PAYMENTS
Cash, business cheque, Visa, Mastercard, Debit and E-Transfer are all acceptable methods of payment. Books Matter Ltd.’s payment terms are payment in full within thirty (30) days. All work on clients accounts that are late on payment will result in a stopage of work. Balances outstanding over thirty (30) days will incur late payment interest at the rate of 18% per annum calculated on the outstanding overdue balance, until the balance is paid in full. Books Matter Ltd. reserves the right to seek recovery of any funds remaining unpaid ninety (90) days from the date of invoice via a collection agency.
NSF payments
NSF payments will incur a $50.00 charge to cover banking fees and administrative costs. In an instance of a second NSF cheque Books Matter Ltd. reserves the right to impose a cash only payment and/or terminate the engagement in its entirety. In any case, all bookkeeping and agreements entered into will cease immediately, until such time as any and all outstanding amounts, including but not limited to NSF fees, are paid in full.
Management's Responsibilities
The client will provide Books Matter Ltd. with accurate and complete information necessary to make all accounting entries for the client’s bookkeeping records. The sole responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the representations in the financial statements remains with the client. All revenue and expenses of the company will be disclosed to Books Matter Ltd. All expenses must be reasonable, incurred for the purpose of earning income, and properly attributable to the business. The information and source documentation required to complete the engagement will be provided to Books Matter Ltd. well in advance of any reporting or remitting deadlines. The client will, on a monthly basis, review all cheques processed and returned by the financial institutions with whom the client deals and immediately alert Books Matter Ltd. to any concerns regarding the legitimacy of any amount, payee or signature present upon those cheques. Books Matter Ltd may seek from the client additional information together with written confirmation of significant representations in accordance with our obligation to document this evidence.
Termination of Bookkeeping Engagement
The bookkeeping engagement is in effect until the date mutually agreed upon. This engagement may be terminated prior to completion upon thirty (30) days written notice from the client to Books Matter Ltd. Failure to provide the written thirty (30) day termination notice will result in an additional thirty (30) days of bookkeeping fees charged at the average of the monthly fees charged over the duration of the current engagement. The bookkeeping engagement may also be terminated immediately, without further charge, by mutual consent of the client and Books Matter Ltd.
Confidentiality
During the course of the engagement, Books Matter Ltd. may also have access to personal information of the client’s employees or third persons within the client’s custody. The client confirms that in maintaining this personal information, all applicable statutory and other legal obligations of privacy have been complied with. Books Matter Ltd. will hold any such personal information in complete confidence.
Limitation of Liability
The engagement cannot be relied upon to prevent or detect fraud, error or other irregularities. The responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud, error or other similar irregularities in the client’s financial information remains solely with the client. Accordingly, the client agrees that neither Books Matter Ltd., nor its professional staff, shall have any liability, in contract or tort, negligence or otherwise, for failure to detect and report to the client any fraud that may be occurring or have occurred within the client’s business.
The client further expressly agrees that any and all claims the client may have against Books Matter Ltd. or its professional staff arising out of all services provided to the client by Books Matter Ltd., whether in contract, negligence, or otherwise known to law, shall be regarded as one claim and any liability shall be limited an amount agreed upon and deemed appropriate.
Our Staff and Independent Contractors
The client agrees to refrain from, during the course of this engagement and for a period of twenty-four (24) months following the date of termination of this engagement, whether for the client’s own account or for the account of a third party, directly or indirectly, offer or cause to be offered to any employee of Books Matter Ltd., a new position or engagement with any other person. In the event that the client does so, the client agrees to pay Books Matter Ltd., as liquidated damages, an amount equal to our gross invoices rendered to the client during the immediate past two years, or an amount agreed upon and deemed appropriate.
Other Matters
Books Matter Ltd. may, at the client’s request, undertake any other work to assist the client that is not inconsistent with the undertaking of the original engagement. The liability limitations as set out above under the heading Limitation of Liability shall apply equally to all additional work undertaken by Books Matter Ltd.
Fees will be determined on the basis of time spent on the engagement and will be billed on a monthly/quarterly basis at the regular billing rates of Books Matter Ltd. Additional charges and disbursements incurred on the client’s behalf will be charged at a rate commonly used by Accounting/Bookkeeping firms, and will be shown as a separate item in the accounts submitted to the client.
Accounts are due upon presentation of the invoice. Interest will be charged at the annual rate of 18% on accounts after thirty (30) days from the invoice date. In the event that payment of any account is overdue, Books Matter Ltd. will terminate services and reserves the right to exercise all remedies available in law to recover payment for the services rendered to that date.
Additional Clauses for Consideration
Under Limitation of Liability
The client expressly agrees that any and all claims, whether in contract, negligence, or otherwise known to law arising out of the professional services under the engagement vest exclusively in the client, and the client agrees to wholly indemnify and hold harmless Books Matter Ltd. and its professional staff from any and all claims that may be brought against firm or its professionals by any shareholder, director or officer of the client in any way arising out of or connected to the services provided to the client.
The client agrees that Books Matter Ltd.’s liability for all claims the client may have or bring in connection with any professional services rendered arising out of or ancillary to the agreement shall absolutely cease to exist after a period of two (2) years from the date of the specific service or book entry giving rise to the claim, regardless of whether the client was aware of the potential for making a claim against Books Matter Ltd. within that period. Following the expiration of the two (2) year period, the client agrees that neither the client, its agents, or assigns shall make any claim or bring any proceeding against Books Matter Ltd.
Under Other Matters
In the event that the client is a party to any legal proceedings and Books Matter Ltd. is required, whether by the client’s consent or under compulsion of law, to provide documentation and evidence in respect of such proceedings, the client agrees that in addition to paying Books Matter Ltd. for professional time expended at the Books Matter Ltd.’s normal hourly rates, that the client will wholly indemnify and hold Books Matter Ltd. harmless for any legal fees and disbursements that Books Matter Ltd. may reasonably incur in order to respond to such requests and provide such evidence.
The client agrees not to solicit or otherwise provide employment to any staff of Books Matter Ltd. within six months of the employee leaving the employ of Books Matter Ltd.