Privacy Policy

We respect your privacy and your rights to control your personal data (data). We will always protect your data, be clear about the data we collect from you and the reasons why. We do not and will not sell your data to third parties.

We will only use your data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your data in the following circumstances:

Where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests
Where we need to perform the contract for services we are about to enter into or have entered into with you
Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

This Privacy Policy explains the data we collect from you, either directly or indirectly, why and how we use it. It explains how we protect your data, the choices you can make about the data we collect and how you can control these decisions.

Please read this policy carefully.

Cookies

What are cookies?

The Cheap Accountants website uses cookies to collect information. Cookies are small data files, which are placed on your computer or other devices (such as smartphones or ‘tablets’) as you browse this website. They are used to ‘remember’ when your computer or device accesses our websites. Cookies are essential for the effective operation of our website. They are also used to tailor the products and services offered and advertised to you, both on our website and elsewhere.

We use the following types of cookies on our website:

Strictly necessary cookies. These cookies are essential for you to browse our websites and use the features.

Performance upped. These cookies collect information about how you use our websites. This data may be used to help optimise our website and make it easier for you to navigate.

Functional cookies. These cookies allow our websites to remember choices you make and personalise your experience. We may store your geographic location in a cookie for instance, to ensure that we show you the website relevant to your area.

Third Party cookies. Third party cookies are those placed by websites and/or parties other than us. These cookies may be used on our website to improve our products or services or to help us provide more relevant advertising. These cookies are subject to the respective privacy policies for these external services, for example, the Facebook Data Use Policy.

Analytics cookies. We use analytics cookies, like those offered by Google Analytics, to help us understand things like how long a visitor stays on our website, what pages they find most useful, and how they arrived. To learn more about Google Analytics and your data, visit this Google webpage.

How to control cookie settings

Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings preferences, however if you limit the ability of websites to set cookies, you may affect your overall user experience.

You can learn about how to control cookie settings on popular web browsers, by visiting:

Google Chrome
Internet Explorer
Safari
Firefox

Links to Other Web Sites

Our web site contains links to information on other web sites. On web sites we do not control, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information that you provide while visiting those sites. This Privacy Policy does not govern those sites, and if you have questions about how a site uses your information, you’ll need to check that site’s privacy statement.

Google Analytics

When someone visits www.thecheapaccountants.com we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.

Mailing Lists

As part of the registration process for our monthly email newsletter, we collect personal information. We use that information to send you monthly news updates as well as special offers. 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 email newsletter. For more information, please see Mail Chimp’s privacy notice.

You can unsubscribe to general mailings at any time of the day or night by using our contact form.

Where we store and process data

By submitting your personal data, you agree to its transfer, storing and processing.

Most personal data is stored electronically on servers or computer systems with controlled access and controlled environments.

Our servers are located within enterprise-grade hosting facilities that employ robust physical security controls to prevent physical access to the servers they house. These controls include monitoring, 24/7 surveillance and on-site security staff.

Other personal data may be kept in paper form within our office if needed, although in the main, copies are destroyed after they have been scanned into computer systems.

We will not transfer personal data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) without complying with the provisions of the Data Protection Legislation in respect of such transfer.

How we secure your information

We are committed to protecting the security of your personal data. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal data from unauthorised access, use or disclosure.

For example, any personal data transferred to us over the internet is protected with Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) Encryption Certificate technology. This ensures that all personal data transferred is encrypted to prevent eavesdropping and tampering.

While no service is completely secure, we take precautionary measures and have strict security standards to help prevent data loss, theft, misuse and unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction or other like incidents that might affect the security of your personal data.

These measures include encryption, password protection, anti-malware, firewalls, server authentication, user profiles, backup/disaster recovery systems, restriction of access to premises and computer systems, as well as use of relevant third party service providers to provide security.

We impose strict contractual obligations on suppliers, subcontractors and partners to ensure data is secure, protected and treated in accordance with this policy and we will take all steps reasonably necessary to maintain compliance with these obligations.

However, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data while it is being transmitted to us if you don’t enter or import it from a secure environment or secure mobile device.

If you have any questions about the security of your data, you can contact us via our contact form.

Our retention of your information

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to provide our services or for other essential purposes such as complying with our legal obligations, resolving disputes and enforcing our agreements. Because these needs can vary for different data types in the context of different services, actual retention periods can vary significantly.

For example, the default standard retention period for accounting records is six years plus current, otherwise known as six years + one. This is defined as six years after the last entry in a record followed by first review and/or destruction to be carried out in the additional current (+ one) accounting year.

If we need to alter, restrict processing of your data, or remove your data we will inform you.

Your rights

You can find detailed information about your rights under Data Protection legislation on the UK Information Commissioner’s website at www.ico.org.uk

You have:

The right to be informed – You have the right to obtain confirmation whether your personal data is being processed by us or a third party processor. Through this policy we explain the data we may gather, how it is used and why.
The right of access – You have the right to access personal data we hold about you. You can make a request for access to the data we hold about you via our contact form.

There is no charge for this service. However, we can charge a ‘reasonable fee’ when a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, particularly if it is repetitive and we may also charge a reasonable fee to comply with requests for further copies of the same information.

We will provide copies of the personal data we hold about you without delay and at the latest within one month of receipt. The period of time for response may be extended by a further two months where requests are complex or numerous. If this is the case, we will inform you within one month of the receipt of the request and explain why.

The right to rectification – You have the right to your personal data being corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete. If you think your personal data needs to be corrected contact us via our contact form.
The right to erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten). You can withdraw your consent and request the deletion or removal of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing. We have in place processes to regularly review the data we hold and ensure that it is removed when it is no longer appropriate to hold it. However if you wish to make a request for your personal data to be removed, you can do this via our contact form.
The right to restrict processing. Under certain specific circumstances, such as when you contest the accuracy of your personal data, you have a right to ‘block’ or suppress processing of personal data. If this is requested, we are permitted to store your personal data, but not further process it. In the unlikely event that you wish to restrict processing you can do this via our contact form.
The right to data portability. You have the right to data portability allowing you to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services. To allow you to move, copy or transfer personal data easily from one IT environment to another in a safe and secure way without hindrance to usability. We can provide you with a CSV file. Please contact us via our contact form. Please note this right only applies to data subject to automated processing.
The right to object. You have the right to object to:

– processing based on legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling)

– direct marketing; and

– processing for purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.

In relation to us, only the direct marketing ground is applicable. If you wish to object to our direct marketing, please contact us via our contact form.

After you have signed up for our services you will receive service related emails from us, which are necessary to enable us to provide our services. You will always have the ability to opt-out of receiving non-service related messages. You can also ask to opt-out of having personal identifiable information used for certain purposes, including promotional communications and newsletters. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by following the opt-out instructions, which will be clear and obvious on the forms, or emails we use to collect your data. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us via our contact form.

Rights in relation to profiling and automated decision-making.

If you exercise any of your rights and your personal data has been shared with third parties, we will notify the third parties that you are exercising your rights as relevant to them.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner Officer; details of how to do this are given at their website: www.ico.org.uk.

Changes to our Policy

We may modify or update this policy when necessary to reflect feedback and changes in our services. Visiting our website and/or using our services after any modification to this policy will constitute your acceptance of such modification and updates. It is your responsibility to check this policy for any changes made.