Privacy Policy

Who we are

AvenRidge Partners (“AvenRidge”, “we”, “us”) is a Calgary, Alberta accounting firm providing bookkeeping, accounting, tax, and advisory services to Canadian businesses, together with a secure client portal. This policy explains how we handle personal information in the course of those services, in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act.

What we collect

• Contact and identity details: names, email addresses, phone numbers, and business information you provide.
• Account credentials for the client portal, managed through our authentication provider. We never see or store your password in plain text.
• Financial records and books: transactions, statements, payroll records, tax filings, and related financial information for the businesses we serve.
• Documents you upload: receipts, invoices, agreements, and other records you share through the portal.
• Limited technical information: essential cookies that keep you signed in, and aggregate analytics about how the site and portal perform.

Where it comes from

• Directly from you, through the portal, email, or our working relationship.
• From QuickBooks Online, when you or we connect your company file through Intuit's authorized connection.
• From point-of-sale or business systems whose reports you provide to us.

Why we use it

We collect and use personal information only to deliver the services you engage us for: keeping your books, preparing financial statements and tax filings, operating the client portal, communicating with you, invoicing, and meeting our legal and professional obligations. We do not sell personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

Service providers we rely on

We use a small set of service providers who process information on our behalf, under their own contractual confidentiality and security obligations:

• Database and document storage (Supabase), with our primary database hosted in Canada.
• Web hosting and performance measurement (Vercel, including its Speed Insights performance analytics).
• Accounting platform connections (Intuit QuickBooks), authorized by you.
• AI-assisted drafting (Anthropic): we use AI to help draft financial commentary from your figures. Every AI-drafted word and number is reviewed by a CPA before it reaches you, and under the provider's commercial terms your data is not used to train its models.
• Product analytics (PostHog) and error monitoring (Sentry), used to keep the portal working well.
• Email delivery (Microsoft), electronic signatures (PandaDoc), and pre-authorised payments (Rotessa), where those features are in use for your engagement.
• Internal operational alerts (Slack or Microsoft Teams) that tell our team work is ready for review. These alerts do not carry your financial records.

How we protect it

• All data moves over encrypted connections (TLS).
• Connection tokens for QuickBooks and bank feeds are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM.
• Each client's data is isolated by row-level security in our database: your records are only visible to your own authorized users and our team.
• Staff access is role-based and limited to what each role needs.

How long we keep it

Books and records are kept for at least six years from the end of the taxation year they relate to, as the Canada Revenue Agency requires; our standard practice is seven. After the retention period, records are destroyed through a controlled, logged process. If you leave us, your books and documents are exported to you in full first, and our retained copy simply rides out the required period.

Your rights

• You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it.
• You may withdraw consent to our collection and use of your information, subject to legal and contractual restrictions. Because our services depend on your financial records, withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer act for you.
• You may complain to us at any time, and to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you are not satisfied with our response.

Cookies

The portal uses essential cookies to keep you signed in securely. The site and portal also use analytics that help us understand performance and usage; these are not used to advertise to you.

Where data is processed

Our primary database and document storage are hosted in Canada. Some of the service providers listed above process data in the United States. Wherever information is processed, it remains protected by the contractual and technical safeguards described in this policy.

Children

Our services are for businesses and are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we will update the date at the top and, for material changes, tell our clients directly through the portal.

Contact

Privacy questions and requests go to our privacy officer: Anthony Rizzuto, AvenRidge Partners, hello@avenridgepartners.ca, (587) 582-3658, 1011 12 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB T2R 0J5.