Terms of service.

Our terms of service outline the conditions and relationship scope of us working together.

Fee terms

  • We follow the 1-3-12 principle (as outlined by GoProposal).

    • Our payroll fees are reviewed every 1 month, to account for changes in employee levels

    • Our bookkeeping fees are reviewed every 3 months, to account for the fluctuation in work scope

    • All other fees (i.e. BAS, EOY etc) are reviewed every 12 months, at 1 July

  • Notification for changes in fees will be sent through email with an updated proposal.

  • Some proposals won’t need to be resigned and pricing changes will go ahead, unless discontinued by the client.

  • The cost of all software will be a separate fee, unless specified in the service schedule.

  • All fees are collected through GoCardless, a direct debit system. At the time of signing you will be asked to fill out your details in a direct debit mandate. Fees will be collected through this system unless another process is requested.

  • Fees for recurring work are collected monthly, on the 20th of the month. You are billed for the month as it happens (i.e. work completed between 1/6 to 30/6 will be billed on 20/6)

  • If the payment bounces, we will cease work immediately and will contact you to rectify the issue. All work will be held until the payment processes.

  • Ad-hoc work will be invoiced and paid up front, unless specified. If work is to be paid post-completion, it is due for payment within 7 days.

  • No work for ad-hoc work will occur until the payment is processed. If the fee is to be paid post-completion and is not paid within the agreed upon terms, we may charge a 2% compound interest charge on the balance of the bill.

  • Any post-completion work that is unpaid for 30+ days (unless a prior arrangement is in place) will be passed on to a debt collector and any costs associated in recovery of the debt will be passed on to you.

  • We will discuss any intention to change the fee arrangement before fee changes occur and reserve the right to review fees based on changes in work scope.

  • Should you choose to terminate our contract, we ask that you provide 30 days notice for us to complete outstanding work.

Fees outside of fixed fee model

If at any point we are provide services that fall outside of the scope of work of our standard agreements, we will complete this on an hourly basis. This will be confirmed in writing and signed off before any work commences.

Our hourly rates for services provided in this manner, from 1 July 2020 are as follows:

Classification

Admin

Bookkeeping/Payroll

Advisory/Training

Standard Rate Client Rate*

115 + gst 100 + gst

  • *Client Rate is applied for clients who already have a managed service with us.

  • If a client signs up to a recurring managed service with us, we will credit the difference in rate to their account.

  • The correct rate classification will be determined by Best Practice Bookkeeping and we will always endeavour for this determination to be accurate

  • If work is asked to be completed urgently, a 25% loading will be applied to cover the coordination of this.

  • If work is asked to be completed at your office, a 25% loading will be applied to cover the coordination of this.

Confidentiality

Any information provided to us by you and all other matters relating to your business and it’s state will be held confidentially by Best Practice Bookkeeping, and will not be disclosed to any other party unless specifically authorised to do so.

Payroll

We are engaged to assist the business with all aspects of managing and administering the payments to all employees. We will ensure payments are in accordance with FairWork requirements and will advise the business owners of any concerns or changes that may impact the business. If the business is in breach of FairWork provisions, we will immediately notify you and discuss this. We note that we will not continue our engagement with you if the business continues to be in breach of the law after receiving our information and advice.

We are engaged to set up and establish the payroll system in your business, as per information provided to us by you. We will continue to maintain payroll systems based on this information until it is updated. We will utilise KeyPay software to interpret the award as per Fairwork but take no responsibility in determining the award to be applied. We rely on the information provided by you regarding the award and will utilise that information to interpret into the payroll system.

Update of information

We expect that all business details and details of persons involved will be accurate. Best Practice Bookkeeping should be informed of any changes to details as soon as changes occur. We are authorised to work with the business as it is named in our contract and with any authorised persons. Should these change a new agreement will need to be completed.

ATO Lodgement

A requirement of law is that you will be provided with an authorisation for all lodgements required by the ATO including BAS lodgement, Payment Summaries and TPAR reports (if applicable). Lodgement of all forms will follow our receipt of that authorisation. Email authorisation is acceptable. Failure to lodge on time can incur a fine and this will be your responsibility to pay if the authorisation has not been received by us.

Authorisation

Written authorisation can be through electronic signature, hand written consent or electronically written consent (i.e. email). Verbal consent over the phone is not enough and will require a follow up through a written medium. Best Practice Bookkeeping may require you to sign documents through third parties, however will refrain from sending sensitive or private information unless the third party is deemed secure.

Review of documentation

The responsibility for reviewing final reports and/or work rests with you. You will not be charged to correct errors which are clearly our fault, but revisions performed at your request may require discussion on any time incurred.

Responsibility of records

Responsibility for the maintenance of business records rests with you and this includes security of those records and prevention against fraud. It is important to remember that you are personally responsible for the information contained in any statutory return and that you must retain all necessary supporting documentation to substantiate the transactions. We have discussed and agreed on the requirement for business records, including primary source documents, to be retained by you. We have discussed your expectations as to our involvement in the verification that such records are accurate, correct and being maintained. It is also important to state that as a BAS Agent/Bookkeeper, if we are advised in writing by yourself that you have copies of the invoices and the GST is applicable, we will process on the basis that you have the correct records. While we will perform local backups of bookkeeping work for our own records, you should ensure all your business electronic data is backed up securely.

Subscriptions

We may start subscriptions on behalf of your business and will do so with consent. The cost of these will be accounted for in our fees. If you choose to terminate our contract, we will transfer any subscriptions to a nominated email address by the 30 day notice period as provided by you. If you choose not to nominate an email address or do not accept the transfer, the subscription will be discontinued after a month. Any extra costs incurred by Best Practice Bookkeeping on behalf of your business will be reimbursed to Best Practice Bookkeeping.

Ownership of documents and files

If requested by Best Practice Bookkeeping, at any point during or post-termination of our contract, we require you to collect your information in our property, it must be done so immediately. Following a termination, all required documentation will be released to you, unless accounts are unpaid. If your property remains in our possession with no communication from you, we will hold it for three months before destroying it in accordance with the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012.

Standards

We always aim to provide our clients with the highest standard of professional service and work to ensure that all staff under the Best Practice Bookkeeping umbrella maintain the same standard. As registered BAS Agents, we are also subject to code of conduct and disciplinary processes as outlined by Tax Practitioners Board. At any point should you feel you have not received the level of professional service you expected, we welcome you to contact us at hello@wearebpb.com.au or on (02) 4899 8069 to find a resolution to the issue. Should you feel the matter needs to be escalated, there are processes in place to manage complaints through the Tax Practitioner Board.

Indemnity

You agree to us indemnify us for any loss that may result from third party claims arising from the provisions of the services. If there is a claim against us for loss, the loss will be proportionately reduced by the extent of your contribution to the loss.

Right of Lien

We have a right of lien on records and business data, that is, we reserve the right to hold records and data against any outstanding debts. Note this will only apply to records and data that has been worked on but for which payment is outstanding.

last updated 1 July 2020