We are pleased to accept instruction to act as your accountant. The purpose of this document is to set out our terms for carrying out the work and to clarify our respective responsibilities. Please read all the information carefully and contact us if you have any concerns or require clarification.
In this letter, "we", "us", and "our" relate to this accountancy practice, Ecommerce Accountants LLP, and "you" and "your" relate to you, the client.
We are a Member in Practice of the ACCA and subscribe to the promotion of high standards, ethical awareness and best practice. As part of those standards, engagement terms are issued and agreed prior to any work being undertaken.
To ensure that we provide you with the best quality service we like to ensure that all clients know who will be in charge of their affairs.
The principal in charge of your assignment will be: Joseph Cox, ACCA.
The services we will provide to you will be agreed with you in writing on email and updated from time to time by mutual agreement, also on email. The costs of these services are calculated by reference to our Standard Pricing, unless we have agreed otherwise on email (which we will do if you have non-standard accounting requirements).
Our Standard Pricing is published here:
https://www.ecommerceaccountants.co.uk/pricing-for-ecommerce-accounting
We bill you on a monthly basis for the services agreed. Initially this is based information you have provided us. For accounting, at the end of the year we will calculate the correct fee based on your actual revenue your business has made and invoice you for the shortfall or pay you a refund if we have overcharged you. For bookkeeping, invoice is based on your total order volume and will be applied at the end of the bookkeeping period. This fully aligns the cost you pay to the work actually required and we believe is the fairest approach.
Please note that for accounting your first payment will be backdated to cover any previous months in your current financial year, and you will pay your quoted monthly price from then on.
If you have bookkeeping or VAT returns you would like us to handle related to periods before you signed up, the monthly charge quoted will be backdated for this work too.
The next working day after you sign up, one of our team will be in touch with instructions for what you need to do next. This will include settling your initial invoice, appointing us as your HMRC Agent, and answering any initial questions you might have. After that, we will be monitoring your filings deadlines for you.
You'll also get an email straight-away with a link to our onboarding questionnaires, so that you can get started providing us with the information we need.
Once a filing period ends, and well before the deadline, we'll be in touch with a checklist of tasks to complete to provide the information required.
That's it!
We'll then prepare your filing and with your approval, submit it to HMRC.
As part of the accounting service you can access advice whenever you need throughout the year. We do this so because we want you comfortable asking us any compliance questions early, rather than us going back after a reporting period ends and needing to fix avoidable issues.
We want to make sure your expectations are met so here are some guidelines on how we work:
Send us a message whenever you like. We scan our inbox for urgent queries throughout the day, and for general queries you'll get a response in 24-48 working hours. if it gets to 72 working hours and we still have not been able to answer your question, we'll explain why, e.g. more research required, waiting on HMRC, etc. Note, we do not in general send acknowledgement emails as this uses up time that could be better spent working on queries and handling accounting; we do ensure every email is answered.
We speak via audio and video calls regularly and you can book these in whenever you like. We would greatly appreciate if you call the office only for urgent matters. Operating in this manner lets us stay efficient at staying on top of your work.
All ACCA accountants work within the framework of the ACCA Code of Ethics. The code requires accountants to comply with the principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour. As a ACCA accountants, we have a duty to observe the highest standards of conduct and integrity and to uphold the good standing and reputation of the profession. The duty of a professional accountant is not exclusively to satisfy the needs of an individual client or employer. In complying with the ethical requirements of the ACCA Code of Ethics the professional accountant is obliged to act primarily within the public interest.
Payment of fees rendered by invoice is due on receipt. Where payment has not been received we reserve the right to withhold services, documents and information, and have the right to cease to work on your account and to terminate the engagement if payments are unduly delayed. You will have the opportunity to set up a Direct Debit if you have a UK bank account.
If any of the services you require are outside of the scope detailed in this document we will agree with you in writing the additional costs that would apply for us to handle this for you.
There may come a time where you decide to disengage from our services for any reason. Some accountancies will retain all fees collected, regardless if they are going to file the associated return in the year that fees have been collected. We do not believe this is a fair practice and have outlined our approach to calculating a refund.
If it is your first year of engagement with us, we will retain one month's accounting fee to cover the initial set-up work and admin.
Subject to the above, we total the fees paid in respect of each service since the last completed work or filing, whichever is relevant, and deduct an amount based on the number of hours of work completed, and by the level of seniority of the employee who undertook this work. The hourly rates applicable are, Administrator: £30; Junior Bookkeeper: £35; Senior Bookkeeper: £60; Junior Accountant: £45; Senior Accountant: £100; Manager: £125; Partner: £175; Specialist Research: £200. For work which is one-off in nature, a higher rate applies, which will be agreed in writing based on the scope and complexity of work.
We do not hold client money on behalf of our clients.
Any information produced or relating to the work we undertake for you will be returned to you and should be kept for a period of no less than 6 years from the end of the tax year in question.
We agree never to share information relating to your business with any third party without prior consent unless required to do so by law or to comply with regulations or quality control reviews. Likewise, you agree not to use or copy or allow the use of the output of the work we do for with a third party without our prior permission. You recognise that we may have to stop providing services to you in the event that a conflict arises between our duties to you and to another client. You will notify us if you have any reason to believe that such a conflict has arisen or may arise. We may communicate with you electronically and you accept the risks associated with such communications, except anything arising through our negligence or wilful default.
We are obliged by law and by ACCA to undertake checks to ensure that you and your business are operating lawfully. By agreeing to our terms of engagement you accept that we are authorised to complete such checks as necessary. Under Money Laundering Regulations it is a criminal offence if we do not report suspicious transactions or if we inform a client that a report has been made against them.
As Chartered Accountants, we have a duty of care to you and we must observe the highest standards of conduct and integrity. Our services to you will only be completed by an accountant fully competent to perform such work and who holds current Professional Indemnity Insurance. Where any loss or damage occurs as the result of you providing misleading, incomplete or false information no liability will be accepted. The advice we give you is not to be used by a third party without written consent. The practice also accepts no legal responsibility for third-party use of the financial information provided by us.
We want you to be entirely satisfied with the services provided to you. If, however, you are not, please refer to the Complaints Policy (https://www.ecommerceaccountants.co.uk/complaints-policy).
In the event that we become unable to provide the services agreed through incapacity or death, a Continuity Arrangement has been made with Crystal Clear Business Consultants Ltd, 55 Moorfields Road, Denham, Bucks, UB9 5NE. The purpose of this agreement is to look after your interests by providing continuity of services. You will be contacted in the event of such circumstances arising and you will have the option to decline to be covered by these arrangements.
From time to time we may need to update these terms of service. If this happens, we will notify you of this in writing more than 30 days in advance.
You or we may terminate our engagement by giving 28 days written notice. All documents and information provided by you will be returned to you within 28 working days of receipt of the notice provided that all outstanding fees have been paid.
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