3. How we work
- Access like a staff accountant. Your firm creates a user for us in its accounting software, document storage and job management system, the same way it would for a new staff accountant. We use only the access you give us, and only for your jobs.
- AI-prepared and AI-reviewed. All work is prepared by AI and reviewed by AI. No person prepares, reviews or signs off the work. AI can make mistakes. The work is a draft for your firm's review.
- Set up to your policies. A person from our team is involved only when you sign up: to set up access, set the AI up to your firm's policies and preferences, and fix anything that is not working the way you want.
- Email only. We communicate by email only. We do not take phone calls or use WhatsApp or other messaging apps. This keeps our prices low. Our emails are handled by AI.
- Queries. If we need missing information, we email you. Each of your clients gets a dedicated email address with us. Please reply only to that address, so your answer goes to the right job.
- Your data stays with you. We work inside your portal and save the finished work there. The information needed for each job is sent to our AI provider for processing, and the AI provider may keep it for a limited time under its own terms. Once you remove our access, we can no longer see it.
4. What we need from your firm
- Access to your software, document storage and job management system, as set out above.
- Your firm's policies and preferences, such as templates, chart of accounts, materiality and workpaper standards.
- Your clients' records. Scanned paper records, such as cash books, invoices and receipts, are fine.
- Access to the client's IRD or ATO information through your firm's systems, or the tax information we need for the job.
- Complete and prompt answers to our queries.
5. Your firm's responsibilities
- Review all work before it is used, sent to a client, filed or lodged. Your firm is responsible for the work once delivered, for advice to its clients, and for anything filed with IRD or lodged with the ATO.
- For Australian clients, your firm's registered tax agent or BAS agent remains responsible for supervising and checking the work, and for anything lodged with the ATO.
- Have each client's authority to share their information with us, including that it may be stored or processed overseas.
- Disclose your firm's use of AnnualsAI, an AI service provider:
- to your clients, in writing, before you share their information with us, for example in your engagement letter with each client;
- to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) in Australia, where they require it;
- to Inland Revenue (IRD) in New Zealand, where it requires it, including through the authority to act you hold for each client;
- to any professional body your firm or its members belong to, such as Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) or CPA Australia, where its rules require it. In Australia, this includes APES 305 Terms of Engagement.
6. Turnaround and fixes
- For annual accounts, we deliver within 5 days of receiving everything we need. These are calendar days, including weekends and public holidays. Our AI works day and night, seven days a week. The clock stops while we wait for an answer to a query, and starts again when we receive your full answer.
- For GST returns, BAS and bookkeeping, the turnaround is set out in the quote.
- If you are not happy with delivered work, email us with what needs to change. We will fix it at no extra charge.
7. Fees
- Your firm's first job is free. It covers one entity of any type, once per firm.
- After that, we quote before each job. Quotes are in NZD for New Zealand firms and AUD for Australian firms.
- We invoice per job after delivery. Payment is due by the date shown on the invoice.
8. Terms of service
Our Terms of service at annualsai.co.nz/terms form part of this engagement. They cover confidentiality, your data, limitation of liability, ownership of work, ending the arrangement and governing law. If this letter and the Terms of service differ, this letter applies. If a quote and this letter differ, the quote applies to that job.
Either party can end this engagement at any time by email. Your firm must pay for work already delivered.