Terms of Business - Alchemy Accountancy

Alchemy Accountancy Limited. Last updated: 13 November 2026.

Introduction

These terms set out the basis on which we agree to act for you. They form part of the engagement letter between us and should be read together with:

your engagement letter, including the scope of work, schedules of services, fees and key dates
your proposal
our client privacy notice

The current version of these terms is published on our website at alchemyaccountancy.com/terms-of-business. We may update these terms from time to time. We will tell you about any changes before they take effect, and the version published on our website at that time will then apply. Previous versions are available on request.

These terms remain in force until they are replaced by updated terms.

Where these terms and your engagement letter differ, your engagement letter takes priority.

Applicable law

Our engagement with you and the services we provide are governed by the law and practice of England and Wales. By accepting the engagement letter and these terms, we both agree that the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim or dispute about the engagement.

Professional body

We are regulated by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

The ACCA website, www.accaglobal.com, lists our firm in its register of members, along with the code of ethics and the regulatory framework we must comply with.

Client money

Client money is money in any currency or form that we receive from or hold for a client which is not immediately due to us under our agreement. Fees paid in advance for agreed services are not client money.

We will not hold assets belonging to you or any of our clients.

Investment advice, funding and consumer credit

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

If you are seeking advice on investments, including insurances, we may need to refer you to someone authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority or the Prudential Regulation Authority, or licensed by a Designated Professional Body, as we are not authorised to give such advice. We will account to you for any commission we receive in line with the rules of our professional body.

Commissions received, excluding investment business commissions

From time to time, we or a connected business may receive a commission or other benefit because of an introduction to another professional or a transaction arranged for you.

If this happens, we will account to you for the commission, which means we will tell you in writing the terms and payment of the commission or benefit.

You agree that we can keep such commissions or benefits.

Data protection

We will comply with UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, when dealing with your personal data.

Personal data is information about a living person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, from that information alone or combined with other information. This includes, but is not limited to, a name, an identification number, location data and an online identifier.

When providing accountancy services, we will usually act as a controller, because we make decisions about how data is processed to deliver the agreed services. We may act as a processor for certain services, such as payroll. In that case, you are the controller and we act on your instructions.

We comply with the principles set out in UK GDPR (see www.ico.org.uk for more information):

lawfulness, fairness and transparency
purpose limitation
data minimisation
accuracy
storage limitation
integrity and confidentiality
accountability

To comply with these principles, we will:

provide you with a privacy notice, which should be read with your engagement letter, schedules of services and these terms
limit the information we collect and process to what is necessary for providing the agreed services, complying with legal and regulatory obligations, contacting you about other services (where you have consented), and other legitimate reasons needed to protect against claims or disciplinary action

Under ACCA regulations, our files may be reviewed by a professional body, regulator or other qualified third party to check our continued compliance.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

We may use software, including artificial intelligence (AI) tools and internal and external search engines, in providing our services to you. We will not do so in a way that breaches any duty of confidentiality we owe you, and we will do so with reasonable skill and care and in line with the usual duties professional accountants owe their clients.

We do not permit your data to be used to train AI models. The tools we use are provided to us under business terms that prohibit this, and we do not use free or publicly available AI tools for client work.

AI does not make decisions about you or your affairs. Every output is reviewed by a member of our team before it is acted on, sent to you, or submitted to any third party. We keep records that allow us to explain how any piece of work was arrived at. We maintain a register of the software we use to process your data, which is available on request. Our liability in connection with the software we use is subject to the limitations of liability in these terms.

Anti-money laundering compliance

We are supervised by ACCA for anti-money laundering compliance. We are required to obtain information to identify and verify our clients. We may do this by asking you for information and by searching databases designed for the purpose.

We will not usually be able to start working for you until we receive this information.

Bribery Act 2010

In line with the Bribery Act 2010, we have policies and procedures in place to prevent the business and our staff from offering or receiving bribes.

Conflicts of interest

Where there is a conflict of interest in our relationship with you, or between you and another client, we will tell all parties and, where possible, apply appropriate agreed safeguards to protect everyone’s interests.

Where suitable safeguards cannot be applied, we may be unable to provide further services.

We reserve the right to act for other clients whose interests are not the same as, or are adverse to, yours, subject to our duties of confidentiality set out below.

Professional indemnity insurance

ACCA requires us to hold professional indemnity insurance.

Details of our insurer and the territorial cover are available on request, at our offices by appointment or by email.

Complaints

We aim to provide an excellent service at all times. If you are dissatisfied in any way, please contact Craig McCall by writing to Ground Floor, 13 Cable Court, Pittman Way, Fulwood, Preston, PR2 9YW, by telephoning 01772 965550, or by emailing craig@alchemyaccountancy.com.

We will look into any complaint carefully and promptly and take all reasonable steps to resolve it to your satisfaction. If we do not resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may take the matter up with ACCA. At that point, if appropriate, we will also give you details of an approved body you may contact about alternative dispute resolution.

Confidentiality

Under our code of ethics, all communication between us is confidential. We will not disclose information unless you authorise it (for a specific item, or generally through our privacy notice) or where the law or regulation requires it.

All staff working on your affairs are bound by our client confidentiality and security terms and policies.

Disengagement

When we stop acting for you, we may issue a disengagement letter so that our respective responsibilities are clear and agreed.

If we are unable to contact you, we may send a disengagement letter to your last known address and stop acting.

Either of us may end this engagement by giving at least 30 days’ notice in writing. We may end it immediately if you have not met your responsibilities under your engagement letter and schedules of services, or if we have reason to believe you have given us or HMRC misleading information.

Ending the engagement does not affect any rights either of us had before it ended.

We may also end the engagement and stop working for you if you do not pay our invoices, or do not give us complete, timely and accurate information to carry out the agreed services.

If the engagement ends, we will try to agree with you how work in progress will be completed, unless we are required for legal or regulatory reasons to stop work immediately. In that case, we will not carry out further work and will not be responsible or liable for any consequences of the engagement ending.

When the engagement ends, for whatever reason, we will invoice you for all work carried out up to that point, if not already invoiced, at our normal hourly rates.

Our engagement will also end once we have completed all the work we agreed to perform for you.

Once the engagement has ended, for whatever reason, we owe you no further duty to act for you or advise you beyond that date.

Communication

We will communicate with you, and any third party you agree, by a secure method we agree with you.

If you have given us your email address, we will take that as your authority to communicate with you by email, unless you withdraw it. By agreeing to receive electronic communications, you accept that:

although we take all reasonable care, there is a risk of emails not arriving, being delayed, misdirected or intercepted by a third party
although we use up-to-date virus protection, you are responsible for virus-checking any emails and attachments
however careful both parties are, electronic communication carries risks, which you accept in return for speed and efficiency

To keep communication effective, please tell us promptly about any change of postal or email address.

Fees, payment terms and timetable

We will usually give you a fixed fee or hourly rate quotation for each piece of work, set out in your proposal or engagement letter. We will never give a fixed fee quotation for professional work to be carried out more than one year after the date of the quotation.

Unless agreed otherwise, any fee estimate or fixed fee quotation excludes disbursements and third party costs, which will be added to our invoices.

If information is provided later than agreed in the key dates schedule, we may charge an additional fee to make sure the deadline for completing and submitting it is met.

Any work beyond a fixed fee quotation will be charged at our normal hourly rates, which are available on request. We may increase our hourly rates at reasonable intervals (at least annually) without notice.

Where a fee depends on the volume of transactions, such as the number of employees or invoices, we will review it regularly and update the fee accordingly.

All fees quoted or estimated exclude VAT, which will be added to our invoices if and when VAT is chargeable.

We may ask you for one or more payments on account of our fees and disbursements.

We will issue invoices at appropriate intervals, in line with any agreed payment plan.

Our fees are due for payment within 7 days of the invoice date.

We may agree to spread your fees in monthly payments, by standing order or direct debit, over a period of up to one year. Monthly payments are set so that they cover the invoiced amount by the time the related assignment is complete. If we need to revise our fee estimate during an assignment, we will explain the revised estimate in writing and ask you to amend your standing order or direct debit.

Where our fees are expected to be paid by a third party, such as an insurer in an HMRC enquiry, you remain liable for our fees until they are paid in full.

We may suspend or stop work on your affairs where any fees remain unpaid 7 days after the invoice date. We will only do so where it is reasonable and fair.

We may charge interest on late payments under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

Where a client that is not an individual is unable or unwilling to pay our fees, or fees are overdue, we may seek payment from the individual (or parent entity) who gave us instructions on the client’s behalf, and enforce any fees due against them.

If you do not accept that an invoiced fee is fair and reasonable, you must tell us within 30 days of receiving the invoice. Otherwise, you will be treated as having accepted that payment is due.

Our fees will usually increase in line with annual inflation.

Lien

As far as the law and professional guidance allow, we may exercise a lien (a right to hold on to property until fees are paid) over all funds, documents and records we hold relating to work for you, until all outstanding fees and disbursements are paid in full.

Advice

We will help you implement advice only where this has been agreed in writing.

Advice is valid at the time it is given. If you implement plans yourself at a later date, you need to check that there have been no changes to the relevant facts, laws or regulations that affect it.

Advice given orally should not be relied on unless confirmed in writing.

Advice given by a non-principal should not be relied on unless confirmed in writing by a principal.

Advice is for the use of the addressee of the engagement letter only. We accept no responsibility to anyone who is not a party to this agreement.

You should not pass our advice to a third party without our express permission.

Advice may only be used for the purpose for which it is given.

Delivery of our services

You agree to give us full and accurate information needed to advise on your affairs. We will rely on that information and documentation being true, correct and complete, and will not audit it unless agreed in writing. We are not responsible for inaccuracies in information provided by you or third parties, and our advice is based on that information.

If we ask for information by a specific date, we are not responsible for any losses arising if you provide it after that date, for example in relation to tax returns, even if you provide it before the filing deadline.

We strongly recommend that you instruct us well in advance, so that we have time to give properly considered advice before any deadline.

If you delay providing information so that we cannot provide the agreed services, we may resign from the engagement.

You authorise us to approach third parties as appropriate for information we consider necessary to carry out the engagement.

When dealing with HMRC on your behalf, we must be honest and take reasonable care to ensure your returns are correct. To make this possible, you must be honest with us and give us all necessary information in good time. For more about ‘Your Charter’ for your dealings with HMRC, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-charter. As far as we can, we will make sure HMRC meets its side of the Charter in its dealings with you.

You confirm that we may tell HMRC about any errors we consider material that we find in your reported tax affairs, without your prior written consent, although we will always tell you that we have done so.

We accept no liability for delays in providing our services caused by HMRC service or access issues.

Intellectual property rights

We keep all copyright in any document we prepare for you, unless the law specifically provides otherwise.

Internal disputes

Our client is the business. If there is a dispute between the owners or managers of the business, we will continue to communicate with the nominated individual, but will copy in everyone whose email address we hold.

If we receive conflicting advice, instructions or information from different people at the client, we will refer all matters to the board of directors, partnership, LLP members or spouses, as appropriate, and take no further action until the client has confirmed, as an entity, the course of action to take.

Limitation of liability

We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill. Our liability to you arising from the services, whether in contract, tort, breach of statutory duty or otherwise, is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses directly caused by our negligence or wilful default, and is capped at the limit of liability stated in your engagement letter. We are not liable to you for any indirect or consequential loss, including loss of profit, goodwill, business opportunity or anticipated savings.

Exclusion of liability for non-disclosure or misrepresentation

We are not responsible or liable for any loss, damage or expense if information relevant to our services is withheld or concealed from us, or misrepresented to us. This applies equally to fraud, misrepresentation or wilful default by any party to the transaction and their directors, officers, employees, agents or advisers.

This exclusion does not apply where the misrepresentation, withholding or concealment is, or should have been, evident to us when carrying out our agreed work with reasonable care and skill, without further enquiry beyond what would have been reasonable in the circumstances.

Limitation of third party rights

Our advice and information are for your sole use and not for any third party you share them with, unless your engagement letter expressly says a named third party may rely on our work. We accept no responsibility to third parties, including any group company not named in the engagement letter, for any advice, information or material we produce for you that you make available to them. Only a party to this agreement may enforce its terms, and no rights or benefits are given to any third party under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

Exclusion of liability for loss caused by others

We are not liable for losses, penalties, interest or additional tax caused by the acts or omissions of anyone else, by incomplete, misleading or false information given to us, or by a failure to act on our advice or give us relevant information.

In particular, where we refer you to another firm for advice outside the scope of our engagement, even if connected to it, and you then instruct that firm directly, we accept no responsibility for their work and are not liable for any losses they cause.

Indemnity for unauthorised disclosure

You agree to indemnify us and our agents against any claim, including any claim for negligence, arising from any unauthorised disclosure of our advice and opinions, in writing or otherwise. This covers all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses, including direct, indirect or consequential losses, loss of profit, loss of reputation, interest, penalties and legal costs (on a full indemnity basis), payment at our usual rates for time spent defending the claim, and other reasonable professional and management costs.

Limitation of aggregate liability

Your engagement letter states an aggregate limit of liability. That sum is the maximum total liability of our firm, its principals, directors, subcontractors, agents, consultants and employees (current and former) to everyone the engagement letter is addressed to, and to anyone else we have agreed may rely on our work.

You agree not to bring any claim covered by that limit against any of our principals, directors, subcontractors, agents, consultants or employees, current or former, personally.

Period of engagement and termination

The date our responsibility for each assignment starts is set out in the key dates table in your engagement letter.

Where no start date is given in the key dates table or agreed in another way, our services start from the start date stated in your engagement letter or the date you sign and return it, whichever is later. Except as stated in your engagement letter, we are not responsible for periods before the start date.

When either of us gives notice, the date our responsibility ends will be set out in the disengagement letter (see ‘Disengagement’ above).

Retention of papers

We will return documents that belong to you when the assignment is complete, unless we specifically agree otherwise. If we continue to hold records for you, we will agree how they will be treated when we stop acting for you.

Agreed further services

We will carry out further services beyond those listed in your schedules of services where we agree them with you in writing. These are charged at our usual hourly rates and are subject to your engagement letter and these terms. Any advice given under this clause may only be relied on if we confirm it in writing.