Terms of Engagement
Thank you for selecting Lawson Accounting, Toowoomba to conduct your professional accounting needs. We look forward to working with you.
We realise how important it is to really understand your unique business needs and we have prepared the
attached Terms of Engagement (‘TE’) to clarify the scope of work and other important terms, including fixed
fee. It is important that you read the TE before you indicate that you agree, by signing and returning this
document to us. We are unable to commence new work until this document has been signed. Where we
have provided a fixed fee for service, we have based this on a certain scope and should that scope change,
additional charges may apply and we will notify you if/when this occurs.
The scope of work may fall within the CPA Australia Ltd Professional Standards (Accountants) Scheme
(‘Scheme’), which facilitates improvements to the normal industry professional standards and protects you
as a consumer. Accordingly, we need to notify you of the following:
“Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.”
If you want more information on the Scheme you can go to:
- CPA Australia's Professional Standards Scheme or visit
- Professional Standards Councils’ website for additional consumer information.
Terms of Engagement For Public Accounting Services
Between Lawson Accounting (us or we or our) and you or your for the Term specified.
1. Purpose
This Terms of Engagement for Public Accounting Services TE confirms our understanding of the
engagement and the nature and limitations of services provided.
2. Term
2.1 This TE will commence upon receipt of a signed copy by our office and will continue on a year-to-year
automatic renewal until revoked by us or you, or replaced with an updated or revised copy.
3. Objectives and Scope of work
3.1 We will provide you with professional accounting services in compliance with APES 110 Code of
Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards) (‘The Code’), including
(where applicable):
- Accounting services,
- Bookkeeping services,
- Transactional accounting,
- Etc.
3.2 We may provide you with the following output: Accounting reports, Business Activity Statement
submission reports, Financial Statement Reports, Taxation Return submission report, Audit &
Assurance Report, Tax Planning Recommendations, or other as specified within the agreed time
frames.
3.3 We will provide the scope of work output within the specified timeframe or within a reasonable
period considering the context of the services.
3.4 We acknowledge that you may authorise an Accredited Data Recipient under the Consumer Data
Right (‘CDR’) to provide CDR data to us via a Trusted Adviser Insight. We confirm that for this
purpose you may nominate Carmen Lawson as your Trusted Adviser and that Carmen Lawson
complies with the definition of a Trusted Adviser under the Competition and Consumer (Consumer
Data Right) Amendments Rules (No. 1) 2021.
3.5 Unless otherwise specified in this TE or letter of engagement, audit and assurance or review are not
included in this engagement.
4. Our Promise
4.1 We will perform procedures (guided by the APES suite of standards) required that are directly related
to the engagement consistent with our fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional
competence and due care, confidentiality, professional behaviour, and identifying, avoiding and
dealing with conflicts of interests (Fundamental Principles).
4.2 We will seek to understand your requirements and provide you services confidentially and
professionally. Any information pertaining to your affairs, whether it be provided by you, or through a
Trusted Adviser Insight via the CDR, will be utilised and stored in an appropriate manner to maintain
our professional standards and obligations. Further information on privacy is noted at section 10 of
this letter.
4.3 We will document sufficient and appropriate records of the procedures performed for the TE, which
may be subject to the CPA Australia Best Practice Program assessment under APES 320 Quality
Control for Firms.
5. Our obligations
5.1 We are obliged to consider whether our clients create any threats to compliance with our
Fundamental Principles and where we cannot reduce the risk to an acceptable level we are obliged
to cease the TE pursuant to section 320 of The Code.
5.2 We have a duty to act in your best interests, unless this duty is inconsistent with our duty to act in
the public interest.
5.3 We are responsible for maintaining records for a period of five years unless otherwise required by
legislation.
5.4 During the course of our engagement, if we identify or suspect that Non-Compliance with Laws or
Regulations (NOCLAR) has occurred or may occur, which may have a direct effect on material
amounts or disclosures in the financial statements or compliance and may be fundamental to your
ability to continue business or to avoid material penalty, we may:
5.4.1 Discuss the matter with the appropriate level of management, those charged with
governance or the internal auditor, as appropriate.
5.4.2 Communicate the non-compliance or suspected non-compliance with your external auditor,
unless prohibited by law or regulation.
5.4.3 Disclose the matter to an appropriate authority even when there is no legal or regulatory
requirement to do so and/or;
5.4.4 Withdraw from the engagement and the professional relationship where permitted by law or
regulation.
5.5 Where appropriate we will inform you of our intention to disclose the matter to an appropriate
authority before disclosing the matter. However, if we have reason to believe that the actual or
intended conduct would constitute an imminent breach of a law or regulation that would cause
substantial harm to the general public, we may immediately disclose the matter to an appropriate
authority in order to prevent or mitigate the consequences of such imminent breach of law or
regulation.
6. Your obligations
6.1 You are responsible for full disclosure of all relevant information.
6.2 You are responsible for your own record keeping relating to your affairs.
6.3 You provide us with all necessary records (either electronic or physical) relating to your affairs.
6.4 You are responsible for the reliability, accuracy and completeness of the particulars and information
provided to us.
6.5 You are responsible for retaining paperwork for as long as legally required.
7. Third Party Involvement
7.1 When necessary we may engage third party specialist professionals and other public practitioners,
where warranted to obtain the advice you need or to assist us to provide our service to you. These
may include cloud service providers and outsourced service providers.
7.2 We will seek your consent if third party involvement is likely to exceed the fixed price (if applicable).
8. Fees, Billing, Trust Monies & Refunds
8.1 If the engagement involves the use of trust monies, we will manage those funds in accordance with
APES 310 Client Monies and as authorised by you in the Trust Account Authority Letter or as
otherwise instructed by you.
8.2 Our professional fees will be calculated on a fixed fee basis, which will be specified in the letter of
engagement. If no method is specified, please see section 8.5.
8.3 Our invoices may also include disbursements paid by us. These may include photocopying charges,
telephone and facsimile transmission charges, travel fares and expenses, stamp duty and fees paid
to third parties such as couriers, registration fees or fees for other professionals. These may be in
addition to the fixed price (if applicable).
8.4 Unless other payment terms are agreed, each invoice is payable within 14 days of receipt.
8.5 The fee arrangement is based on the expected amount of time and the level of staff required to
complete the accounting services as agreed. The fee is expected to be per the engagement quote
excluding miscellaneous expenses which are incurred to complete the engagement. This letter
relates only to the mentioned services as per the attached quotation. Work that is performed or
disbursements that are incurred which are outside this quote will be the subject of additional
charges. Services provided on top of this quote are provided on a fee for service basis based on the
hourly rates for members of our firm.
8.6 We do not offer refunds on professional services provided. Once our services have been rendered, fees are considered earned and are non-refundable. In cases where there are changes in costs associated with our services, we will offer a refund for the difference to our clients. These costs may vary and can include, but are not limited to, software variances and other related expenses. To request a refund for cost variances, clients must request in writing outlining the details and must provide proof of the change in costs. Once a refund request has been received and approved, the refund will be processed within 14 business days. Refunds will be issued using the same method of payment used for the original transaction unless otherwise agreed upon.
9. Ownership of materials
9.1 You own all original materials given to us.
9.2 We own all materials produced by us that resulted from our skill and attention to the extent that the
materials produced by us incorporate any original materials you give to us.
9.3 We may exercise a lien of your documents in our possession in the event of a dispute, which will be
handled in accordance with our firm’s dispute resolution process.
9.4 Subject to the payment of all outstanding professional fees and disbursements owing to us, we will
provide you with materials produced by us for you in the event you engage the services of another
practitioner and the materials are required by your new practitioner.
10. Privacy
10.1 Our collection use and disclosure of your personal information (‘PI’) may be subject to the Privacy Act
1988 (Cth) and accordingly we will only collect PI about you that relates to the TE. We may disclose PI
about you for the primary purpose of this TE or to third parties by express consent or as required by law.
If you would like to access any PI we might hold about you contact us.
10.2 We may collect PI about you, your representatives, your clients, and others when we provide services to
you. If we do, you agree to work with us to ensure that we both meet our respective obligations under
the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Your obligations may include ensuring your privacy policy and contracts
include a reference to your collection practices, how you will use the PI and that you may disclose the PI
to an agent for public accounting services.
10.3 In providing our services to you, we utilise cloud computing systems. Our primary providers include Xero,
CAS360, SF360, FYI Docs and Microsoft all of which are compliant to Australian security measures. We
use Australian servers where possible, which may be subject to Australian Privacy Law.
10.4 If your PI is disclosed to CPA Australia for the purpose of conducting a CPA Australia Best Practice
Program assessment on the services provided, your personal information will be handled by CPA
Australia as outlined in the CPA Australia Privacy Policy.
11. Confidentiality
11.1 We have an ethical duty of confidentiality, which means we must not share or disclose your details of
this TE to anyone, except as otherwise specified in this clause, without your consent unless required to
by law.
11.2 We may disclose your personal and confidential information details, as part of our working papers of the
services provided to you to CPA Australia Ltd, (if requested) for the purposes of conducting a CPA
Australia Best Practice Program assessment aimed at maintaining high industry professional standards.
Any such disclosure of confidential information does not change any of our commitments to safeguard
your information, and the information remains subject to any existing confidentiality obligations. We
advise you by signing this letter you acknowledge, our engagement files relating to this assessment will
be made available under this program.
12. Professional Indemnity Insurance (‘PII’)
12.1 We hold professional indemnity insurance of at least the minimum amount prescribed in the CPA
Australia Ltd By-Laws or as required by law. We hold a current PII policy with SURA Professional Risks
with a $2 million cover.
13. Professional Standards Scheme & Limitation of Liability
13.1 We participate in the Scheme, which facilitates the improvement of professional standards to protect
consumers and may limit our liability to you in a cause of action.
13.2 The Scheme applies to professional accounting services including accounting, bookkeeping, taxation,
auditing and assurance, insolvency and corporate reconstruction, management accounting, management
consulting, forensic accounting, valuation services.
14. Other
This engagement will be effective for future years unless we advise you of its amendment or replacement, or the
engagement is terminated.
Alternatively, if you want to clarify anything in this TE please contact us.
Yours sincerely,
Carmen Lawson BCom CPA C.Dec
Director
07 4613 1833
carmen@lawsonaccounting.com.au
Daniel Foelz BBus ASA C.Dec
Client Manager
0476 000 420
daniel@lawsonaccounting.com.au
Thomas Chambers BBus LLB
Client Manager
0476 000 411
thomas@lawsonaccounting.com.au