Compliance, Regulatory And Ethics
Quality Management
In providing tax agent services, we will:
• uphold and promote the Code of Professional Conduct (TPB Code) under the Tax Agents Services Act 2009 (TASA),
• not engage in conduct that will undermine the public trust and confidence in the integrity of the tax profession and tax system,
• hold each member of the tax profession (registered tax and BAS agents) accountable for their individual conduct.
Public interest
The partners and team members that provide tax agent services acknowledge their responsibility to uphold and promote the ethical standard of the tax profession.
Integrity, objectivity, and independence
Where the partner or team member undertake any activities for an Australian government agency in a professional capacity, any material conflicts of interest (real or apparent) must be identified, documented and disclosed to the government agency and reasonable steps must be taken to manage, mitigate or avoid the conflict of interest
Confidentiality
Where the partner or team member undertake any activities with an Australian government agency in a professional capacity, any information received directly or indirectly from the Australian government agency in connection with the activities undertaken with that agency is, subject to certain exceptions, treated as strictly confidential and cannot be used for their personal advantage or for the advantage of an associate, other partners or team members or clients. The partner or team member may disclose the information to a third party if:
• it is reasonable to conclude that the further disclosure of the information received from the Australian government agency was authorised by that agency and the further disclosure was done consistently with the agency’s authorisation, or
• there is a legal duty to do so.
Compliance with ethical pronouncements
Team members providing tax agent services should also be conversant with the TPB Code under sections 30-10 and 30-12 of the TASA.
Responsibility for independence issues
Where threats to independence involve activities undertaken for an Australian government agency, the engagement partner must disclose the details of any material conflict of interest (real or apparent) to the government agency as soon as they become aware of the conflict. The details to disclose to the government agency may include, but are not limited to the following:
• the nature of the conflict,
• the extent of the conflict,
• what interest, association or incentive gives rise to the conflict,
• the identity of the registered tax practitioners or others (e.g. team member, associate, contractor or other relevant entity of the firm) related to the conflict and the extent to which they have been involved in the services provided to the government agency,
• when the conflict was first identified,
• how the advice or services provided to the government agency might have been different had there not been a conflict of interest,
• any benefit, financial or otherwise, obtained due to the conflict of interest,
• whether any actions have been taken or are proposed to avoid the conflict or to mitigate any damage arising from the conflict.
Independence on engagements
Where the engagement for an Australian government agency is performed by team members who are registered tax or BAS agents, the engagement partner is responsible for the disclosure (including making a disclosure on behalf of the team members who are registered tax or BAS agents) of the material conflict of interest to the government agency.
Professional Standards Policy
To comply with the section 15(2) of the Determination under the TPB Code, where a team member or partner has become aware that a client’s tax return or other statement that has been lodged with the ATO is false or misleading in a material particular, the team member must notify the engagement partner and follow the Firm’s false or misleading statements action process. The false or misleading statement and action taken must be documented and notified to the quality management leader.
To fulfil the TPB Code obligation to uphold and promote each member of the profession being held accountable for their individual conduct, team members who are registered tax or BAS agents are required to report if they have reasonable grounds to believe:
• they have made a significant breach of the TPB Code,
• another registered tax or BAS agent has made a significant breach of the TPB Code to the TPB and recognised professional associations of that registered tax or BAS agent.
Breach Reporting Process
Team members are required to follow the Firm’s TASA breach reporting process before making the report.
To manage breaches of the Code, you should institute processes such as:
• Introducing and actively undertaking processes to manage underperformance in relation to breaches of the Code,
• Institute mechanisms for staff to report and address concerns about conduct that may breach the Code,
• Providing appropriate and adequate protection for staff that report conduct that may breach the Code,
• Maintaining appropriate records relating to potential breaches of the Code.
A Significant breach of the Code includes;
Subsection 90-1(1) of the TASA defines a ‘significant breach of the Code’ as a breach that:
a. constitutes an indictable offence, or an offence involving dishonesty, under an Australian law ; or
b. results, or is likely to result, in material loss or damage to another entity (including the Commonwealth); or
c. is otherwise significant, including taking into account any one or more of the following:
• the number or frequency of similar breaches by the tax practitioner,
• the impact of the breach on the tax practitioner’s ability to provide tax agent services,
• the extent to which the breach indicates that the tax practitioner’s arrangements to ensure compliance with the Code are inadequate; or d. is a breach of a kind prescribed by the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2022 (TASR).
Reasonable Grounds to Believe
Each partner or team member is required to report a significant breach of the TPB. In determining whether reporting is required appropriate legal advice will be sought.
Terms and Conditions
This is to confirm our understanding of the terms and objectives of our engagement and the nature and limitations of the services we will provide.
"Client" or "you" means the entity, acquiring goods or services from us in the Engagement Letter.
"Engagement Letter" means this document including the Terms and Conditions, schedules and annexures set out herein.
"Services" means the scope of the services specified in the Proposal, Engagement Letter, or as varied in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
Purpose, Scope and Output of the Engagement
Practice name will provide professional services at your request. We will provide the Services to you in accordance with the relevant professional and ethical standards. The details of the services provided in this agreement are detailed herein.
Unless otherwise stated herein, the Services covered by this engagement do not include audit or review services, therefore, no assurance will be provided. Unless agreed with you, the Services will not include specific identification of fraud or other illegal acts. If we do identify such acts or omissions, we will inform you. Before doing so, we will notify you as soon as practicable that we have identified any instances of fraud or illegal acts / omissions.
Unanticipated Services
Only the services which are listed in the attached schedules are included within the scope of our instructions. If there is additional work that you wish us to carry out which is not listed in the schedule, any additional work will be quoted to you before the commencement of said additional work. Once the scope of the additional work is agreed upon, we will issue an additional or updated letter of engagement via our online proposal system, and will ask you to sign the new agreement before we commence the new work.
Furthermore, Client name will agree that if an unanticipated need arises (such as an audit, an amended tax return or a personal financial statement required as part of a loan agreement), this additional work will be performed only after arriving at a mutually agreed-upon price and a Change of Service Request is accepted with a digital signature.
Period of Engagement
This engagement starts on Proposal commencement date and is valid until it's ended by mutual agreement or superseded by a newer engagement. We will not deal with earlier periods unless you specifically ask us to do so and we agree. You or we may agree to vary or terminate this agreement at any time without penalty. Notice of variation or termination must be given in writing.
Service and Price Guarantee
Practice name will always stand behind the quality and professional nature of the services that we offer. If at any point you are not completely satisfied with the services we have performed, we encourage you to bring this to our attention immediately. We'd love the opportunity to correctly address your concerns and allow us a chance to win your trust back and prevent similar problems from happening in the future.
If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of our services, we will work towards a mutual agreement regarding the payment for services completed. As an example, we may agree to either forgive the related payment or accept a portion of the originally agreed price that reflects your level of satisfaction.
Our advice and information is for your sole use, and we accept no responsibility to any third party, unless we have expressly agreed in the engagement letter that a specified third party may rely on our work.
Ownership of Documents
All original documents obtained from the client arising from the engagement shall remain the property of the client. However, we reserve the right to make a reasonable number of copies of the original documents for our records.
Client Responsibilities and Warranties
In conducting this engagement, information acquired by us in the course of the engagement is subject to strict confidentiality requirements. That information will not be disclosed by us to other parties except as required to provide the Services; as allowed for by law; or with your express written consent.
The Client is responsible for the reliability, accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, particulars and information provided and disclosure of all material and relevant information. Clients are also responsible for providing us with such materials and relevant information in a timely manner so that we may provide our Services to you in a timely manner. Clients are required to arrange for reasonable access by us to relevant individuals and documents, and shall be responsible for both the completeness and accuracy of the information supplied to us. Any advice given to the Client is only an opinion which is based on our knowledge of the Client's particular circumstances and is informed by the information, materials account records and particulars provided to us by the Client.
You agree that we are entitled to rely on the accuracy and completeness of any information you provide us under this agreement and in order to provide our services to you. Practice name accepts no liability or responsibility for any loss, damage, claim or expense that you may suffer as a result of you providing us with inaccurate, incomplete, incorrect out of date or untimely accounting records, particulars or information, and you waive and release us from any and all such liability.
You agree to pay Practice name the Fees in accordance with the Billing Schedule set out in this agreement.
You warrant that you have not relied on any representations or warranties made by Practice name in respect of the Services which have not been expressly set out in this agreement.
Outsourced Services
We may involve third party contractors or outsourced service providers in providing various aspects of your accounting work. These services
may include:
• Accounting file preparation and/ or Data entry into our accounting systems,
• Auditing of accounts (including Self-Managed Super Funds),
• Hosting of data on cloud based servers.
Acceptance of our services in conjunction with this engagement document indicates your acceptance of the use of outsourced services as described above. Where the outsourced service requires the disclosure of personal information to an overseas recipient, a consequence of your consent is that Practice name will be required to take reasonable steps to ensure that Australian Privacy Principles are complied with by the overseas recipients of the Personal Information.
Practice name has taken all available measures to ensure the security and privacy of your data is protected and follows the notifiable data breaches scheme as outlined in the Privacy Act 1988.
Limitation of Liability
Our liability is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. Further information on the scheme is available from the Professional Standards Councils' website: https://www.psc.gov.au/.
Termination of this engagement
Subject to any statutory provisions that apply to the Services, and unless otherwise outlined in this Terms document, either party may terminate this engagement at any time by giving 28 days written notice to the other. Either party may terminate this engagement immediately if the other commits any material or persistent breach of its obligations under this agreement, in particular the Terms and Conditions set out in the Engagement Letter (which, in the case of a breach capable of remedy, has not been remedied within 7 days of discovery by the party in breach), or if the other becomes insolvent.
In addition, we may terminate this engagement on reasonable notice if any of the following circumstances occur:
- You fail to pay our accounts on time,
- You fail to provide us with requested information,
- You fail to provide us with adequate instructions,
- Your instructions involve acting contrary to the interests of another client,
- A conflict of interest has arisen or it is not appropriate for us to continue to act on your behalf,
- We are no longer be able to provide all or part of the Services to you because of applicable auditor independence rules or legislation without ceasing to be independent in relation to an audit client, or
- For any other reasonable and just cause.
In addition to our other rights, upon termination you will be required to pay our charges for work done, and for any expenses incurred up to the date of termination together with our reasonable costs and expenses incurred in connection with the early termination of this engagement.
Termination of this engagement is without prejudice to any rights that may have accrued before termination. The Terms and Conditions of this agreement which expressly or by implication are intended to survive its termination or expiry will survive and continue to bind the parties.
Force majeure
Neither party will be liable to the other for any delay or failure to fulfil their obligations under this agreement if that delay and/or failure arises from causes beyond their control, including but not limited to fire, floods, acts of God, acts or regulations of any government or supranational authority, war, riot, terrorist activities, strikes, lockouts and industrial disputes.
Electronic Communications
You agree that we will communicate with each other by electronic means such as e-mail, SMS etc. We and you each recognise that e-mail and the internet are inherently insecure and that emails and data can become corrupted, are not always delivered promptly (or at all) and that other methods of communication may be appropriate. In addition, the internet is prone to viruses. We and you each recognise these hazards and so each of us will be responsible for protecting our own systems and interests and neither of you nor we will be responsible to the other on any basis for any loss or damage in any way arising from the use of electronic communication.
Billing
Services may be billed on a fixed rate or hourly billing rate, as indicated herein. Where we cannot provide a fixed rate quote, we will quote an hourly rate in cases of project work where it is difficult to define the scope of the service required. In the case where you have been quoted an estimate based on an hourly rate, Practice name will inform Client name of the amount of time used before we issue the final bill and collect payment. Our professional fees will be based on our regular billing rates, plus direct out-of-pocket expenses and applicable GST, and are due when rendered. Fees for additional services will be established separately.
Invoicing and Payment
We will submit our bill(s) as indicated herein. If an extension of our services is requested, we will discuss our fee arrangements at that time. Plan implementation as well as plan monitoring and updating, if needed, are separate engagements. If you choose one of these additional services, a separate engagement letter will be provided. These services will be billed separately. We reserve the right to suspend our services or to withdraw from this engagement in the event that any of our invoices are deemed delinquent. In the event that any collection action is required to collect unpaid balances due to us, you agree to reimburse us for our costs of collection, including lawyers' fees.
Privacy Act
We may collect Personal Information about 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 the obligations that we each may have under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (as amended) (Privacy Act). The obligations may include notifying the relevant person to whom the personal information relates who we are and how we propose to use their personal information. Where you have collected personal information, you confirm that you have collected the personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act, that you are entitled to provide this personal information to us and that we may use and disclose the personal information for the purpose/s we provide our services to you. We will handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act.
Privacy Policy
1. Introduction
Oxley Partners Chartered Accountants is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the confidentiality and security of your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, disclose, and protect your personal information.
2. What Personal Information We Collect
We may collect the following personal and sensitive information:
Name, date of birth, contact details (email, phone, address),
Tax File Number (TFN),
ABN and business details,
Bank account and financial details,
Employment and income details,
Superannuation information,
Details of your spouse and dependents (if relevant),
Government identifiers (e.g. Medicare, Centrelink),
Other information necessary for providing accounting, tax, and advisory services.
3. How We Collect Your Information
We collect personal information:
Directly from you (via meetings, phone, email, or forms),
From your authorised representatives,
From government agencies such as the ATO or ASIC,
From third-party service providers (e.g., payroll software, banks),
From publicly available sources (where lawful),
4. Why We Collect and Use Your Information
We collect your information to:
Provide accounting, tax, BAS, and business advisory services,
Prepare and lodge tax returns and other ATO forms,
Communicate with the ATO, ASIC, and other regulators on your behalf,
Perform audits and compliance work,
Send invoices and manage payments,
Comply with our legal and professional obligations.
5. Disclosure of Personal Information
We may disclose your personal information to:
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO),
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB),
Superannuation funds,
Banks or financial institutions (with consent),
Software providers (e.g., Xero, MYOB, BGL),
Legal or professional advisers,
Other third parties as required by law.
6. Storage and Security of Your Information
We store your information in secure physical and electronic formats. We take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
Our data may be stored in cloud-based systems hosted in Australia or overseas. We ensure these providers comply with equivalent privacy obligations.
7. Access and Correction
You have the right to:
Access the personal information we hold about you,
Request corrections if the information is inaccurate or out of date.
To do this, contact us using the details below.
8. Complaints
If you believe we have breached your privacy rights, please contact us. We will investigate and respond to your complaint within a reasonable timeframe. If unsatisfied, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au.
9. Contact Us
Oxley Partners Chartered Accountants
T: 02 4861 6917
P: PO Box 956, Bowral NSW 2576