1. Introduction

Outbooks (also referred to as “we”, “us”, “our” in this privacy policy) provides accounting, bookkeeping, and other related services to all accountants across the United Kingdom. Any information that you share with us remains with us only. We do not share any of your information (personal or professional details) with any third party. This privacy policy will help you understand how we interact with you and how your information is secured with us. We would also like you to know that we have aligned our privacy policies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 as amended (GDPR) and we support this initiative taken by the EU Parliament. The processing of personal data by Outbooks, such as name, contact number, email address of a person visiting our website shall always be in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As the controller, Outbooks has implemented multiple securities to ensure the complete protection of data submitted and processed through this website.

If after going through our privacy policy you have any queries, then you can contact our Data Protection Officer (see section 4) or contact us, the controller as follows:

Name – Amit Agarwal

Email Id – [email protected]

Contact Number – 0330 057 8597

Address – Suite 18, Winsor & Newton Building, Whitefriars Avenue, Harrow HA3 5RN

2.Defining Audiences

We are defining audiences on the basis of their level of interaction with us-

2.1 Website Visitors (also referred to as “Visitors”) – If you have visited our website but have not interacted with us over the Live Chat option or filled any form sharing your details, then you will be referred to as a visitor.

  • Respondents – If you have interacted and shared your details with us to get in touch with you, then you will be defined as a “Respondent”.

 

  • Client – If you are already availing our services, then you are our “Client”.
  1. Controller and Processor

Outbooks acts as both data Processor and Controller as defined in the directive and GDPR.

Clients and Respondents will also act as a Controller for the data Outbooks have on them and Outbooks will be the Processor. Clients and Respondents have the right to see the information we have on them and edit, modify or delete any information they want from our database.

  1. Data Protection Officer

Outbooks has a Data Protection Officer (also referred to as “DPO”) who is responsible for matters relating to privacy and data protection of all Visitors, Respondents and Clients. This Data Protection Officer can be reached at the following address –

Outbooks

Suite 18, Winsor & Newton Building,

Whitefriars Avenue,

Harrow HA3 5RN

Email id – [email protected]

Contact Number – 0330 057 8597

  1. Who is collecting data?

On the website, visitor’s data is collected by Outbooks with the help of third-party tools like Google Analytics and Zendesk. The third-party tools do not retain any of your information and neither are legally allowed to store or use your data. All data and information related to you resides with us only.

Data is also collected directly by Outbooks when the data is shared by the clients so that we can complete the jobs our clients want us to complete. This data is stored in cloud data storage platforms where clients have the full control to decide what they want to keep on this platform and what they don’t. We do not retain any of the information on any other platform or within local servers and neither are legally allowed to use this data for any other purpose. All data and information related to our clients resides in this platform.

  1. How data is collected?

Data is collected in the following ways –

  • Cookie Data - Cookies are small pieces of information sent by a website to a Visitor’s hard disk. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. By continuing to visit the website, you agree to the placement of cookies on your device. A temporary cookie may also be used on protected and unprotected sections of our site in order to relay information that is input on one page of the site by the shareholder to other areas that require the same information (e.g. different financial calculators). This relieves the user of having to input the same data on multiple pages. Temporary cookies will not be placed on the computer hard drive of a user, and will be used only during the current session; they are discarded once the user terminates their session. Cookies are activated only during visits to OUTBOOKS’s website and does not track activity once a user leave the website.
  • Google Analytics – We use Google Analytics to collect information related to the pages the visitor has visited, time spent on that particular page and other standard log information. Google Analytics is not allowed to have access to your Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that you share with us.
  • Lead Form – Visitors may share their information with us by filling up the lead forms. Lead forms usually contains name, contact number and email address. In general, this information is used by our counselors and accountants to reach out to you and sort your queries. All the information shared through lead forms remains with us only.
  • Zendesk Chat – This live chat is used and operated by Outbooks only. Any information you share over the live chat remains with us only. We do not allow Zendesk to receive or store any information you might have shared over the live chat.
  • Newsletter Subscription – The newsletter subscription is only received by visitors to our website who subscribes to our newsletter and shares their name and email id with us. We follow a one step verification process where once a visitor has shared their name and email id, we send a confirmation link to their email address which the owner of the email id has to confirm. Only after this step has been taken, we register the visitor as a subscriber for our newsletter.
  • Cloud Data Storage Platforms - Data collected through cloud storage is classified as input data that is used to prepare the reports and the outputs that clients need from us. This cloud data storage servers are all located in EU where full access is with the client. Client controls this data completely and we do not store this data anywhere else or use it for any other purpose. All data and information related to the client resides with in that cloud storage only.
  • Client Servers: Client servers belong to client and access to these servers are provided by the client to Outbooks. Data cannot be copied and printed from these servers. All data and information on these client servers reside with the client only.
  • Emails: Data is shared by the clients at times through emails as well. This data remains with us only

 

  1. Declaration of Sub-Processing

Outbooks requires the services of three organizations that acts as a Data Processor for us in the provision of our services to you:

  • Google Analytics: It helps us to track the movement of a Visitor within our website and how much time is spent by that Visitor and along with other standard log information. They do not capture, store or use any personal identifiable data that you as a Respondent or Client share with us. You can visit Google’s Privacy Policy for more information by clicking.
  • Zendesk Chat: Zendesk is a chat option which is used and operated by Outbooks. Zendesk is legally not allowed to store or use any data that you have shared with Outbooks. You can visit Zendesk’s Privacy Policy on GDPR for more information by clicking here.
  • Mailchimp: As part of the registration process for our monthly e-newsletter, we collect personal information. We use that information for a couple of reasons: to tell you about stuff you’ve asked us to tell you about; to contact you if we need to obtain or provide additional information; to check our records are right and to check every now and then that you’re happy and satisfied. We don't rent or trade email lists with other organisations and businesses. We use a third-party provider, MailChimp, to deliver our newsletter. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter. For more information, please see MailChimp’s privacy notice. You can unsubscribe to general mailings at any time of the day or night by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any of our emails or by emailing our data protection officer.
  • Various bookkeeping, accounting and payroll platforms: Clients provide access to various platforms to Outbooks to carry out the work. These are completely controlled by the clients. Outbooks doesn’t have access to any other platform except the ones provided by the clients.
  1. External Links

This website may include relevant hyperlinks to external websites not controlled by Outbooks. Whilst all reasonable care has been exercised in selecting and providing any such links, you are advised to exercise caution before clicking any external links. We cannot guarantee the ongoing suitability of external links, nor do we continually verify the safety or security of the contents which may be provided to you. You are advised, therefore, that your use of external links is at your own risk and we cannot be responsible for any damages or consequences caused by your use of them.

 

  1. About Sensitive Personal Data

GDPR specifies a set of personal data categories which are considered to be “sensitive”, and which require special consideration by Data Controllers. This website, and any services available from this website, do not knowingly collect or process any sensitive personal data.

  1. About Children’s Personal Data

This website, and any services available from this website, are not directed to children under the age of 13. If you learn that a child under the age of 13 has provided us with their personal information without having parental consent, please contact the Outbooks Data Protection Officer (refer to section 4) immediately so that we can take appropriate action.

  1. Data Rights for Respondents and Clients

As prescribed within data protection regulations, you have several rights connected to the provision of your personal data to Outbooks using this website. These include your rights to request that Outbooks:

  • confirms to you what personal data it may hold about you, if any, and for what purposes
  • changes the consent which you have provided in relation to your personal data
  • corrects any inaccurate or incomplete personal data which may be held about you
  • provides you with a complete copy of your personal data for you to move elsewhere
  • if permissible, stop processing your personal data, whilst an objection from you is being resolved
  • restricts the processing of any of your personal data
  • if permissible, permanently erase all your personal data promptly, and confirms to you that it has done so (there may be reasons why we may be unable to do this)

 

You can reach out to Outbooks Data Protection Officer (refer to section 4) for any request relating to your personal data.

If Outbooks does not address your request, or fails to provide you with a valid reason why it is unable to do so, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office to make a complaint. They can be contacted via their website (www.ico.org.uk) or by telephone 0303 123 1113.

 

  1. Retention and Deletion of Data

Data of Respondents and Clients are kept by us to ensure that we are able to provide you services and further information related to it. Data of Clients are kept all time in our secured databases and will not be modified or deleted until requested by the Client himself. When a Client stops taking the services from us, automatically all personal data related to that client will be deleted from our databases. Data of respondents are retained until the time to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected for or as required by applicable laws or regulations.

At all times, Outbooks will ensure that the amount of personal data retained by the Outbooks is limited, accurate and relevant and is necessary in relation to the purpose for which it is processed in order to meet the data minimisation principle.

 

  1. How to access and modify your data?

If you would like to know all the data that we possess about you or would like to edit or delete data, then you can contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) (refer to section 4). Our DPO will give you the full right to access and modify your data.

 

  1. Our Legal Basis for using your data

Everything we do with records about individuals – obtaining the information, storing it, using it, sharing it, even deleting it – will have an acceptable legal basis. We keep a record of when consent was given by an individual to record their data and how to use it. We also keep record of how that data was shared (e.g. on the website, on a form, verbally) and what they actually consented to.

 

We also retain the right to reveal the Client’s or Respondents information without their prior permission if it is required by law to initiate any legal proceedings against that person or if we believe that person is responsible for infringing rights and property belonging to Outbooks or to others who could be harmed by the user’s activities or of persons who could (deliberately or otherwise) transgress upon these rights and property. We are permitted to disclose personal information when we have good reason to believe that this is legally required.

 

  1. How we follow the six principles of GDPR?

Principle 1 – Fair, Lawful and Transparency

Being an outsourced accounting firm, we will ensure that all your personal data are handled by us only and only for the services that you have authorized. While collecting data from you, we will ensure that there is transparency and you understand that you are giving us authorization to connect with you. Your data will not be used for any other services or any unlawful activity.

Principle 2 – Purpose

Visitors who share their data with us become Respondents and Respondents who avail our services becomes our Client. The purpose of receiving the data is to connect with you and solve your queries regarding bookkeeping, accounting and taxation. The purpose of having Clients' data is to ensure that we update them on the latest changes related to taxation and ensuring that they are updated about our latest services.

Principle 3 – Adequacy

If you are our Client, then we will require documents related to your business or work to ensure that we do our work diligently and accurately. We do not require any sensitive information and would like you to refrain from sharing such information with us unless explicitly required by law or necessary for filing your taxes or any other services provided by Outbooks.

If you are Respondent, then we will have only basic personal information about you unless you have shared any other details with us.

Principle 4 – Accuracy

We will ensure that the data you have provided is not altered at any stage and will take every possible necessary steps to verify the authenticity of the data that is provided. Accurate information is very essential to our services as on its basis we are able to file for your taxes and other services that we provide.

Principle 5 – Retention

If you are our Client, then we will require having your data with us till the time you opt out of our service. However, if during the period of availing our service you would like to modify or delete some data, then you can let us know and we will do that right away

If you are Respondent, then at any time you can choose to delete all the data we have on you. Otherwise we will have your data for six months until and unless explicitly given any other time frame to retain your data with Outbooks.

Principle 6 – Rights

You will have the right to access a copy of your information we have, right to object to processing of your data, right to prevent direct marketing, editing your personal data and right to claim compensation for damages by a breach of the Act.

 

  1. Acceptance of these conditions

We assume that all Visitors, Respondents and Clients have read this page carefully. If someone does have any query regarding this policy, then please contact our Data Protection Officer (refer to section 4). If you do not agree to this policy, then please refrain from using our website and services.

 

  1. Changes to Privacy Policy

We may change this policy from time to time. However all the changes will be compliant to GDPR to ensure the safety and protection of your personal data. If you continue using our website or services after we have changed our policy then it means that you have accepted our revised policies.

 

  1. Right to make a Complaint

Outbooks takes complaints seriously.

In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your personal data is processed by Outbooks (or any third party listed in this privacy policy) then please make your complaint to the following:

Controller:

Name – Amit Agarwal

Email id: [email protected]

DPO:

Name – Amit Agarwal

Email id – [email protected]

Contact Number – 0330 057 8597

You have the right also to make a complaint to the ICO. The contact details of the ICO are as follows

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Please also request the Outbook’s ‘Complaint’s Procedure’.