise, we may, where appropriate, communicate with you and with third parties via email or by other electronic means. The recipient is responsible for virus checking emails and any attachments. There is a risk of non-receipt, delayed receipt, inadvertent misdirection or interception by third parties in any form of communication, whether electronic, postal or otherwise. We are not responsible for any such matters beyond our control.
As part of the Australian Taxation Office’s commitment to improving online services, a service known as Communication preferences has been introduced. The standard communication preference used by Dry Kirkness is to receive all ATO communication for you and your entities digitally.
Examples of communications that we will receive include:
- Income tax
- Superannuation
- Study and training support loans
- Activity statement related
- Debt
- Employer and business obligations
Unless you notify us in writing to the contrary, you agree to us receiving ATO correspondence via digital means.
18. Applicable Law
Our engagement terms and any obligations arising from the engagement are governed by Western Australian law. Changes in the law may take place before our advice is acted upon or may be retrospective in effect. We accept no responsibility to inform you of changes in the law or interpretations affecting advice previously given by us. The courts sitting in Western Australia will have non-exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any dispute between us.
19. Interpretation
If any provision of the engagement letter or these terms is void, that provision will be severed, and the remainder will continue to apply. If there is any conflict between the engagement letter and these terms, these terms prevail.
20. Disputes and complaints
If you have any concerns about our costs or services, please speak to the person identified in our engagement letter as responsible for this engagement in the first instance. 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 which you can do via this form on our website.
Where your complaint concerns a tax agent service or BAS agent service that we have provided, you also have the right to make a complaint to the Tax Practitioners Board in accordance with their complaints process described here https://www.tpb.gov.au/complaints.
21. Third party responsibilities
We may utilise other service and cloud computing service providers, including:
- Accountants Assist, an Australian accounting practice with some Australian qualified staff located in Vietnam to prepare income tax returns and financial statements; and
- and other third parties from time to time and as separately notified to you by us.
To perform the services, we may provide these third parties with access to your data to the extent this is required to perform the services.
Your data will be stored in servers physically located in Australia (unless otherwise specified) and in accordance with the security practices of the third-party service provider and our Privacy Policy.
22. Consumer Data Rights
You may consent for an Accredited Data Recipient under the Consumer Data Right (CDR) to disclose your CDR data to us. You may nominate us as your Trusted Adviser for this purpose. As your Trusted Adviser, we will only access the data necessary to provide the services in this engagement letter.
23. Register of Tax Agents and BAS Agents available for you to search
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) maintains a register with details of registered, suspended and deregistered tax and BAS agents. This register is available to the public to search at https://www.tpb.gov.au/public-register.
For details of other information which we consider may be relevant to your decision to engage us to provide relevant services, please visit our website at drykirkness.com.au
24. End of our Engagement
You may end the engagement at any time. If you do this, we will cease work for you immediately and have no further obligations or responsibility to you.
We may end the engagement:
- If any amount is unpaid after the due date for payment and we have sent you a notice that we intend to end the engagement;
- If you do not provide us with adequate instruction or respond to requests for information from us;
- If a conflict arises which despite our best efforts cannot be satisfactorily addressed;
- For any other just cause.
In these circumstances and on request we can assist you in finding alternate accountants and assist to transition the relationship.
You must pay our fees for expenses incurred and work done including the preparation of an engagement cessation letter, up to the date the engagement ends.