Terms of service

These terms are a contract between you (the business that signs up, and the people who use Finato on its behalf) and Finato (“we”, “us”). They cover our website, our web and mobile apps, and the bookkeeping and reporting services we provide (together, the “Service”).

By creating an account, signing a service order, or using the Service, you agree to these terms and to our privacy policy. If you are agreeing on behalf of a business, you confirm you have the authority to do so.

Finato provides bookkeeping and management reporting for businesses. Depending on your plan, this includes:

• Recording your transactions in a double-entry ledger that we host for you.
• Connecting to your bank and card accounts, and taking in reports from your point-of-sale, back-office and vendor systems.
• Posting, classifying and reconciling entries, performed and reviewed by our bookkeeping team.
• Tracking payables, receivables, inventory and fuel, and preparing the reports described in your plan.
• Providing a year-end package of your books for your tax preparer.

We do our work from the documents and data you give us and from the accounts you connect. We rely on that information being complete and accurate. Where something is unclear, we will ask you rather than assume; we may hold the related entry until you answer.

Unless a separate written agreement says otherwise, the Service does not include and we do not provide:

• Tax advice, tax return preparation or tax filing of any kind.
• Payroll processing, payroll tax deposits or payroll filings.
• Audits, reviews, compilations or any attest service, or any opinion on your financial statements.
• Legal, investment or financing advice.
• Holding, moving or paying out your money. We never have access to transfer funds from your accounts.

Our reports are prepared to help you run your business and to give your tax preparer tax-ready books. They are not certified and should not be presented to lenders, investors or authorities as audited statements. You remain responsible for your tax, regulatory and licensing obligations.

• Give us complete, accurate and timely information, documents and access, and tell us promptly when something changes (a new bank account, vendor, location or entity).
• Answer our questions about transactions within a reasonable time so your books can be closed on schedule.
• Review the reports we send you and tell us within 30 days if anything looks wrong. We will correct errors we are responsible for at no charge.
• Keep your login details confidential and make sure only authorised people use your account. You are responsible for what is done under your account.
• Only connect accounts and share data that you are entitled to share, and only use the Service for lawful business purposes.

Fees are set out in your service order or quote and are billed monthly in advance unless agreed otherwise. Fees are based on the locations, entities and services covered; adding a location, entity or service may change the fee, and we will tell you before it does.

We may change our fees with at least 30 days’ written notice. If you don’t accept a change, you can cancel before it takes effect. Fees are exclusive of any applicable taxes. Overdue amounts may result in work being paused until payment is received.

Your business’s financial data, documents and books belong to you. You give us the permission we need to store, process and use them to provide the Service, to keep the Service secure, and to meet our legal obligations.

We keep your data confidential and share it only as described in our privacy policy — for example, with the service providers that host our systems or connect your bank accounts, or with your tax preparer when you ask us to. We do not sell your data and we do not use your books to train or improve artificial-intelligence models. If you authorise us to import your accounting records from your Xero organisation, we use that data only to set up and keep your books; data obtained from Xero’s APIs is never used to train or improve AI models.

You can export your books and reports at any time while your account is active. After your account closes we will keep your data available for export for 90 days, then delete or anonymise it, except where we must keep it to meet legal or record-keeping requirements.

Bank and card connections are made through Plaid. By connecting an account, you authorise Plaid to access and transmit your account data to Finato so we can keep your books, and you agree to the Plaid End User Privacy Policy, which we show you at the time you connect. We receive read-only transaction and balance data; we cannot move money.

You can disconnect an account at any time from your Finato account or by contacting us. Disconnecting stops new data arriving; it does not delete what has already been recorded in your books.

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use our website and apps to access the Service for your business. You must not copy, resell, reverse engineer or interfere with them, try to access another customer’s data, or use automated tools to scrape them.

The Finato name, logo and software are ours or our licensors’. Third-party product names on our site belong to their owners and are mentioned only to show compatibility.

The Service continues month to month until cancelled. You can cancel at any time with 30 days’ written notice; we will finish any month already paid for. We may cancel with 30 days’ notice, or immediately if you breach these terms, don’t pay, or use the Service unlawfully.

On cancellation we will give you a final export of your books and reports. Fees already paid are not refunded except where the law requires it or we have agreed otherwise.

We will perform the Service with reasonable skill and care. Beyond that, the Service is provided “as is”, and we do not promise it will be uninterrupted or error-free. Our reports depend on the information we receive; we are not responsible for errors caused by inaccurate, incomplete or late information.

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential losses, including lost profits, penalties or interest, and our total liability for all claims in any 12-month period is limited to the fees you paid us for the Service in that period. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. If we have a dispute, we will first try to resolve it in good faith by talking it through. Any claim that can’t be resolved that way will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Texas, and both of us agree to their jurisdiction.

We may update these terms from time to time. If a change is material, we will tell you by email or in the app at least 30 days before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after that date means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about these terms? Email us at support@finato.ai.