Terms of Business (updated 9th November 2022)
Provision of Services Regulations 2009
The following information is given in accordance with the Provision of Services Regulations 2009.
Name of Business:
GCSD Accountants Limited
Legal Status & Form:
GCSD is a Limited company incorporated in England Wales (Company Number: 11457078).
VAT Number: 306 3323 40
Registered Office:
701 Stonehouse Park
Sperry Way
Stonehouse
Glos
GL10 3UT
E-mail:
Telephone: 01453 822818
Website: www.gcsd.co.uk
Registrations:
Details about our registration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) can be found on the register using our firm name and location at http://find.icaew.com.
Under our ICAEW registration, GCSD Accountants Limited is subject to the ICAEW’s code of Ethics, which can be found at www.icaew.com/regulations.
Professional Indemnity Insurance:
Our professional indemnity insurer details can be provided upon request. The territorial coverage is worldwide, excluding professional business carried out from an office in the United States of America or Canada, and excludes any action for a claim brought in any court in the United States or Canada.
Data Protection:
GCSD Accountants Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner as a data controller; details about our registration can be viewed at https://ico.org.uk under registration number ZA700711.
Quality of Service:
If any client is dissatisfied with the service provided, they can complain to Julian Owens. In the event of your not being satisfied by our response, you may also contact the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
STANDARD TERMS OF BUSINESS
The following standard terms of business apply to all engagements accepted by GCSD Accountants Limited. All work carried out is subject to these terms except where changes are expressly agreed in writing.
These standard terms of business are applicable to all types of entities (e.g. companies, LLPs, charities, friendly societies, academies, pension schemes, etc.). Any reference therefore to ‘director’ or ‘company’ should be interpreted as appropriate for the entity type (e.g. partner, trustee, governor, charity, LLP, etc.)
1 Professional obligations
1.1 Details of the firm’s professional registrations can be found at www.gcsd.co.uk,
1.2 We will observe and act in accordance with the bye-laws and regulations of our professional body the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) together with their code of ethics. We accept instructions to act for you on this basis. In particular you give us authority to correct errors made by HM Revenue & Customs where we become aware of them. We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations.
Professional indemnity insurance
1.3 Our professional indemnity insurer details can be provided upon request. The territorial coverage is worldwide, excluding professional business carried out from an office in the United States of America or Canada, and excludes any action for a claim brought in any court in the United States or Canada.
2 Investment services
2.1 Since we are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority then we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised if you need advice on investments. However, as we are licensed by our professional body, we may be able to provide certain investment services that are complementary to, or arise out of, the professional services we are providing to you.
2.2 Such advice may include:
- advise you on investments generally, but not recommend a particular investment or type of investment.
- refer you to a Permitted Third Party (PTP) (an independent firm authorised by the FCA), assist you and the PTP during the course of any advice given by that party and comment on, or explain, the advice received (but not make alternative recommendations). The PTP will issue you with his own terms and conditions letter, will be remunerated separately for his services and will take full responsibility for compliance with the requirements of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
- advise you in connection with the disposal of an investment, other than your rights in a pension policy or scheme.
- advise and assist you in transactions concerning shares or other securities not quoted on a recognised exchange.
- assist you in making arrangements for transactions in investments in certain circumstances; and
- manage investments or act as trustee (or donee of a power of attorney) where decisions to invest are taken on the advice of an authorised person.
2.3 For corporate clients we may also, on the understanding that the shares or other securities of the company are not publicly traded:
- advise the company, existing or prospective shareholders in relation to exercising rights, taking benefits or share options, valuations and methods of such valuations.
- arrange any agreements in connection with the issue, sale or transfer of the company’s shares or other securities.
- arrange for the issue of new shares; and
- act as the addressee to receive confirmation of acceptance of offer documents etc.
2.4 In the unlikely event that we cannot meet our liabilities to you, you may be able to claim compensation under the Chartered Accountants’ Compensation Scheme in respect of exempt regulated activities undertaken.
3 Commissions or other benefits
3.1 In some circumstances, commissions or other benefits may become payable to us or to one of our associates in respect of transactions we or such associates arrange for you, in which case we will refund the full amount back to you net of any taxes and costs we incur.
4 Client monies
4.1 We may, from time to time, hold money on your behalf. Such money will be held in trust in a client bank account, which is segregated from the firm’s funds. The account will be operated, and all funds dealt with, in accordance with the Clients’ Money Regulations of the ICAEW.
4.2 In order to avoid an excessive amount of administration, interest will only be paid to you where the amount of interest that would be earned on the balances held on your behalf in any calendar year exceeds £25. Any such interest would be calculated using the prevailing rate applied by Barclays Bank Plc for small deposits subject to the minimum period of notice for withdrawals. Subject to any tax legislation, interest will be paid gross.
4.3 If the total sum of money held on your behalf is enough to give rise to a significant amount of interest or is likely to do so, then the money will be placed in a separate interest-bearing client bank account designated to you. All interest earned on such money will be paid to you. Subject to any tax legislation, interest will be paid gross.
4.4 We will return monies held on your behalf promptly as soon as there is no longer any reason to retain those funds. In the unlikely event of us holding any unclaimed monies, we reserve the right to pay such monies to a registered charity in line with the guidelines set out in the Clients’ Money Regulations referred to above. We will not do this unless we have been unable to contact you for at least five years and we have taken reasonable steps to trace you and return the monies.
5 Fees
5.1 Our fees are computed on the basis of time spent on your affairs by the principals and our staff, including sub-contractors or consultants where necessary, and on the levels of skill and responsibility involved multiplied by their charge-out rate per hour, VAT being charged thereon. Indicative hourly charge-out rates are as follows:
Director £220 + VAT
Manager £90 – £140 + VAT
Senior Accountant £70 – £90 + VAT
Accountant £40 – £70 + VAT
5.2 Alternatively, we may indicate a fixed fee for the provision of specific services or an indicative range of fees for a particular assignment. It is not our practice to identify fixed fees for more than a year ahead. If it becomes apparent to us that a fee quote is inadequate, we reserve the right to notify you of a revised figure or range and to seek your agreement thereto.
5.3 Any additional work outside the responsibilities agreed with you for each service will involve additional fees, but a quote can be provided on request. Accordingly, we would like to point out that it is in your interests to ensure that your records etc are completed to the agreed stage.
5.4 Disbursements represent travel, accommodation and other expenses incurred in dealing with your affairs. Any disbursements we incur on your behalf, and expenses incurred in the course of carrying out our work for you, will be added to our invoices where appropriate.
5.5 Invoices are payable in full (including disbursements) in accordance with the terms set out on the invoice. If you do not accept that an invoiced fee is fair and reasonable you must notify us within 21 days of receipt, failing which you will be deemed to have accepted that payment is due.
5.6 We reserve the right to charge interest on overdue accounts at the current rate under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. We also reserve the right to terminate our engagement and cease acting if payment of any fees billed is unduly delayed.
5.7 If a client company, trust, or other entity is unable or unwilling to settle our fees, we reserve the right to seek payment from the individual (or parent company) giving us instructions on behalf of the client, and we shall be entitled to enforce any sums due against the group company or individual nominated to act for you.
5.8 Insofar as we are permitted to so by law or by professional guidelines, we reserve the right to exercise a lien over all funds, documents and records in our possession relating to all engagements for you until all outstanding fees and disbursements are paid in full.
5.9 In the event that we cease to act in relation to your company’s affairs you agree to meet all reasonable costs of providing information to the company’s new advisers. In particular you agree to meet these costs where we are required by law to provide information to a successor firm.
6 Retention of papers
6.1 You have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to your financial affairs. During the course of our work, we may collect information from you and others relevant to your tax and financial affairs. We will return any original documents to you if requested. Documents and records relevant to your tax affairs are required by law to be retained as follows:
Individuals, trustees, and partnerships:
- with trading or rental income: five years and 10 months after the end of the tax year.
- otherwise: 22 months after the end of the tax year.
Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships, and other corporate entities:
- six years from the end of the accounting period.
6.2 Although certain documents may legally belong to you, we may destroy correspondence and other papers that we store electronically or otherwise that are more than seven years old, except documents we think may be of continuing significance. You must notify us in writing if you wish us to keep any document for a longer period.
7 Conflicts of interest and independence
7.1 We reserve the right during our engagement with you to deliver services to other clients whose interests might compete with yours or are or may be adverse to yours, subject to clause 8 below. We confirm that we will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest involving us and affecting you unless we are unable to do so because of our confidentiality obligations. We have safeguards that can be implemented to protect the interests of different clients if a conflict arises. Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then we regret that we will be unable to provide further services.
7.2 During and after our engagement, you agree that we reserve the right to act for other clients whose interests are or may compete with or be adverse to yours, subject, of course, to our obligations of confidentiality and the safeguards set out in the paragraph on confidentiality below.
8 Confidentiality
8.1 We confirm that where you give us confidential information, we shall at all times keep it confidential, except as required by law or as provided for in regulatory, ethical or other professional statements relevant to our engagement.
8.2 You agree that, if we act for other clients who are or who become your competitors, to comply with our duty of confidentiality, it will be sufficient for us to take such steps as we think appropriate to preserve the confidentiality of information given to us by you, both during and after this engagement. These may include taking the same or similar steps as we take in respect of the confidentiality of our own information.
8.3 In addition, if we act for other clients whose interests are or may be adverse to yours, we will manage the conflict by implementing additional safeguards to preserve confidentiality. Safeguards may include measures such as separate teams, physical separation of teams, and separate arrangements for storage of, and access to, information.
8.4 You agree that the effective implementation of such steps or safeguards as described above will provide adequate measures to avoid any real risk of confidentiality being impaired.
8.5 We may, on occasions, subcontract work on your affairs to other tax or accounting professionals. The subcontractors will be bound by our client confidentiality terms. You may additionally need to consider your data protection responsibilities.
8.6 We will inform you of the proposed use of a subcontractor before they commence work, except where your data will not be transferred out of our systems and the subcontractor is bound by the confidentiality terms equivalent to an employee.
8.7 If we use external or cloud-based systems, we will ensure confidentiality of your information is maintained.
8.8 This clause applies in addition to our obligations as to data protection below.
9 Quality control
9.1 As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a high quality service, our files are periodically subject to an independent regulatory or quality review. Our reviewers are highly experienced and professional people and are, of course, bound by the same requirements of confidentiality as our principals and staff.
Dealing with HM Revenue & Customs
9.2 When dealing with HMRC on your behalf we are required to be honest and to take reasonable care to ensure that your returns are correct. To enable us to do this, you are required to be honest with us and to provide us with all necessary information in a timely manner. For more information about ‘Your Charter’ for your dealings with HMRC, see www.hmrc.gov.uk/charter/index.htm. To the best of our abilities, we will ensure that HMRC meet their side of the Charter in their dealings with you.
10 Help us to give you the right service
10.1 We are committed to providing you with a high quality service that is both efficient and effective. If at any time you would like to discuss with us how our service to you could be improved, or if you are dissatisfied with the service you are receiving, please let us know, by contacting Julian Owens on 01453 822818.
10.2 We undertake to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and do all we can to explain the position to you. We will acknowledge your letter within five working days of its receipt and endeavour to deal with your complaint within eight weeks. If we do not answer your complaint to your satisfaction, you may of course take up the matter with the ICAEW.
10.3 In order for us to provide you with a high quality service on an ongoing basis it is essential that you provide us with relevant records and information when requested, reply to correspondence in a timely manner and otherwise follow the terms of the agreement between us set out in this Standard Terms of Business and associated Engagement schedules. We therefore reserve the right to cancel the engagement between us with immediate effect in the event of:
- your insolvency, bankruptcy or other arrangement being reached with creditors.
- failure to pay our fees by the due dates.
- either party being in breach of their obligations where this is not corrected within 30 days of being asked to do so.
11 Applicable law
11.1 This engagement letter is governed by, and construed in accordance with, English law. The courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning this engagement letter and any matter arising from it. Each party irrevocably waives any right it may have to object to any action being brought in those courts, to claim that the action has been brought in an inappropriate forum, or to claim that those courts do not have jurisdiction.
11.2 If any provision in this Standard Terms of Business or any associated engagement schedules, or its application, are found to be invalid, illegal, or otherwise unenforceable in any respect, the validity, legality or enforceability of any other provisions shall not in any way be affected or impaired.
12 Changes in the law, in practice or in public policy
12.1 We will not accept responsibility if you act on advice previously given by us without first confirming with us that the advice is still valid in light of any change in the law, public policy, or your circumstances.
12.2 We will accept no liability for losses arising from changes in the law or the interpretation thereof, practice, or public policy that are first published after the date on which the advice is given to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.
13 Internet communication
13.1 Unless you instruct us otherwise, we may, where appropriate, communicate with you and with third parties via email or by other electronic means. However, internet communications are capable of data corruption and therefore we do not accept any responsibility for changes made to such communications after their despatch. It may therefore be inappropriate to rely on advice contained in an e-mail without obtaining written confirmation of it. We do not accept responsibility for any errors or problems that may arise through the use of internet communication and all risks connected with sending commercially sensitive information relating to your business are borne by you. If you do not agree to accept this risk, you should notify us in writing that e-mail is not an acceptable means of communication. We will never change our bank details without confirming this to you by posted letter. Any emailed or telephoned communications appearing to be from us which are not confirmed by post are fake and we accept no liability for any loss caused to you through accepting such communications as genuine. Similarly, always give us by hand or by post (as well as by email) details of your bank account.
13.2 It is the responsibility of the recipient to carry out a virus check on any attachments received.
14 Data Protection
14.1 To enable us to discharge the services agreed under our engagement, and for other related purposes including updating and enhancing client records, analysis for management purposes and statutory returns, crime prevention and legal and regulatory compliance, we may obtain, use, process and disclose personal data about you/your business/company/partnership/its officers and employees and shareholders (‘personal data’).
Data controller
14.2 We confirm that we are each considered an independent data controller in relation to personal data and that we will each comply with the relevant provisions of applicable data protection legislation.
14.3 You will also ensure that any disclosure of personal data to us complies with such legislation. If you supply us with any personal data or confidential information you shall ensure you have a lawful basis to pass it to us and will fully indemnify and hold us harmless if you do not have such a basis and that causes us loss. If you are supplying us with personal data on the basis of a power of attorney for anyone, you must produce to us an original or certified power of attorney on demand. You must ensure you have provided the necessary information to the relevant data subjects regarding its use. You may refer to our privacy notice on our website at www.gcsd.co.uk.
14.4 As a separate data controller, we may receive subject access requests from data subjects where they request copies of their personal data. We will co-operate with the request as per our own internal procedures. Should an objection or request for data erasure happen, we will assess each request on a case by case basis to establish the validity of the request.
14.5 In the course of providing services to you, we may disclose personal data to other firms in our network, a regulatory body or a third party or a buyer of our business. As part of our operational service, personal data supplied to us may be transferred between us and EEA/UK/USA where necessary. We will ensure that where any such data transfer takes place, it is covered by an appropriate safeguard such as an adequacy decision. Where an adequacy decision is not applicable another safeguard mechanism will be implemented, such as a standard contractual clause (SCC) to ensure that the transfer remains legal. Where cloud-based services are used the relevant cloud services terms and conditions will apply. In some instances, the location of data stored in the cloud may reside outside of the EEA/UK.
On 28 June 2021, the European Commission approved the UK for adequacy. This means that the continuation of data flows between the UK and the EU will remain unaffected and we can rely on this mechanism for the terms under this agreement over the next four years until its review in June 2025.
14.6 We confirm we have adequate security measures in place to protect personal data provided to us, including administrative, physical, and technical safeguards.
14.7 We will answer your reasonable enquiries to enable you to monitor compliance with this clause. If you need to contact us about any data protection issue, please contact Matthew Rawles on 01453 822818 or emailing mattrawles@gcsd.co.uk.
15 Limitation of third-party rights
15.1 Persons who are not party to this agreement shall have no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this agreement. This clause does not affect any right or remedy of any person which exists or is available otherwise than pursuant to that Act.
15.2 The advice we give you is for your sole use and is confidential to you and will not constitute advice for any third party to whom you may communicate it, unless we have expressly agreed in writing that a specified third party may rely on our work. We will accept no responsibility to third parties, including any group company to whom the engagement letter is not addressed, your spouse nor any family member of yours or your employer, for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them.
16 Client identification
16.1 In common with other professional services firms, we are required by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer for Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017) to:
- maintain identification procedures for clients, beneficial owners of clients, and persons purporting to act on behalf of clients.
- maintain records of identification evidence and the work undertaken for the client; and
- report, in accordance with the relevant legislation and regulations.
We have a statutory obligation under the above legislation to report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) any reasonable knowledge or suspicion of money laundering. Any such report must be made in the strictest confidence. In fulfilment of our legal obligations, neither the firm’s principals nor staff may enter into any correspondence or discussions with you regarding such matters.
16.2 If we are not able to obtain satisfactory evidence of your identity and where applicable that of the beneficial owners, we will not be able to proceed with the engagement.
16.3 If you undertake business that requires you to be supervised by an appropriate supervisory authority to follow anti-money laundering regulations, including if you accept or make high value cash payments of €10,000 or more (or equivalent in any currency) in exchange for goods, you should inform us.
16.4 Any personal data received from you to comply with our obligations under the MLR 2017 will be processed only for the purposes of preventing money laundering or terrorist financing. No other use will be made of this personal data unless use of the data is permitted by or under enactment other than the MLR 2017, or we have obtained the consent of the data subject to the proposed use of the data.
17 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standards
17.1 Unless agreed specifically in a separate engagement letter, we are not responsible for your compliance with the International Tax Compliance (United States of America) Regulations 2013, produced as a result of FATCA. In particular, we are not responsible for the categorisation of any UK entity into either a Financial Institution (FI) or an active or passive Non-Financial Foreign Entity (NFFE) nor, if a Financial Institution, for its registration with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and subsequent submission of the required annual returns to HM Revenue & Customs.
18 General Limitation of liability
18.1 We will provide services as agreed in the engagement with reasonable care and skill. Our liability to you is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses caused by our negligence or wilful default. However, to the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be responsible for any losses, penalties, surcharges, interest or additional tax liabilities if you or others supply incorrect or incomplete information, or fail to supply any appropriate information or if you fail to act on our advice or respond promptly to communications from us or the tax authorities.
18.2 You will not hold us, our directors or our staff, responsible, to the fullest extent permitted by law, for any loss suffered by you arising from any misrepresentation (intentional or unintentional) by you in information supplied to us orally or in writing in connection with this agreement. You have agreed that you will not bring any claim in connection with services we provide to you against any of our directors or employees personally.
18.3 The aggregate limit of liability shall be the lesser of five times the annual fees charged to you by this company or £20,000. That sum shall be the maximum aggregate liability of this company, its directors and employees to all persons to whom the engagement is in respect of and also any other person that we have agreed with you may rely on our work. 18.4 Unless there is a legal or regulatory requirement to do so, our work is not to be made available to third parties without our written permission and we will accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them.
18.4 Unless there is a legal or regulatory requirement to do so, our work is not to be made available to third parties without our written permission and we will accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them.
18.5 Nothing in this agreement shall exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence nor for fraudulent misrepresentation or other fraud which may not as a matter of applicable law be excluded or limited.
19 Intellectual property rights and use of our name
19.1 We will retain all intellectual property rights in any document prepared by us during the course of carrying out the engagement except where the law specifically states otherwise. You may only use such rights to the extent we agreed when engaged to provide services to you and may not resell or sublicense such rights without our further prior consent.
19.2 You are not permitted to use our name in any statement or document that you may issue unless our prior written consent has been obtained. The only exception to this restriction would be statements or documents that in accordance with applicable law are to be made public.
20 Draft/interim work or oral advice
20.1 In the course of our providing services to you we may provide advice or reports or other work products in draft or interim form, or orally. However, final written work products will always prevail over any draft, interim or oral statements. Where you request it, we will provide you with written confirmation of matters stated orally. Advice is valid as at the date it was given.
21 Interpretation
21.1 If any provision of our engagement letter/detailed quote or terms of business is held to be void for whatever reason, then that provision will be deemed not to form part of this contract, and no other provisions will be affected or impaired in any way. In the event of any conflict between these terms of business and the engagement letter/detailed quote or appendices, the relevant provision in the engagement letter/detailed quote or schedules will take precedence.
22 Internal disputes within a client
22.1 If we become aware of a dispute between the parties who own the business, or who are in some way involved in its ownership and management, it should be noted that our client is the business (unless we have agreed otherwise) and we would not provide information or services to one party without the express knowledge and permission of all parties. Unless otherwise agreed by all parties, we will continue to supply information to the registered office/normal place of business for the attention of the directors/proprietors/partners/trustees. If conflicting advice, information, or instructions are received from different directors/principals in the business, we will refer the matter back to the board of directors/the partnership and take no further action until the board/partnership has agreed the action to be taken. In certain cases, we reserve the right to cease acting for the business/client entirely.
