These Terms of Engagement ("Terms") set out how Metarithmika Inc. ("Metarithmika", "we", "us") provides accounting, bookkeeping, payroll and administrative services to you ("you", "the client"). They apply together with your signed service plan or engagement letter. If the two conflict, your service plan or engagement letter applies.
1. Our services
We provide the services described in your service plan, which may include bookkeeping, account reconciliations, financial reporting, payroll processing, GST/HST and other government filings, budgeting and forecasting, fractional CFO support, and administrative support.
Metarithmika is not a public accounting firm. We do not perform audits, review engagements or other assurance engagements, and we do not issue audit or review reports. When your organization needs one, we work with the public accountant or auditor you choose.
Work outside your service plan — for example catch-up bookkeeping, special projects or detailed tax planning — is quoted separately and done only with your written approval.
2. Your responsibilities
To let us do our work well, you agree to:
- provide complete, accurate and timely information, documents and explanations, and tell us promptly about any change that may affect your file;
- review the reports and filings we prepare and approve filings before we submit them on your behalf;
- keep your original business records for the period required by law (generally six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, under CRA rules).
You remain responsible for your organization's financial statements, internal controls, and the accuracy of the information in your returns and remittances, and you remain legally responsible to the Canada Revenue Agency and other government bodies for your filings and payments.
3. Authorizations
Where your service plan requires it, you will authorize us as your representative with the CRA and other agencies (for example through "Represent a Client"), and give us access to your accounting, payroll and banking platforms. You can revoke these authorizations at any time; doing so may limit the services we can provide.
4. Communication and progress updates
We keep you informed about the progress of your file and expect prompt communication from you in return. We communicate by email, phone, video call and secure client portals.
5. Confidentiality
We treat all information you share with us as confidential. We do not disclose it to anyone without your consent, except to the service providers and subcontractors who help us deliver your services (who are bound by confidentiality obligations), or where the law requires it.
6. Privacy
We handle personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable Canadian privacy law, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
7. Electronic communication and cloud services
We use secure cloud-based tools (for example accounting, payroll, receipt-management, file-sharing and scheduling software) to deliver our services. Some of these providers may store information outside Canada, where it may be subject to the laws of that country. We use reasonable safeguards, but no electronic communication or storage is completely secure, and you accept this risk when you choose to communicate with us electronically.
8. Fees
Fees for recurring services are set in your service plan. Work outside the plan is billed at our hourly rates or a fixed quote agreed in writing before the work starts. Estimates are not binding unless confirmed in writing. GST/HST is added to all fees. We will give you at least 30 days' written notice before changing your plan fees or hourly rates.
9. Billing and payment
We invoice monthly. Invoices are payable within 15 days of the invoice date. Overdue amounts bear interest at 1.5% per month, compounded monthly, which is equal to 19.56% per year, as required by the federal Interest Act. If an account remains unpaid after we have given you written notice, we may suspend services until it is brought up to date. Third-party costs we incur on your behalf with your approval (for example software subscriptions or government fees) are billed at cost.
10. Subcontractors
We may engage qualified subcontractors to help deliver your services. They are bound by the same confidentiality obligations, and we remain responsible to you for their work.
11. Ownership of records and work
Your business records, financial data, and the reports, statements and filings we prepare for you belong to you. Our own templates, checklists, tools, processes and know-how remain the property of Metarithmika. When the engagement ends, we will return your original records and give you access to your data regardless of any amount owing. Work completed but not yet paid for will be released once the related invoices are paid.
12. Timeframes and delays
We work to the timeframes agreed with you. We are not responsible for delays or penalties caused by late, incomplete or inaccurate information from you or third parties, or by events beyond our reasonable control (for example government system outages).
13. Limitation of liability
We correct errors that are directly attributable to our work at no additional cost, as described in our Client Guarantee. To the extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to our services is limited to the fees you paid for the affected service in the 12 months before the claim. We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for penalties, interest or losses arising from information you provided late, incompletely or inaccurately, or from decisions you made against our advice.
14. Legal requests
If we are required to respond to a subpoena, court order or other legal process relating to your file, you agree to pay for our reasonable time and costs, unless the proceeding is against Metarithmika.
15. Record retention
We keep working copies of client files for six years after the end of the engagement year to which they relate, then destroy them securely, unless the law requires a longer period or you ask us in writing to return them earlier.
16. Term and termination
Our monthly service plans have no long-term contract. Either party may end the engagement by written notice given at least 10 days before the next billing cycle. Services already completed or in progress are billed. Plans prepaid annually at a discount follow the terms of that offer. We may end the engagement immediately if you ask us to act unlawfully or unethically.
17. Non-solicitation
During the engagement and for 12 months after it ends, you agree not to hire, directly or indirectly, any Metarithmika employee or subcontractor who worked on your file without our written consent. This does not prevent you from hiring someone who responds to a general job posting you make to the public.
18. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply in Ontario. We will first try to resolve any disagreement through good-faith discussion. If it cannot be resolved, it will be decided by the courts of Ontario sitting in Ottawa.
19. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms to reflect changes in our services or the law. We will give clients at least 30 days' notice of material changes by email. Continuing to use our services after that date means you accept the updated Terms.
20. Contact
Metarithmika — 2148 Carling Ave., Unit 2, Suite 1020, Ottawa, ON K2A 1H1 — info@metarithmika.ca — 613-706-9580