General Terms of Engagement 

1. Unless otherwise provided for by way of a specific contractual service agreement, Perrin Ag Consultants Ltd (“Perrin Ag”) operates on the basis of instruction, verbal or written, from a client, with the execution of said instruction carried out in line with the professional discretion exercised by a Registered Farm Management Consultant.  It is understood these Terms of Engagement are valid beyond the initial engagement. Under such standard terms of service engagement, Perrin Ag accepts no liability for execution of instruction that falls outside of client expectation. 

2. Perrin Ag reserve the right to decline the provision of service to any client for any reason prior to the receipt and acceptance of instructions, and at any other time where continued provision of service would constitute a conflict of interest, involvement in or knowledge of criminal or unethical activity or any risk to personal safety.  The early cessation of service on these grounds does not remove liability by the client of payment for services already rendered. 

3. Where the nature of service delivery causes or otherwise requires significant deviation from client instructions, Perrin Ag will undertake all reasonable steps to contact clients to obtain supplementary instruction prior to the commencement of such activity. 

Liability 

4. Perrin Ag operates in strictest confidence and will not discuss, disclose or otherwise divulge information to third parties in relation to the client without prior permission, except where required or compelled to by law. 

5. Any advice and reporting provided by Perrin Ag is based on information to the best of Perrin Ag’s knowledge and no guarantees are given for the final results of activities arising from the use of such advice or reports, which may be affected by factors outside of Perrin Ag’s control. 

6. Any potential liability incurred by Perrin Ag in relation to the provision of any service is limited to two times the value of any fees charged by Perrin Ag for that service. 

7. Perrin Ag does hold all required professional indemnity insurances, with certification available on request. 

Professional fees 

8. Unless otherwise agreed, all services will be charged on a time-engaged basis. All representations regarding charges are exclusive of GST. Where a fee hasn’t been agreed in writing, we shall provide any services at the same rate that such services are provided by us to our other clients at the time of the contract. We reserve the right to increase our charges without notice. The client also agrees to remunerate Perrin Ag for any reasonably incurred ancillary costs associated directly or indirectly to the services provided including any urgency premium allocated. 

9. Disbursements incorporate all other costs associated with service delivery, including mileage, administration, photocopying, binding, advertising and, where consented to by the client, the recovery of fees arising from the engagement of other professionals or businesses where required. 

10. Any estimate of likely cost for the provision of service is indicative only. Estimates are not quotes and are non-binding. 

Payment 

11. For all work prompt payment of invoices is required. Perrin Ag may require payment prior to reports being released. For other work prompt payment of invoices is required by the 20th of the month following invoicing, unless otherwise agreed prior. Perrin Ag reserves the right to temporarily or permanently cease to provide service to the client in the event of non-payment of account.  Any applicable advertising costs required in the delivery of services are required in full prior to publication. 

12. Payment is to be by way of direct credit to Perrin Ag’s nominated back account. 

13. Clients will be charged for all costs associated with the collection of unpaid accounts.  Unpaid accounts (including any costs associated with the recovery thereof) will attract interest at Perrin Ag’s applicable overdraft rate. In the case of businesses placed in receivership or statutory management, such confirmation must also include the bank’s agreement Perrin Ag’s engagement based on the likely extent of service costs.  

Intellectual property and ownership of work produced 

14. All reports, intellectual property and other tangible products relating to service delivery remain the property of Perrin Ag until payment is received.  Perrin Ag reserves the right to withhold or reclaim service deliverables in any instance of non-payment. 

15. Perrin Ag automatically retains ownership of and the right to use all templates, spreadsheets, models, research and other products used or developed in the provision of services to clients, and nothing contained herein precludes Perrin Ag from using, developing or disclosing such materials and information provided that the same do not contain or reflect Confidential Information of the client. Where the development of such material is a primary contractual service deliverable for the client, their ownership is specifically provided for by way of a separate written contract. 

16. Perrin Ag policy is to never send output in an editable format (i.e. as a Microsoft Word or Excel file) unless agreed with the client as a specific deliverable of the engagement. 

17. The parties agree that the client does not acquire any rights to the drafts, notes, analysis and other work papers of Perrin Ag.  

Authorisation and release 

18. Where applicable the client agrees that the output data from the OVERSEER files may be used anonymously by Perrin Ag for the purposes of internal benchmarking of nutrient losses nationwide.

PERRIN AG CONSULTANTS LTD