Terms of Service

1. Introduction

These terms of service apply to your use of this website, our client portal and all services provided by Ernest & Co Accountants Ltd ("we", "us", "our"). By accessing our website or engaging us to provide accountancy services, you agree to be bound by these terms. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, you should not use our website or services.

2. Our services

We provide accountancy, bookkeeping, VAT returns, payroll management, management accounts, year-end accounts, corporation tax returns, self-assessment tax returns, landlord accounting, startup accounting and related financial advisory services to UK businesses and individuals.

All services are provided subject to a separate engagement letter or service agreement which sets out the specific scope, fees and responsibilities for each engagement.

3. Client portal access

Access to our client portal is granted upon successful completion of our onboarding process, which includes identity verification and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate portal access at any time if onboarding remains incomplete, subscription fees are unpaid, or if we suspect unauthorised use or fraudulent activity.

4. Subscriptions and payments

Portal subscriptions are billed monthly or annually via Stripe. By subscribing, you authorise us to charge your chosen payment method on the billing date shown in your account.

You may cancel your subscription at any time through the portal billing page. Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period. No refunds are provided for partial billing periods. If you cancel, your portal access will continue until the end of the paid period.

4a. Digital subscription content (Growth & Premium)

Growth and Premium subscriptions provide immediate access to digital content, Ernie AI features and Knowledge Hub resources. By subscribing, you acknowledge that access begins immediately after payment.

We log subscription usage — including login activity, Ernie AI questions, Knowledge Hub access, premium downloads and tool usage, along with timestamps and basic device metadata — to support billing, security and refund decisions. See our Privacy Policy for how this data is handled.

Refund eligibility may be affected once premium resources or subscription features have been accessed or used. Full details are in our Refund Policy.

5. Free tier

We may offer free portal access or limited service features at our discretion. The free tier is provided without charge and may be withdrawn, modified or subject to new limitations at any time, with reasonable notice given where practicable.

Free tier access does not create any contractual right to ongoing free services and does not guarantee availability of any specific feature.

6. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance

As a regulated accountancy firm, we are legally required to verify the identity of all clients before we can provide services. This includes obtaining proof of identity (such as a passport or driving licence) and proof of address.

If you fail to provide the required documents within a reasonable timeframe, or if we are unable to verify your identity to our satisfaction, we will be unable to act for you and any portal access may be suspended or withdrawn.

7. Client responsibilities

You are responsible for providing us with accurate, complete and timely information necessary for us to perform our services. This includes financial records, business transactions, tax documents and any other materials we reasonably request.

We are not liable for any errors, penalties, additional tax liabilities or other losses resulting from incomplete, inaccurate or late information provided by you or on your behalf.

8. Confidentiality

We treat all client information as strictly confidential. We will not disclose your personal or business data to any third party except where necessary to provide our services (for example, with HMRC, Companies House or our trusted technology providers), where required by law, or where you have given your express consent.

Our confidentiality obligations are in addition to our professional duties as accountants and our obligations under UK data protection law. For full details, please see our Privacy Policy.

9. Intellectual property

All content, software and systems associated with this website, our client portal and our services — including but not limited to Ernie-AI, the underlying prompts, system instructions, model orchestration, tax engine, workflow design, dashboards, multi- company architecture, compliance and reminder systems, Knowledge Hub articles, guides, calculators, tools, templates, software code, user interface, branding, logos and design — are owned by Ernest & Co Accountants Ltd or licensed to us, and are protected by copyright, database rights, trade mark and other intellectual property laws.

You may view and share public content for personal, non-commercial purposes. You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works from, commercially exploit, or use our content, prompts, workflows or platform output to train or develop any competing product or AI system without our prior written permission.

9a. Ernie-AI guidance disclaimer

Ernie-AI provides information, guidance and educational content generated using artificial intelligence systems together with platform data and public sources such as Companies House. Responses may not always be complete, accurate, current or suitable for your specific circumstances.

You remain responsible for any decisions you make based on information provided by Ernie-AI. You should obtain professional advice before acting on significant financial, tax, legal or commercial matters. Ernie-AI output does not constitute regulated financial, tax, legal or investment advice.

9b. Professional advice boundary

Use of Ernie-AI, the Knowledge Hub or any free or self-service feature does not, by itself, create an accountant-client engagement between you and Ernest & Co Accountants Ltd. Premium Support and accountancy services may involve human review where appropriate, but formal professional advice is only provided where we have accepted a written engagement covering the specific matter.

9c. Service availability and changes

Ernie-AI and other platform features may occasionally be unavailable due to maintenance, third-party outages, AI provider limits or other operational reasons. Features, models, limits, dashboards, integrations and workflows may change, improve or be withdrawn over time. We will give reasonable notice of material changes where practicable but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access to any specific feature.

9d. Acceptable use

When using Ernie-AI, the portal and any platform feature you must not:

• scrape, crawl or automate extraction of content, responses or data;
• reverse engineer, decompile or attempt to derive the source of any platform component;
• copy, redistribute or commercialise our prompts, workflows, system messages or output;
• attempt to replicate, benchmark or build a competing AI accountancy product using the platform;
• misuse Companies House lookups, including bulk querying, profiling or harvesting;
• upload unlawful, infringing, harmful or malicious content; or
• otherwise abuse, overload, disrupt or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the platform.

We may suspend or terminate access where we reasonably believe these rules have been breached.

9e. Companies House integration

Company lookups, linked companies and dashboard information are derived from public records made available by Companies House. Ernest & Co is not responsible for errors, omissions or delays in source data. Information shown about a company — including filing dates, officers and registered office — depends on what is currently available from Companies House and may not reflect the most recent position.

9f. Multi-company linking

You may link one or more companies to your account. By linking a company you confirm that you have the necessary authority to do so. Linking a company to your account does not, by itself, transfer any filing or compliance responsibility to Ernest & Co.

9g. Reminder system

Deadline reminders, notifications and dashboard prompts are assistance tools intended to support your awareness of filing and compliance dates. You remain responsible for meeting all of your statutory filing and tax obligations. Reminders must not be relied upon as your sole compliance mechanism and may be affected by data availability, email deliverability or service outages.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability to you arising out of or in connection with our services or these terms is limited to the total fees you have paid us in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

We are not liable for any indirect, consequential, special or punitive losses, loss of profits, loss of data, business interruption or reputational damage, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such losses. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for fraud, wilful misconduct, death or personal injury.

11. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms or our services shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

12. Changes to these terms

We reserve the right to update these terms of service at any time. For material changes, we will notify you by email at least 30 days before the changes take effect.

Your continued use of our website or services after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated terms. If you do not agree with the changes, you must stop using our services.

13. Contact us

If you have any questions about these terms of service, please contact us:

• Email: help@ernestcoaccountants.co.uk
• Phone: +44 7440 015941
• Address: 3rd Floor, 86–90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE
• Company No. 15545218 (registered in England & Wales)