Terms and Conditions of Business

INTRODUCTION

These terms and conditions set out the general terms under which we undertake our business. The specific conditions relating to particular assignments will be covered in your Engagement Letter and Fee Terms.

ACCOUNTING BASIS AND TAX TREATMENT

1. In providing our services, we will determine and apply accounting and tax treatments having regard to applicable legislation, professional standards and the information supplied to us. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, accounts prepared for unincorporated businesses will normally be prepared using the traditional accruals basis of accounting. Where alternative accounting or tax treatments are available, we may recommend the approach which, in our professional judgement, is most appropriate to your circumstances. Should you instruct us to adopt an alternative treatment contrary to our recommendation, we reserve the right to require that instruction to be confirmed in writing before implementation. Where the preparation of accounts on the accruals basis requires information relating to debtors, creditors, stock, work in progress or other year-end balances, you agree to provide complete and accurate information sufficient for us to perform the engagement.

APPLICABLE LAW

2. This engagement letter, the schedule of services and our standard terms and conditions of business are governed by, and should be construed in accordance with UK law. Each party agrees that the courts of the UK 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 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.

AUTHORISATION AND REGISTRATION

3. We are registered with the IFA as Financial Accountants and can be found on the register of members at https://www.ifa.org.uk/find-an-accountant.

BRIBARY ACT 2010

4. In accordance with the requirements of the Bribery Act 2010 we have policies and procedures in place to prevent the business and its partners and staff from offering or receiving bribes.

CLIENT MONIES

5. 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’ Monies Rules of the Institute of Financial Accountants. These rules can be found on the IFA website at https://www.ifa.org.uk/about-us/publicinterest/memberregulations.

6) Fees paid by you in advance for professional work to be performed and clearly identifiable as such shall not be regarded as clients’ monies.

COMMISSIONS OR OTHER BENEFITS

7. In some circumstances, commissions or other benefits may become payable to us in respect of transactions which we arrange for you. Where this happens we will notify you in writing of the amount and terms of payment. The same will apply where the payment is made to or transactions are arranged by a person or business connected with ours.

COMMUNICATION

8. Unless you instruct us otherwise we may, where appropriate, communicate with you and with third parties via email or by other electronic means. The recipient is responsible for virus checking emails and any attachments.

9) With electronic communication there is a risk of non-receipt, delayed receipt, inadvertent misdirection or interception by third parties. We use virus-scanning software to reduce the risk of viruses and similar damaging items being transmitted through emails or electronic storage devices. However electronic communication is not totally secure and we cannot be held responsible for damage or loss caused by viruses nor for communications which are corrupted or altered after despatch. Nor can we accept any liability for problems or accidental errors relating to this means of communication especially in relation to commercially sensitive material. These are risks you must bear in return for greater efficiency and lower costs. If you do not wish to accept these risks please let us know and we will communicate by paper mail, other than where electronic submission is mandatory.

10. Any communication by us with you sent through the post is deemed to arrive at your postal address two working days after the day that the document was sent.

11. Notices relating to this engagement, including updates to our Terms of Business, regulatory disclosures and service communications, may be provided electronically. Where we notify you of revised terms, continued instruction of the firm and continued use of our services following such notification may be treated as evidence of acceptance of the revised terms, unless you advise us otherwise.

CONFIDENTIALITY

11. Communication between us is confidential and we shall take all reasonable steps to keep confidential your information except where we are required to disclose it by law, by regulatory bodies, by our insurers or as part of an external peer review. Unless we are authorised by you to disclose information on your behalf this undertaking will apply during and after this engagement.

12) 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.

13. We reserve the right, for the purpose of promotional activity, training or for other business purpose, to mention that you are a client. As stated above we will not disclose any confidential information.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

14. We will inform you if we become aware of any conflict of interest in our relationship with you or in our relationship with you and another client. 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.

15) If there is a conflict of interest that is capable of being addressed successfully by the adoption of suitable safeguards to protect your interests then we will adopt those safeguards. Where possible this will be done on the basis of your informed consent. We reserve the right to act for other clients whose interests are not the same as or are adverse to yours subject of course to the obligations of confidentiality referred to above.

CONTRACTS (RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES) ACT 1999

16. The advice and information we provide to you as part of our service is for your sole use and not for any third party to whom you may communicate it unless we have expressly agreed in the Engagement letter that a specified third party may rely on our work. We accept no responsibility to third parties, including any group company to whom the engagement letter is not addressed, for any advice, information or material produced as part of our work for you which you make available to them. A party to this agreement is the only person who has the right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of its terms.

DATA PROTECTION ACT

17. We will comply with applicable UK data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and any related legislation in force from time to time.

18. In order to provide our services, comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, manage our relationship with you and protect our legitimate business interests, we may obtain, process, store and disclose personal data relating to you, your business and connected individuals.

19. Further information regarding how we process personal data is contained within our Privacy Notice, which is available on our website.

20. You confirm that where you provide us with personal data relating to third parties, you have appropriate authority to do so.

DISENGAGEMENT

18. Should we resign or be requested to resign a disengagement letter will be issued to ensure that our respective responsibilities are clear.

19) Should we have no contact with you for a period of 3 months or more we may issue a disengagement letter and hence cease to act.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES

20. We are bound by the ethical guidelines of the Institute of Financial Accountants, and accept instructions to act for you on the basis that we will act in accordance with those ethical guidelines. A copy of these guidelines can be viewed at our offices on request or can be seen at https://www.ifa.org.uk/about-us/publicinterest/memberregulations. We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations.

FEES

21. We operate fixed fees, quoted in advance in most cases. However, for some assignments such as tax investigation work and complex book-keeping support, this is not possible due to the nature of the work in which case we will charge by the hour.  In circumstances such as these we will more than likely charge a minimum fee to cover our initial investigation work.

Ad‑Hoc Support and Minor Queries

From time to time you may require ad‑hoc assistance outside the scope of the specific services you have engaged us to provide. We are happy to help with occasional minor queries, such as straightforward questions regarding processes, record‑keeping, software navigation, or clarification of compliance requirements.

To ensure fairness to all clients and to maintain the viability of our services, ad‑hoc support is limited to a maximum of 15 minutes per month without charge. Any support which:

• exceeds 15 minutes per month,
• requires us to review your records in detail,
• involves investigation or problem‑solving, or
• amounts to ongoing or repeated support,

will be chargeable at our standard hourly rate, unless you have separately engaged us for a support or bookkeeping package that covers such work.

Where the level of assistance requested suggests a recurring need for support, we will advise you to subscribe to the relevant support package before we can continue assisting.

This clause applies to all clients who have not engaged us for ongoing bookkeeping or support services.

Please refer to the Fees Section of your [proposal_type] [proposal_number].

22) In some cases, you may be entitled to assistance with your professional fees, particularly in relation to any investigation into your tax affairs by HMRC. Assistance may be provided through insurance policies you hold or via membership of a professional or trade body. It is your responsibility to advise us of any such insurance cover that you have. You will remain liable for our fees regardless of whether all or part are liable to be paid by your insurers.

23. We will bill upon completion of the work and our invoices are due for payment on the due date as shown on the invoice. Our fees are exclusive of VAT which will be added where it is chargeable. 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.

24) Unless otherwise agreed to the contrary our fees do not include the costs of any third party, counsel or other professional fees.

25. It is our normal practice to ask clients to pay by upon completion of the ad hoc piece of work being completed before any submission to HMRC / Companies House is made.

26) We reserve the right to charge interest on late paid invoices at the rate of 1% above bank base rates under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. We also reserve the right to suspend our services or to cease to act for you on giving written notice if payment of any fees is unduly delayed. We intend to exercise these rights only where it is fair and reasonable to do so.

27. 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.

28. We reserve the right to review our fees periodically. Where fees are varied, we will notify you in writing. Continued instruction of the firm following such notification will constitute acceptance of the revised fee arrangement unless otherwise agreed.

IMPLEMENTATION

29. We will only assist with implementation of our advice if specifically instructed in writing.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

30. We will retain all copyright in any document prepared by us during the course of carrying out the engagement save where the law specifically provides otherwise.

INTERPRETATION

31. If any provision of the engagement letter or schedules is held to be void, then that provision will be deemed not to form part of this contract.

32) In the event of any conflict between these terms of business and the engagement letter or appendices, the relevant provision in the engagement letter or schedules will take precedence.

INVESTMENT SERVICES

33. Investment business is regulated under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

34) If, during the provision of professional services to you, you need advice on investments, including insurances, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised by the Financial Services Authority or licensed by a Designated Professional Body as we are not.

LIEN

35. Insofar as permitted to do so by law or 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.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

36. We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill. Our liability to you is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses caused by our negligence or wilful default.

37) Exclusion of liability for loss caused by others

We will not be liable if such losses, penalties, surcharges, interest or additional tax liabilities are due to the acts or omissions of any other person or due to the provision to us of incomplete, misleading or false information or if they are due to a failure to act on our advice or a failure to provide us with relevant information.

38. Exclusion of liability in relation to circumstances beyond our control

We will not be liable to you for any delay or failure to perform our obligations under this engagement letter if the delay or failure is caused by circumstances outside our reasonable control.

39. Exclusion of liability relating to the discovery of fraud etc

We will not be responsible or liable for any loss, damage or expense incurred or sustained if information material to the service we are providing is withheld or concealed from us or wrongly misrepresented to us or from fraudulent acts, misrepresentation or wilful default on the part of any party to the transaction and their directors, officers, employees, agents or advisers. This exclusion shall not apply where such misrepresentation, withholding or concealment is or should (in carrying out the procedures which we have agreed to perform with reasonable care and skill) have been evident to us without further enquiry.

40. Indemnity for unauthorised disclosure

You agree to indemnify us and our agents in respect of any claim (including any claim for negligence) arising out of any unauthorised disclosure of our advice and opinions, whether in writing or otherwise. This indemnity will extend to the cost of defending any such claim, including payment at our usual rates for the time that we spend in defending it.

41. Limitation of aggregate liability

You have agreed that you will not bring any claim of a kind that is included within the subject of the limit against any of our principals or employees; on a personal basis.

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING LEGISLATION

42. We are subject to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Terrorism Act 2000 and the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as amended from time to time.

43. Where we know or suspect, or have reasonable grounds to know or suspect, that money laundering, terrorist financing or other criminal activity may be taking place, we may be legally required to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency (NCA) or other relevant authority.

44. In such circumstances we may be prohibited from informing you that such a disclosure has been made.

45. To comply with our legal obligations, we are required to obtain and retain evidence of identity and other information relating to our clients and beneficial owners. We may carry out electronic verification checks and retain copies of documentation obtained for these purposes.

NOTIFICATION

46. We shall not be treated as having notice, for the purposes of our accounts & tax responsibilities, of information provided to members of our firm other than those engaged on the specific assignment (for example, information provided in connection with accounting, taxation and other services).

PERIOD OF ENGAGEMENT AND TERMINATION

47. Unless otherwise agreed in the engagement covering letter our work will begin when we receive your implicit or explicit acceptance of that letter or when Booth Parkes & Associates Limited commences the provision of work envisaged and contemplated by the Terms of this Engagement Letter, whichever is the first to occur (‘Effective Date’). Except as stated in that letter we will not be responsible for periods before the ‘Effective Date’.

48) Each of us may terminate this agreement by giving not less than 21 days notice in writing to the other party except where you fail to cooperate with us or we have reason to believe that you have provided us or HMRC with misleading information, in which case we may terminate this agreement immediately. Termination will be without prejudice to any rights that may have accrued to either of us prior to termination.

49. In the event of termination of this contract, we will endeavour to agree with you the arrangements for the completion of work in progress at that time, unless we are required for legal or regulatory reasons to cease work immediately. In that event, we shall not be required to carry out further work and shall not be responsible or liable for any consequences arising from termination.

PROVISION OF SERVICES REGULATIONS 2009

50. In accordance with our professional body rules we are required to hold professional indemnity insurance. Details about the insurer and coverage can be found at http://boothparkes.co.uk/privacy-policy/ or at our offices.

QUALITY OF SERVICE

51. We aim to provide a high quality of service at all times. If you would like to discuss with us how our service could be improved or if you are dissatisfied with the service that you are receiving please let us know by contacting David Parkes.

52) We undertake to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and to do all we can to explain the position to you. If we do not answer your complaint to your satisfaction you may take up the matter with the Institute of Financial Accountants.

RELIANCE ON ADVICE

53. We will endeavour to record all advice on important matters in writing. Advice given orally is not intended to be relied upon unless confirmed in writing. Therefore, if we provide oral advice (for example during the course of a meeting or a telephone conversation) and you wish to be able to rely on that advice, you must ask for the advice to be confirmed by us in writing.

RETENTION OF RECORDS

54. You have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to your tax affairs. During the course of our work we may collect information from you and others relevant to your affairs. We will return any original documents to you if requested. Documents and records relevant to your affairs are required by law to be retained as follows:

INDIVIDUALS, TRUSTEES & PARTNERSHIPS

• with trading or rental income: 5 years and 10 months after the end of the tax year;
• otherwise: 22 months after the end of the tax year;

COMPANIES, LLPs AND OTHER CORPORATE ENTITIES

• 6 years from the end of the accounting period;

55. During the course of our work, we will collect information from you and other parties acting on your behalf. Some of these records and other items of documentation should be retained to meet your statutory obligations. We will be pleased to return any original documents or documents that belong to you on request.

We should advise you, however, that upon termination of our contract (for whatever reason) it is your responsibility to collect all original documents that belong to you within six months of the termination date.  If you fail to collect such records within six months from the termination date, we cannot be held responsible for their safekeeping, and we may destroy documents and records that we hold without further notice.  You must tell us if you require the return or retention of any specific documents for a longer period (additional charges may apply to document storage).

We are also subject to statutory and regulatory requirements to retain certain information, as set out in our Privacy Notice and Standard Terms of Business.

THIRD PARTY

56. Any advice we give you will be supplied on the basis that it is for your benefit only and shall not be disclosed to any third party in whole or part without our prior written consent. It may not be used or relied upon for any other purpose or by any other person other than you without our prior written consent. If our advice is disclosed to any third party (with or without our consent), then we accept no responsibility or liability to that third party for any consequences that may arise to them, should they rely on the advice.

57) If it is proposed that any documents or statement which refer to our name, are to be circulated to third parties, please consult us before they are issued.

TIMETABLE

58. The services we undertake to perform for you will be carried out on a timescale to be determined between us on an ongoing basis.

59) The timing of our work will in any event be dependent on the prompt supply of all information and documentation as and when required by us.

CHANGES TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

We may update these Terms and Conditions from time to time, including where changes are required to reflect developments in the law, professional or regulatory requirements, or the way in which we provide our services. We will notify clients of material changes where appropriate. The current version will be available on our website at boothparkes.co.uk.

These Terms and Conditions were last updated on 12 August 2026.