Application and entire agreement

1. These Terms and Conditions apply to the provision of the services detailed in our quotation (Services) by EssenceKPO a company whose registered office is at 302, Agrawal Arcade, Opp. Central Mall , Ambawadi Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, (we or us or Service Provider) to the person buying the services (you or Customer).

2. You are deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions when you accept our quotation or from the date of any performance of the Services (whichever happens earlier) and these Terms and Conditions and our quotation (the Contract) are the entire agreement between us.

3. You acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement, promise or representation made or given by or on our behalf. These Conditions apply to the Contract to the exclusion of any other terms that you try to impose or incorporate, or which are implied by trade, custom, practice or course of dealing.

Interpretation

4. A “business day” means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday in England and Wales.

5. The headings in these Terms and Conditions are for convenience only and do not affect their interpretation.

6. Words imparting the singular number shall include the plural and vice-versa, words importing any gender include every gender, and words importing persons include bodies corporate and unincorporated and (in each case) vice versa.

Services

7. We warrant that we will use reasonable care and skill in our performance of the Services which will comply with the quotation, including any specification in all material respects. We can make any changes to the Services which are necessary to comply with any applicable law or safety requirement, and we will notify you if this is necessary.

8. We will act in good faith and not do any act matter or thing that may prejudicially affect the interests of the Client; and comply with the lawful, proper and reasonable directions of the Client; and provide such other service or services as may be agreed from time to time by the Parties. We will use our reasonable endeavours to complete the performance of the Services within the time agreed or as set out in the quotation; however, time shall not be of the essence in the performance of our obligations.

9. All of these Terms and Conditions apply to the supply of any goods as well as Services unless we specify otherwise.

Your obligations

10. You must obtain any permissions, consents, licences or otherwise that we need and must give us with access to any and all relevant information, materials, properties and any other matters which we need to provide the Services.

11. If you do not comply with clause 10, we can terminate the Services.

12. We are not liable for any delay or failure to provide the Services if this is caused by your failure to comply with the provisions of this section (Your obligations).

Fees and Deposits

13. The fees (Fees) for the Services are set out in the quotation and are on a time and materials basis. Our fees may depend not only upon the time spent on your affairs but also on the level of skill and responsibility and the importance and value of the advice that we provide, as well as the level of risk. If we provide you with an estimate of our fees for any specific work, then the estimate will not be contractually binding unless we explicitly state that that will be the case.

14. In addition to the Fees, we can recover from you a) reasonable incidental expenses including, but not limited to, travelling expenses, hotel costs, subsistence and any associated expenses, b) the cost of services provided by third parties and required by us for the performance of the Services, and c) the cost of any materials required for the provision of the Services.

15. You must pay us for any additional services provided by us that are not specified in the quotation in accordance with our then current, applicable hourly rate in effect at the time of performance or such other rate as may be agreed between us. The provisions of clause 14 also apply to these additional services.

16. The Fees are exclusive of any applicable VAT and other taxes or levies which are imposed or charged by any competent authority.

17. You must pay a deposit (“Deposit”) as detailed in the quotation at the time of accepting the quotation.

18. If you do not pay the Deposit to us according to the clause above, we can either withhold provision of the Services until the Deposit is received or can terminate under the clause below (Termination).

19. The Deposit is non-refundable unless we fail to provide the Services and are at fault for such failure (where the failure is not our fault, no refund will be made).

Cancellation and amendment

20. We can withdraw, cancel or amend a quotation if it has not been accepted by you, or if the Services have not started, within a period of 7 days from the date of the quotation, (unless the quotation has been withdrawn).

21. Either we or you can cancel an order for any reason prior to your acceptance (or rejection) of the quotation.

22. If you want to amend any details of the Services you must tell us in writing as soon as possible. We will use reasonable endeavours to make any required changes and additional costs will be included in the Fees and invoiced to you.

23. If, due to circumstances beyond our control, including those set out in the clause below (Circumstances beyond a party’s control), we have to make any change in the Services or how they are provided, we will notify you immediately. We will use reasonable endeavours to keep any such changes to a minimum.

Payments

24. We will invoice you for payment of the Fees either:
a. when we have completed the Services; or
b. on the invoice dates set out in the quotation.

25. You must pay the Fees due within 14 days of the date of our invoice or otherwise in accordance with any credit terms agreed between us.

26. Time for payment shall be of the essence of the Contract.

27. Without limiting any other right or remedy we have for statutory interest, if you do not pay within the period set out above, we will charge you interest at the rate of 5% per annum above the base lending rate of the Bank of England 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.

28. All payments due under these Terms and Conditions must be made in full without any deduction or withholding except as required by law and neither of us can assert any credit, set-off or counterclaim against the other in order to justify withholding payment of any such amount in whole or in part.

29. If you do not pay within the period set out above, we can suspend any further provision of the Services and cancel any future services which have been ordered by, or otherwise arranged with, you.

30. Receipts for payment will be issued by us only at your request.

31. All payments must be made in British Pounds unless otherwise agreed in writing between us.

Sub-contracting and assignments

32. We can at any time assign, transfer, charge, subcontract or deal in any other manner with all or any of our rights under these Terms and Conditions and can subcontract or delegate in any manner any or all of our obligations to any third party.

33. You must not, without our prior written consent, assign, transfer, charge, subcontract or deal in any other manner with all or any of your rights or obligations under these Terms and Conditions.

Termination

34. We can terminate the provision of the Services immediately if you:
a. commit a material breach of your obligations under these Terms and Conditions; or
b. fail to make pay any amount due under the Contract on the due date for payment; or
c. are or become or, in our reasonable opinion, are about to become, the subject of a bankruptcy order or take advantage of any other statutory provision for the relief of insolvent debtor; or
d. enter into a voluntary arrangement under Part 1 of the Insolvency Act 1986, or any other scheme or arrangement is made with its creditors; or
e. convene any meeting of your creditors, enter into voluntary or compulsory liquidation, have a receiver, manager, administrator or administrative receiver appointed in respect of your assets or undertakings or any part of them, any documents are filed with the court for the appointment of an administrator in respect of you, notice of intention to appoint an administrator is given by you or any of your directors or by a qualifying floating charge holder (as defined in para. 14 of Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986), a resolution is passed or petition presented to any court for your winding up or for the granting of an administration order in respect of you, or any proceedings are commenced relating to your insolvency or possible insolvency.

Intellectual Property

35. We reserve all copyright and any other intellectual property rights which may subsist in any goods supplied in connection with the provision of the Services. We reserve the right to take any appropriate action to restrain or prevent the infringement of such intellectual property rights.

Liability and indemnity

36. Our liability under these Terms and Conditions, and in breach of statutory duty, and in tort or misrepresentation or otherwise, shall be limited as set out in this section.

37. The total amount of our liability is limited to the total amount of Fees payable by you under the Contract.
38. We are not liable (whether caused by our employees, agents or otherwise) in connection with our provision of the Services or the performance of any of our other obligations under these Terms and Conditions or the quotation for:
a. any indirect, special or consequential loss, damage, costs, or expenses or;
b. any loss of profits; loss of anticipated profits; loss of business; loss of data; loss of reputation or goodwill; business interruption; or, other third party claims; or
c. any failure to perform any of our obligations if such delay or failure is due to any cause beyond our reasonable control; or
d. any losses caused directly or indirectly by any failure or your breach in relation to your obligations; or
e. any losses arising directly or indirectly from the choice of Services and how they will meet your requirements or your use of the Services or any goods supplied in connection with the Services.

39. You must indemnify us against all damages, costs, claims and expenses suffered by us arising from any loss or damage to any equipment (including that belonging to third parties) caused by you or your agents or employees.

40. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall limit or exclude our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for any fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other matters for which it would be unlawful to exclude or limit liability.

Data Protection

41. When supplying the Services to the Customer, the Service Provider may gain access to and/or acquire the ability to transfer, store or process personal data of employees of the Customer.

42. The parties agree that where such processing of personal data takes place, the Customer shall be the ‘data controller’ and the Service Provider shall be the ‘data processor’ as defined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as may be amended, extended and/or re-enacted from time to time.

43. For the avoidance of doubt, ‘Personal Data’, ‘Processing’, ‘Data Controller’, ‘Data Processor’ and ‘Data Subject’ shall have the same meaning as in the GDPR.

44. The Service Provider shall only Process Personal Data to the extent reasonably required to enable it to supply the Services as mentioned in these terms and conditions or as requested by and agreed with the Customer, shall not retain any Personal Data longer than necessary for the Processing and refrain from Processing any Personal Data for its own or for any third party’s purposes.

45. The Service Provider shall not disclose Personal Data to any third parties other than employees, directors, agents, sub-contractors or advisors on a strict ‘need-to-know’ basis and only under the same (or more extensive) conditions as set out in these terms and conditions or to the extent required by applicable legislation and/or regulations.

46. The Service Provider shall implement and maintain technical and organisational security measures as are required to protect Personal Data Processed by the Service Provider on behalf of the Customer.

47. Further information about the Service Provider’s approach to data protection are specified in its Data Protection Policy, which can be found on our website. For any enquiries or complaints regarding data privacy, you can email: [email protected].

Circumstances beyond a party's control

48. Neither of us is liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations where such failure or delay results from any cause that is beyond the reasonable control of that party. Such causes include, but are not limited to: industrial action, civil unrest, fire, flood, storms, earthquakes, acts of terrorism, acts of war, governmental action or any other event that is beyond the control of the party in question. If the delay continues for a period of 90 days, either of us may terminate or cancel the Services to be carried out under these Terms and Conditions.

Communications

49. All notices under these Terms and Conditions must be in writing and signed by, or on behalf of, the party giving notice (or a duly authorised officer of that party).

50. Notices shall be deemed to have been duly given:
a. when delivered, if delivered by courier or other messenger (including registered mail) during the normal business hours of the recipient;
b. when sent, if transmitted by fax or email and a successful transmission report or return receipt is generated;
c. on the fifth business day following mailing, if mailed by national ordinary mail; or
d. on the tenth business day following mailing, if mailed by airmail.

51. All notices under these Terms and Conditions must be addressed to the most recent address, email address or fax number notified to the other party.

Client Identifications

52. As with other professional services firms, we are required to identify our clients for the purposes of the UK anti-money laundering legislation. We may request from you, and retain, such information and documentation as we require for these purposes and/or make searches of appropriate databases.

Client Money

53. We may, from time to time, hold money on your behalf. The money will be held in trust in a client bank account, which is segregated from the firm’s funds.

54. We will return monies held on your behalf promptly as soon as there is no longer any reason to retain those funds. If any funds remain in our client account that are unclaimed and the client to whom they relate has remained untraced for five years or we as a firm cease to practise then we may pay those monies to a registered charity.

55. We are committed to providing you with a high-quality service that is both efficient and effective. However, should there be any cause for complaints in relation to any aspect of our service please contact the Practice Manager. We agree to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and do everything reasonable to put it right. If you are still not satisfied you can refer your complaint to our professional body, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Confidentiality

56. 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.

57. 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

58. 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 unless we are unable to do so because of our confidentiality obligations. We have safeguards that can be implemented to protect the interests of different clients if a conflict arises. 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.

59. 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. We reserve the right to provide services for other clients whose interests are not the same as yours or are adverse to yours subject of course to the obligations of confidentiality referred to above.

Internal disputes within client

60. If we become aware of a dispute between the parties who own or are in some way involved in the ownership and management of the business, it should be noted that our client is the business and we would not provide information or services to one party without the express knowledge and permission of all parties. Unless otherwise agreed by all parties we will continue to supply information to the registered office/normal place of business for the attention of the directors/proprietors. If conflicting advice, information or instructions are received from different directors/principals in the business we will refer the matter back to the board of directors/the partnership and take no further action until the board/partnership has agreed the action to be taken.

No waiver

61. No delay, act or omission by a party in exercising any right or remedy will be deemed a waiver of that, or any other, right or remedy nor stop further exercise of any other right, or remedy.

Severance

62. If one or more of these Terms and Conditions is found to be unlawful, invalid or otherwise unenforceable, that / those provisions will be deemed severed from the remainder of these Terms and Conditions (which will remain valid and enforceable).

Lien

63. 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.

Law and jurisdiction

64. This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted according to the law of England and Wales and all disputes arising under the Agreement (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts.

The following terms of business apply to all engagements accepted by EssenceKPO as from the 01.02.2022.