Privacy Policy

Balance & Beyond(“we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy and personal information of our clients and website visitors. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information in accordance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of personal information when you interact with our website or services:

Contact information: name, email address, phone number, and mailing address
Business information: business name, industry, and details relevant to the services you are requesting
Financial information: bookkeeping records, payroll data, and other financial documents shared in the course of providing our services
Website usage data: information collected automatically through Google Analytics and other cookies, including IP address (anonymized to approximate location), browser and device type, pages visited, and referral source

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

Provide, maintain, and improve our bookkeeping, payroll, and HR services
Respond to inquiries and communicate with you
Process payments and manage client accounts
Comply with legal and regulatory obligations
Analyze website traffic and improve user experience

Information Sharing

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information only in the following circumstances:

Service providers: with trusted third-party providers who assist us in delivering our services (such as cloud storage, accounting software, and payment processors), subject to appropriate confidentiality agreements
Legal requirements: when required by law, court order, or governmental regulation
With your consent: when you have provided explicit permission for us to share specific information

Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include encrypted file storage, secure client portals, and access controls. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your Rights

Under PIPEDA, you have the right to:

Request access to the personal information we hold about you
Request correction of any inaccurate or incomplete information
Withdraw consent for the collection, use, or disclosure of your information, subject to legal or contractual restrictions
File a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you believe your privacy rights have been violated

Cookies and Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics (GA4) to understand how visitors interact with our site and to improve the experience we offer. Google Analytics collects the following types of information:

Pages you visit and the time you spend on each page
Browser type, device type, and operating system
Approximate geographic location based on a truncated IP address
How you arrived at our site (referral source)

Consent mechanism. The first time you visit our site, a cookie banner asks you to accept or decline analytics cookies. Analytics are disabled by default; no tracking occurs until you choose Accept. If you choose Decline, Google Analytics does not load tracking cookies and does not send your activity to Google.

Withdrawing consent.You can change your choice at any time by clearing your browser's site data (which removes the stored preference and shows the banner again) or by contacting us at [email protected].

Google Analytics is provided by Google LLC and is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.

Data Retention

Contact form submissions: retained in our email system for as long as needed to respond to your enquiry and for our records, typically up to seven years for business and tax record purposes.
Google Analytics data:retained according to Google's standard retention policy (currently 14 months for event data), after which it is automatically deleted.
Client service records: retained for the period required under Canadian accounting and tax legislation (generally six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to).

Third-Party Services and Data Storage

We rely on a small number of trusted third-party providers to operate our website and services. Some of these providers may process your information on servers located outside Canada, including in the United States and the European Union. When this happens, your information may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.

Vercel (website hosting): hosts this website on servers in North America and Europe.
Google Analytics (website analytics): processes traffic data on Google servers. Data may be stored outside Canada.
Microsoft 365 (email and contact form delivery): processes contact form submissions and business email through Microsoft's cloud services.
QuickBooks Online (accounting):used for bookkeeping engagements under your direction; governed by Intuit's privacy terms.

We enter into appropriate agreements with our service providers to require safeguards consistent with PIPEDA.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights regarding your personal information, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 905-630-6242

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Any updates will be posted on this page with a revised effective date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.