Terms of Service
Last Updated: 23 April 2026
1. Introduction & Acceptance
These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you ("Customer", "you") and the applicable Balance entity governing your use of the Balance bookkeeping services (the "Services").
Which entity you are contracting with:
If your billing address is in the United Kingdom, you contract with Balance Technologies Ltd (a company registered in England and Wales, "Balance UK").
If your billing address is in Denmark or the European Union, you contract with Balance Technologies ApS (a company registered in Denmark, "Balance DK").
If your billing address is elsewhere, Balance may decline to provide the Services or require you to contract with Balance UK. Balance does not currently serve customers in the United States.
References to "Balance", "we", "us", or "our" mean the contracting entity above.
By using the Services, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy (at getbalance.ai/privacy), and our Data Processing Agreement ("DPA", available on request). We may update these Terms by giving at least 30 days' notice of material changes.
2. The Services
2.1 What the Services include. Balance provides AI-assisted bookkeeping services delivered by our qualified accounting team. We maintain your books using a combination of internal AI tools (for transaction categorisation, bank reconciliation, journal entry creation, and document capture from sources you authorise) and human review. You interact with Balance primarily through messaging channels (Slack, WhatsApp, email, Telegram, web chat) and through our client-facing AI assistant ("Bea").
Balance synchronises with third-party accounting systems you use (including e-conomic and Xero). Any AI features inside those third-party systems are provided by the relevant third party and governed by their terms, not ours.
2.2 What the Services do NOT include (unless separately agreed in an Order Form):
audit, assurance, or attestation of your financial records;
certification that your records comply with any accounting standard;
legal, tax, regulatory, investment, or financial advice;
filing of tax returns, annual accounts, or other statutory submissions to HMRC, Skattestyrelsen, Companies House, Erhvervsstyrelsen, or any other authority;
statutory audit services;
any activity regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or requiring FCA authorisation.
2.3 Professional designation.
Balance UK is not a firm of Chartered Accountants and is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Balance DK does not hold the title "godkendt revisor" or "statsautoriseret revisor" and does not provide services reserved to such persons under Danish law.
2.4 Communication. You interact with Balance primarily through Slack, WhatsApp, email, Telegram, and web chat. Message content (including messages you send to Bea) may be stored, logged, and processed by AI and by our team for Service delivery and quality purposes.
3. AI and Automation Disclosure
3.1 Use of AI. Balance uses AI internally to assist with bookkeeping tasks (including transaction categorisation, bank reconciliation, journal entry creation, and document capture). We also use AI to power Bea, our client-facing assistant. We use third-party AI providers (including OpenAI and Anthropic) via API; these providers operate under zero data retention agreements.
3.2 Accuracy and human review.
Bookkeeping work (internal). All AI-generated outputs affecting your books — transaction categorisations, bank reconciliations, journal entries, and similar work product — are reviewed by a qualified member of our accounting team before being finalised.
Bea (client-facing assistant). Bea responds to your messages in real time. Bea's conversational responses are not pre-reviewed before sending; our team monitors them after sending for quality and accuracy. Any material work that arises from a Bea conversation and affects your books is subject to the human-review process described above before taking effect.
AI outputs and Bea responses may be inaccurate or incomplete. You are encouraged to verify material information before relying on it.
3.3 No solely-automated decisions with legal effect. Balance does not use AI to make solely-automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effect on you. Any output with such effect — including bookkeeping entries affecting your statutory records, categorisations affecting tax positions, and filings prepared on your behalf — is subject to human review before taking effect.
3.4 AI training on your data. Balance does not train AI models on your Customer Data or on Google User Data. Our third-party AI providers do not train on your data — this is contractually prohibited and technically enforced through zero data retention agreements.
If Balance ever intends to change this, we will give you at least 30 days' prior written notice, update these Terms with an effective date, and provide a persistent in-product opt-out. Your Customer Data will be excluded from any future training use if you opt out.
4. Customer Data, Third-Party Accounts, and Gmail/OAuth Access
4.1 Ownership. You own all Customer Data. Balance acts as Data Processor for personal data contained in Customer Data; you are the Data Controller. Processing is governed by our DPA.
4.2 Authority to connect accounts. You grant Balance a limited authority to access and use your third-party accounts (Gmail, banking, accounting software, messaging platforms) on your behalf, solely to deliver the Services. You represent that you are the account holder or have authority from the account holder to connect each such account.
4.3 Google User Data disclosure. When you authorise Balance to connect your Gmail account:
Scope requested: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly only. This is a read-only scope enforced by Google at the API level. Balance cannot send, modify, or delete messages in your Gmail account, even in principle.
What we access: email bodies, email metadata (subject, sender, date), and attachments, solely to identify and extract receipts, invoices, and financial documents.
How we use it: extracted financial documents are stored and processed for your bookkeeping. Non-financial email content is not retained.
Sharing: Google User Data is shared only with the sub-processors listed in our Privacy Policy. We do not sell, transfer, or use Google User Data for advertising, or use it to train AI models.
Human access: Human review of Google User Data occurs only where necessary for Service delivery with your consent (our accountants reviewing AI-extracted financial documents before they are finalised), for security investigation, to comply with applicable law, or in aggregated/anonymised form for internal operations.
Encryption: TLS 1.2+ in transit; AES-128 or stronger at rest.
Retention and deletion: Google User Data is retained for the duration of your account. On request, Balance will delete all Google User Data within 7 business days. Contact privacy@getbalance.ai.
4.4 Reliance. Balance relies in good faith on the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of information you provide. We do not independently verify facts, documents, or transactions you submit.
5. Customer Responsibilities
You agree to:
provide timely, accurate, and complete information;
maintain the security of your account credentials;
review and approve material outputs before relying on them for statutory purposes;
retain responsibility for all tax submissions, statutory filings, and regulatory obligations in your jurisdiction;
comply with anti-money-laundering checks we are legally required to perform (including identity verification and beneficial-ownership disclosure);
use the Services only for lawful business purposes.
6. Fees, Billing, and Taxes
Fees are as set out in your Order Form. Fees are exclusive of VAT and other applicable taxes. Invoices are payable within 14 days unless otherwise agreed. Late payments may result in suspension of the Services after 30 days' overdue notice.
7. Term, Renewal, and Termination
7.1 Term. These Terms begin on your first use of the Services and continue until terminated.
7.2 Termination. Either party may terminate on 30 days' written notice. Balance may suspend or terminate immediately for material breach (including non-payment more than 30 days overdue) or where required for anti-money-laundering compliance.
7.3 Effect of termination. Balance will provide an export of your Customer Data in a machine-readable format and delete Customer Data within 90 days (subject to backup cycles), except where legally required to retain: up to 7 years for UK clients (HMRC record-keeping rules) or 5 years for Danish clients (Bogføringsloven § 12).
7.4 Survival. Sections 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, and 17 survive termination.
8. Intellectual Property
You retain all rights in Customer Data. Balance retains all rights in the Services, including software, models, prompts, and categorisation logic. Feedback, suggestions, or improvement ideas you provide may be used by Balance without obligation. Balance may use aggregated and anonymised usage data (no identifiable Customer Data) to improve the Services.
9. Confidentiality
Each party will treat the other's non-public information as confidential and use it only to perform or receive the Services. This obligation continues for 3 years after termination.
10. Warranty Disclaimer
The Services are provided "as is" and "as available". To the maximum extent permitted by law, Balance disclaims all warranties, whether express, implied, or statutory. Balance does not warrant that (a) the Services will be uninterrupted or error-free, (b) AI outputs will be accurate or complete, or (c) records produced by the Services are compliant with any accounting standard.
11. Limitation of Liability
11.1 Cap. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Balance's total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms is limited to the fees paid by you in the one (1) month immediately preceding the claim, or such other amount specified in your Order Form.
11.2 Excluded damages. Neither party is liable for indirect, consequential, special, or punitive damages, loss of profits, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of data, or loss of business opportunity.
11.3 Tax penalties carve-out. Balance is not liable for any tax penalties, fines, interest, or audit costs imposed by any tax or regulatory authority.
11.4 Carve-back. Nothing in these Terms limits liability for (a) death or personal injury caused by negligence, (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, (c) gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or (d) any other liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.
12. Indemnification
12.1 Your indemnity to us. You will indemnify Balance against claims, losses, and costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising from (a) your breach of these Terms, (b) inaccurate or incomplete information you provide to Balance, or (c) any tax penalties, fines, or audit costs arising from Balance's good-faith reliance on your information.
12.2 Our indemnity to you. Balance will indemnify you against third-party claims that the Services, as provided by Balance, infringe the intellectual property rights of a third party. This is Balance's sole liability for third-party IP claims.
13. Data Protection
Balance processes personal data as Data Processor on your behalf. Processing is governed by our DPA. Balance Technologies ApS, as our EU-established entity, acts as the Article 27 GDPR representative for Balance Technologies Ltd (UK) in relation to processing of EU personal data, where such representation is required.
14. Communications and Monitoring
You consent to Balance recording, logging, and processing (including by AI) messages exchanged via Slack, WhatsApp, email, Telegram, and web chat, for Service delivery and quality purposes.
15. Prohibited Uses
You must not use the Services to:
engage in or facilitate illegal activity;
circumvent our AI or human review processes;
upload malware or attempt to compromise our infrastructure;
submit data relating to individuals under 18, except as necessarily arises from ordinary financial records;
submit special or sensitive categories of personal data (health, biometric, criminal records) unless agreed in writing.
16. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
16.1 Balance UK customers. These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory consumer protections under the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 or related legislation where you qualify as a consumer under applicable law.
16.2 Balance DK customers. These Terms are governed by the laws of Denmark. The courts of Copenhagen have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to mandatory consumer protections under applicable EU law.
16.3 Informal resolution. Before commencing formal proceedings, each party will attempt in good faith to resolve disputes by discussion for at least 30 days after written notice.
17. Miscellaneous
17.1 Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent. Balance may assign to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
17.2 Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, the DPA, and any Order Form constitute the entire agreement.
17.3 Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remain in effect.
17.4 Force majeure. Neither party is liable for failures caused by events beyond reasonable control.
17.5 No partnership. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship.
17.6 Notices. Notices to Balance: founders@getbalance.ai. Notices to you: the email address on your account.
17.7 English language. These Terms are drafted in English. Translations are for convenience only; the English version controls.
18. Definitions
"Customer Data" means all data, documents, and information you provide to Balance or that Balance extracts on your behalf in connection with the Services.
"DPA" means the Data Processing Agreement between you and Balance.
"Google User Data" has the meaning given in Google's API Services User Data Policy.
"Services" has the meaning in Section 2.1.