What this document covers

This website is operated by In Depth Accounting Ltd, trading as Ardein, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 13726011. These terms apply when you read the site, use the qualification review, or contact us about working together. They cover the period before any engagement begins, when you are looking at what we do and we are working out whether we are the right fit. They do not set the scope, timetable or fee for any accounting, bookkeeping, VAT, payroll or tax work. That sits in the engagement letter described in the next section.

How we work with clients

Professional services start with an engagement letter, signed by you and by us at onboarding. It sets out what we are doing, what you are responsible for, what information we need and by when, the monthly fee, how reports are delivered, and how either of us can bring the arrangement to an end. Nothing on this website creates a client relationship on its own, and no work begins until the engagement letter is agreed and our client checks are complete. Where anything in these website terms conflicts with your signed engagement letter, the engagement letter takes precedence.

Using this website

A few plain rules about what you can do here and what we ask you not to do.

Permitted use

You can read the site, print pages and share links for your own business or personal purposes. Please do not scrape, bulk-copy, republish or resell the content commercially, and do not attempt to extract source code or reverse engineer anything the site runs on.

User conduct

Do not use the site for anything fraudulent, unlawful, abusive or harassing. Do not upload malicious code, attempt to gain access to areas you are not entitled to reach, or interfere with the availability of the site for other visitors. We may restrict access where this happens.

Enquiry form integrity

The qualification review and contact forms should be completed with accurate details about you and your business. Do not submit another person’s information without their knowledge. If we later give you access to shared accounting software, keep those credentials private and tell us promptly if they are compromised.

Relying on content

Articles, guides and service pages here are general information about how finance functions can be run. They are not advice on your circumstances, and tax and reporting rules change. For an answer you can act on, engage us formally so we can look at your actual records first.

Intellectual property

The text, images, page layouts, guides and the Ardein name and logo on this site are owned by In Depth Accounting Ltd or used under licence. You are welcome to quote short extracts or share a page, provided you credit Ardein and link to the original. Reproducing substantial content, adapting it, or using it in your own commercial material needs our written permission first. The Ardein name, logo and branding must not be used in a way that suggests endorsement, partnership or membership of a scheme that does not exist. Third-party names and logos mentioned on the site belong to their respective owners.

Our professional obligations

Accountancy and bookkeeping are regulated activities in the UK. Some of our duties sit above anything you and we agree between ourselves.

Anti-money laundering checks

In Depth Accounting Ltd is registered for anti-money-laundering supervision and must carry out client due diligence under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017. Before work starts we verify identity and address for the business, its directors and its beneficial owners, and we ask about the source of funds. Some situations call for enhanced checks. Where those checks cannot be completed to our satisfaction, we will decline the engagement or end an existing one.

Record retention

We keep client due diligence records and transaction records for at least five years after an engagement ends, as the 2017 Regulations require. Accounting and tax records are usually held for six years from the end of the relevant accounting period. Our privacy policy sets out the retention periods and the lawful bases in more detail.

Suspicious activity reporting

If we know or suspect that funds relate to money laundering or terrorist financing, we have a legal duty to report it to the National Crime Agency. That duty sits above our duty of confidentiality to you, and we do not need your permission to make a report. The law also makes it an offence to tell you that a report has been made, so we cannot discuss it or explain a delay caused by one.

Professional standards

Gavin Jardine is a member of the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers (MIAB, membership number 292185) and works to that body’s code of ethics, covering integrity, objectivity, competence and confidentiality. Those standards override anything inconsistent in these terms or in an engagement letter. We are not chartered and do not hold ourselves out as such.

Limitation of liability

This section is about the website only. Liability for accounting work is dealt with in your engagement letter, not here.

Nothing below changes the terms of any signed engagement letter. If we are doing your bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, accounts or tax, the liability position for that work is set out in that letter and was agreed with you before the work began. What follows covers this website, its content and the enquiry forms on it.

What we do not limit

We do not exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited under the law of England and Wales. If you are dealing with us as a consumer, your statutory rights are unaffected.

Website availability and content

The site is provided as it stands. We take reasonable care to keep the information accurate and current, but we do not promise that it will be uninterrupted, error free, or up to date with every change in tax or company law. Where you act on general website content without engaging us to look at your own records, we are not able to accept liability for the outcome.

Liability for professional work

Liability for services we are engaged to perform is dealt with in the engagement letter, which sets out any agreed cap and the basis for it. Professional indemnity insurance is held in line with the requirements that apply to the practice. If you want to see the liability wording before committing, ask and we will send the engagement letter for you to read first.

Your responsibilities to us

The work we produce rests on the information you give us. Bank data, sales and purchase records, payroll details, contracts and funding paperwork need to be complete, accurate and provided by the dates we agree, because a report built on incomplete records is not worth reading. You remain responsible for the accuracy of what you supply and for the decisions you take. If we suffer a loss, penalty or third-party claim because information you gave us was inaccurate, incomplete or withheld, you agree to cover us for that loss. This does not apply where the loss results from our own negligence or breach.

Ending these terms

You can stop using this website whenever you like, and these terms end with that. We may suspend or withdraw access if someone breaches the rules above or uses the site unlawfully. Ending your use of the website has no effect on a live engagement letter, which has its own notice and termination terms. Some obligations continue after either ends: intellectual property, our record retention duties, and our anti-money-laundering responsibilities.

Law and jurisdiction

These terms, and any dispute arising from them or from your use of this website, are governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction over any such dispute. If you are dealing with us as a consumer, this does not remove the protection of the law of the part of the UK where you live.

Complaints

If something has gone wrong, write to Gavin Jardine at hello@ardein.co with what happened and what you would like done about it. We will acknowledge it within five working days, look into it properly and reply in writing with our findings and any steps we propose. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can raise the matter with the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers, which handles complaints about its members, or with the relevant regulator where a statutory scheme applies.

Changes to these terms

We update these terms from time to time, and the last reviewed date at the top will change when we do. Anything that materially affects a current engagement is handled through the engagement letter, not here. Continuing to use the website after an update means you accept the revised terms.

How to contact us

One route for anything to do with this page.

Questions about these terms, our anti-money-laundering procedures, intellectual property or a complaint all go to the same address. Put the subject in the first line so it reaches the right place quickly, and tell us how you would prefer us to reply.

Legal queries: hello@ardein.co — Response within 5 working days. Firm: In Depth Accounting Ltd, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX (registered office); practice based in Chester, Cheshire. Companies House 13726011. Professional body: Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers (MIAB 292185). Jurisdiction: England and Wales.