Privacy Policy

Draft for review. This policy is written to reflect British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). Please have it reviewed by legal counsel and set the effective date before the site goes live.

Watermark Bookkeeping (“Watermark,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a bookkeeping practice based in North Cowichan, British Columbia. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal and financial information you entrust to us. This policy explains what we collect, why, how we protect it, and the rights you have under British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

1. Information we collect

We collect only the personal information reasonably necessary to provide bookkeeping and advisory services and to communicate with you. Depending on the engagement, this may include:

• Contact details — name, business name, email address, phone number, and mailing address.
• Business and financial records — transactions, bank and credit-card statements, invoices, receipts, payroll details, and GST information needed to keep your books.
• Personal financial information — where you engage optional personal-money coaching (for example, budgeting, TFSA or RRSP planning).
• Billing information — details needed to invoice and be paid for our services.
• Website usage data — basic analytics and cookie data if you visit our website.

2. How we use your information

We use your information to:

• provide, deliver, and administer bookkeeping, payroll, and advisory services;
• respond to inquiries and communicate with you about your file;
• prepare and file GST and other returns, and hand clean records to your accountant at year-end;
• issue invoices and process payment; and
• meet our legal, tax, and professional obligations.

3. Consent

By providing your information and engaging our services, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this policy. You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual limits and reasonable notice, by contacting us — though doing so may mean we can no longer provide some or all of our services.

4. How your data is stored and protected

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and physical steps to protect your information against unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. These include encrypted storage and transfer, access controls, strong authentication, and a secure client portal.

We never handle client financial documents over loose or unencrypted email. Please use the secure portal we provide for sensitive files. While no system can guarantee absolute security, we work to keep risk low and to limit access to only what is necessary.

5. Use of artificial intelligence

Your customer data and QuickBooks files are never uploaded to a public large language model (LLM) or any third-party AI service, and are never used to train anyone’s AI model.

Where we use AI to assist with automation or analysis, it runs on a completely private, on-premise model under our own control. Your data stays within our secure environment and is not sent to an outside AI provider.

6. Third-party service providers

We rely on trusted software to run the practice. These providers process data only to deliver their service to us and are governed by their own privacy policies. They include, among others:

• QuickBooks Online (Intuit) — accounting and bookkeeping platform;
• Dext — receipt and document capture;
• payment and email providers used to invoice and correspond with you.

7. Storage outside of Canada

Some of the software we use — including QuickBooks Online (Intuit) and Dext — stores and processes information on servers located in the United States or other countries outside Canada. As a result, your information may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions, including lawful access by foreign courts and government authorities.

PIPA requires us to tell you this. By engaging our services, you acknowledge that your information may be processed and stored outside Canada. If you have questions or concerns about cross-border processing, please contact us before sending any information.

8. Retention

We keep personal and financial information only as long as necessary to provide our services and to satisfy legal, tax, and professional record-keeping requirements (financial records are generally retained for the periods required by the Canada Revenue Agency). When information is no longer needed, we securely destroy or de-identify it.

9. Your rights

Under PIPA, you may request access to the personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate or incomplete. To make a request, contact our Privacy Officer below. We will respond within the timeframes required by PIPA. We do not sell or rent your personal information.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date above will always reflect the most recent version. Material changes will be posted on this page.