Information for clients

Strategi Limited believes in full disclosure to its clients both before and during an engagement. This document provides generic information relating to Strategi Limited (hereinafter referred to as Strategi) and should be read in conjunction with the Terms of Engagement below..

1. Fees: The basis on which fees will be charged and paid is set out in our Terms of Engagement below.
2. Professional Indemnity Insurance: Strategi holds professional indemnity insurance to the value of NZ$5 million.
3. Persons responsible for the work: The name and status of the person primarily responsible for the services provided to you will be identified in any contract. Work will be peer-reviewed and overseen where necessary by the Managing Director.
4. Complaints: Strategi maintains a procedure for handling any client complaints and this is designed to ensure that a complaint is dealt with promptly and fairly. If you have a complaint about our services or charges, you may refer it in the first instance to the person in our firm who has overall responsibility for your work. If you do not wish to refer the complaint to that person, then it can be referred to Daniel Relf, the Chief Executive Officer – contact Daniel Relf.
5. Client care: Whatever service we provide to you must be undertaken in a way where we:
   1. Act competently, in a timely way and in accordance with the instructions received and arrangements made.
   2. Protect and promote your interests and act for you, free from compromising influences or loyalties.
   3. Discuss with you your objectives and how they should best be achieved.
   4. Provide you with information about the work to be done, who will do it, and the way the services will be delivered.
   5. Charge you a fair and reasonable fee commensurate with the skill required and the risk undertaken to provide the service. We will ensure you are aware when you will be billed.
   6. Give you clear information and advice. Where appropriate, we will outline the options available to you and let you decide, but in most instances, we will attempt to provide a specific recommendation.
   7. Protect your privacy and ensure appropriate confidentiality.
   8. Treat you fairly, respectfully and without discrimination.
   9. Keep you informed about the work being done and advise you when it is completed.
6. Conflicts of interest: Strategi believes in full disclosure. Any conflicts of interest material to any engagement would be disclosed.
7. Limitations on extent of our obligations or liability: Any limitations are outlined in our Terms of Engagement below.

Terms of engagement

These terms of engagement set out the standard terms on which Strategi Limited (we or us) provide services to clients (you). If our engagement includes different terms, then these will be documented to you. The terms of engagement should be read in conjunction with the Information for Clients above.

1. Who will work with you? We will tell you who will be responsible for the service(s) being provided to you. That person will have the appropriate skill and experience to undertake the work requested. If that person is senior within Strategi, then where possible, work will be delegated to a lower charge-out staff member but will be supervised and reviewed by the senior person. If the designated person is junior within Strategi, then from time to time, the work will be peer reviewed to ensure it is accurate.
2. Duty of care: Our duty of care is to you or to the organisation that has engaged us, and is not to any other person or entity. Our advice is to you our client and is not designed for any third party. Before any third party may rely on our advice, we must agree to this in writing. Unless required by law, you may not provide our advice to any third party or submit it to a government authority without our agreement.
3. How we charge: Our normal policy is to operate timesheets and charge via an hourly rate. The hourly rate of individuals engaged in your work can be provided upon request. If requested, written estimates of our fees can be provided. These are a guideline only and are based upon our professional judgement of how long a job may take which in turn is based upon what is usually limited information available at the time. Estimates should not be regarded as a maximum or a fixed fee quotation and are likely to vary once the engagement commences. Where requested and where all the appropriate information is available, a quotation can be provided. All quotations will be in writing and we will make every endeavour to operate to that quoted amount subject to there not being a variation to the engagement. If a variation does occur to the engagement then a quotation can be provided to undertake that variation or if a quotation is not requested, then we will operate on our normal hourly rate schedule.
4. Rate changes: From time to time, we will adjust the hourly rate of our staff. If this occurs within a contract/quoted service, then we will discuss the rate change with you and come to a mutually agreed outcome.
5. Expenses and disbursements: Our hourly rate schedule includes a charge for equipment use and sundry office expenses. This includes cell-phone, laptops, and general office expenses. However, it does not include courier charges, third party fees, government fees, photocopying, large scale postage, phone calls (local and international), airfares, vehicle travel rates, accommodation, meals and parking expenses. Any out of pocket expenses and disbursements will be on charged to you at cost and a full breakdown of those expenses can be provided upon request.
6. Invoicing and payment: For large contracts, advance payments and progress payments may be requested and these can then be substantiated via submission of timesheets and monthly invoices. Our usual practice is to invoice at the end of the engagement or at the end of each month, whichever is the sooner. All invoices will be emailed to the designated person and a statement is not normally sent. Unless otherwise agreed, payment of our invoices is required within 7 working days of the invoice being issued.
7. GST: GST is payable by you on our fees, charges and disbursements. If work is performed offshore or consumed offshore, then GST will not be applicable. If our engagement is one where there are some charges not involving GST, then this will be clearly shown on the invoice.
8. Fee dispute: We attempt to keep our charges reasonable on the expectation we will be paid promptly. If you wish to dispute an invoice, please do so immediately rather than just not pay it and wait for a follow up from us. Fee disputes should be in writing to us and outline the grounds for the dispute, and your desired outcome. It is expected that you would pay by the due date the amount not in dispute thereby only leaving the disputed amount to be resolved.
9. Payment default: Where invoices are not paid on time, we reserve the right to stop work and to charge interest at a rate equal to 8% above the ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd overdraft lending rate, calculated on a daily basis from the due date. We reserve the right to recover any unpaid amounts and you will be responsible for all costs incurred by us in recovering the unpaid amount.
10. Third party payment of our fees: There will be instances where we are undertaking the work for you but you have an arrangement where the payment is being made by a third party. In these instances, the invoice will be sent to the third party but in the event that payment is not made, or payment is delayed, then you will be responsible for making payment to us and you would need to recover payment from that third party.
11. Conflicts of interest: If there is a possible conflict of interest, then this will be disclosed prior to work commencing. If a conflict of interest arises or has the possibility of arising during the engagement, then this will be discussed with you. Strategi is experienced in operating with a number of clients and has procedures in place to ensure that confidential information belonging to one client is not shared with another client. Our acting for you does not restrict us acting for other clients on separate matters by reason only that their engagement with Strategi may be different to yours.
12. Accuracy of information: You warrant that all information you provide to us is accurate, lawful and not misleading and in turn, we warrant that as much as we can reasonably foresee, the advice we provide to you is accurate. However, we do not accept responsibility for advice provided which is partially based on incorrect information supplied from a third party or governmental agency.
13. Privacy: Strategi has a well documented privacy policy thereby ensuring we have taken all practical steps to reasonably protect your information. This includes password protected and encrypted computer hardware and soft data; password protected cell phones; and locked offices and filing cabinets. Personal information will only be collected to enable us to complete the contract for which we are engaged. If you are an individual, under the Privacy Act 1993, you have the right of access to, and correction of, your personal information held by us.
14. Confidentiality: We will hold in confidence all information concerning you or your affairs that we acquire during the course of the engagement, unless requested to supply any information as the result of a request from a government agency/regulator under its statutory powers.
15. Intellectual property: Unless stated in some other agreement, all copyright and other intellectual property arising from the engagement or created by us in conjunction with the advice provided to you will remain our property.
16. Termination: Unless specified in a different agreement, you may terminate our agreement at any time. We may, on reasonable notice to you, terminate our engagement at any time. If our engagement is terminated by you or us, then you must pay us up to the date of termination all expenses and disbursements incurred by us to that date.
17. Retention of files and documents: We will retain all your files and documents while money is owed to us. We keep all files relating to your engagement for at least 7 years after the engagement has ended. If you uplift your files before that period, we may charge you a fee to copy the files and make them available for your uplift.
18. Electronic communications: Our preference is to supply all material and advice in electronic format either via phone or data. Although we take all normal and reasonable security precautions, we cannot warrant that these communications will be complete, secure and free from viruses or other defects or will not be delayed or fail to be received.
19. Limitations of obligations: We are not responsible for any failure to advise on any matter that falls outside the scope of our engagement nor to provide updates to that advice after the initial advice has been given.
20. Limitations of liability: We will not be liable, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, for:
    1. Any loss of profit or revenue, exemplary damages or any indirect or consequential loss or damage howsoever described or claimed.
    2. Any loss or damage to the extent it is attributable to your conduct or a failure by you to take reasonable care of your own interests.
21. Consumer Guarantees Act 1993: Where you are acquiring our services for the purposes of a business, the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 will not apply.
22. General: If there is any conflict between these terms and a specific contract or our engagement letter, then the contract or the engagement letter will have precedence.

For more information on Strategi Group, please download our Due Diligence Kit.