AI, audit methodology and platform disclaimer

Important: This disclaimer explains the nature and limitations of BalanceTrace, including its artificial-intelligence-assisted features, Generated Outputs and Methodology Materials. It must be read with the BalanceTrace Terms and Conditions for Accessing and Using the BalanceTrace Platform (the “Platform Terms and Conditions”), the Customer’s order confirmation or Account details, the Data Processing Schedule and the Privacy Policy. Capitalised terms not defined in this disclaimer have the meanings given in the Platform Terms and Conditions. This disclaimer supports, but does not replace, amend or override those documents.

1. About BalanceTrace. BalanceTrace is a cloud-based business-to-business software platform operated by BALANCETRACE LTD, a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 17252905 and registered office at Flat 40 Eaton House, Vicarage Crescent, London, England, SW11 3LE (“BalanceTrace”, “we”, “us” or “our”). The platform supports accounting firms conducting external audits through engagement management, document upload, storage and organisation, workflows, AI-assisted processing, draft outputs for professional review, templates, checklists, sample calculators, integrations and related functionality (the “Platform”).

2. Business users and authority. The Platform is intended only for audit and accounting firms and other business or professional users acting in the course of a trade, business, craft or profession, and not for consumers. The contracting audit or accounting firm legal entity is the “Customer”. An “Authorised User” is an individual whom the Customer authorises to access the Platform on its behalf, including its personnel and, where enabled by the Customer, an invited end-client user with limited access. A person accepting the Platform Terms and Conditions or this disclaimer warrants that they are at least 18 years old and have authority to bind the Customer, and the Customer is responsible for all access and use by its Authorised Users.

3. Technology, not professional services. BalanceTrace supplies software and workflow tools to improve the speed and organisation of the Customer’s work. It does not provide audit, accounting, bookkeeping, tax, financial, legal, investment, regulatory or other professional advice or expert opinion; verify, authenticate or validate any document, evidence or data submitted to the Platform; act as the auditor, engagement partner or engagement quality reviewer; perform or complete an audit; or issue, approve or sign any audit report or opinion. The Platform and its Generated Outputs are not a substitute for applicable professional standards, suitably qualified personnel, human review, professional scepticism, independent judgement or engagement-specific procedures.

4. Customer data and inputs. The Customer controls the audit evidence, financial, transaction, payroll, business and personal data, communications, prompts, documents and customer methodology submitted to the Platform (“Customer Data”). The Customer is responsible for the legality, accuracy, completeness, quality and relevance of Customer Data; for having all necessary authority, permissions, transparency information and legal bases; and for minimising uploads. The Customer shall indemnify and hold BalanceTrace harmless against any third-party claim arising from the Customer’s breach of these responsibilities or its misuse of Generated Outputs. Any Generated Output is dependent on the Customer Data, instructions, assumptions, configurations and other information made available to the Platform.

5. Personal data and invited users. Where Customer Data contains personal data, including personal data in audit evidence, records, communications, prompts, uploaded documents and Generated Outputs, the Customer is the controller and BalanceTrace processes that personal data on the Customer’s behalf as processor under the Data Processing Schedule. BalanceTrace acts as independent controller for account administration, authentication, billing, security, fraud prevention, service and legal communications, support, compliance, legal claims and appropriately configured analytics or marketing, as described in the Privacy Policy, and that processing falls outside the Data Processing Schedule. Customers may invite their own clients or other end-client users to upload documents and answer questions, but the Customer controls that access and remains responsible for invitations, permissions, invited users and engagement administration. End-client contact details are not used for marketing or resale, but may be used for account, security, privacy, legal and service-status communications. Customer Data, prompts and Generated Outputs are not used to train BalanceTrace or third-party foundation models unless separately, expressly and lawfully agreed in writing. BalanceTrace may use information that has been irreversibly anonymised or aggregated so that it no longer constitutes personal data and cannot reasonably identify any Customer or individual to maintain, secure and improve the Platform, as described in the Data Processing Schedule.

6. AI-assisted features and outputs. The Platform may use artificial intelligence and other automated systems to extract, classify, summarise, compare, draft, suggest, calculate or otherwise process information. Any response, draft, analysis, suggestion, classification, calculation or other material generated or assisted by the Platform is a “Generated Output”. Generated Outputs are provided on an “as is” basis without any warranty of fitness for any particular audit engagement or purpose. Generated Outputs may be inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, biased, misleading, unsuitable or fabricated; may omit material facts or context; may not reflect changes in law, standards or guidance; and may vary when the same or similar inputs are used.

7. Mandatory human review. Before a Generated Output is used, relied on, included in an audit file, communicated to a client or third party, or used to support any professional judgement, conclusion, report or opinion, the Customer must ensure that suitably qualified professionals independently review it, verify it against complete and authoritative source evidence, test material assumptions and calculations, consider contrary evidence and approve it. Apparent citations, references, explanations, confidence indicators or fluent wording do not establish accuracy or reliability. Any preparer, reviewer or sign-off functionality in the Platform records the Customer’s own review and approval and does not perform, evidence the adequacy of, or replace that review.

8. Methodology materials. Templates, workflows, checklists, sample or draft reports, calculators, guidance, example procedures, prompts and other methodology-related content made available through the Platform (“Methodology Materials”) are optional, generic and illustrative starting points only. They are not a complete audit methodology, audit programme or quality-management system; are not tailored to any Customer, engagement, entity, industry, reporting framework or jurisdiction; may not reflect the latest auditing or accounting standards; and do not identify every procedure, risk, requirement or matter that may be relevant. Sample and draft reports are templates only, and the Platform does not generate final audit reports. The Customer must assess, adapt, check and approve any Methodology Materials before use, and its adoption of them is its own professional decision.

9. Customer’s professional responsibility. As between the Customer and BalanceTrace, the Customer remains solely responsible for selecting and maintaining its audit methodology and the applicable auditing and accounting standards, ethical rules and legal or regulatory requirements; ensuring that its use of the Platform complies with the auditing standards and legal and regulatory regimes of each jurisdiction in which it operates; assessing and adapting the Platform and Methodology Materials for each engagement and jurisdiction; independence, professional scepticism, risk assessment, materiality, sampling, testing, audit evidence, fraud considerations, supervision, review, quality management, documentation and retention; reviewing and signing off all final audit deliverables in accordance with its own internal quality-management and sign-off protocols; and all professional judgements, conclusions, communications, reports and audit opinions.

10. Calculators, samples and examples. Any sample size, materiality amount, threshold, selection, estimate or other calculation depends on the assumptions, inputs, formula, configuration and professional decisions applied. The Customer must independently validate those matters and the resulting calculation. Example procedures and sample reports must not be adopted without engagement-specific assessment and adaptation, and do not establish that sufficient appropriate audit evidence has been obtained.

11. No audit or detection guarantee. Use of the Platform, Generated Outputs or Methodology Materials does not guarantee that an audit will comply with any standard, law, regulation or contractual requirement; that sufficient appropriate audit evidence will be obtained; or that fraud, error, material misstatement, control deficiency, misconduct or regulatory non-compliance will be prevented or detected. BalanceTrace does not guarantee any audit outcome or acceptance by a regulator, professional body, client, court or other third party.

12. Changes, feedback and support. Platform functionality, Third Party Services, AI models and Methodology Materials may change in accordance with the Platform Terms and Conditions, and Generated Outputs generated at different times may differ. BalanceTrace is not liable for the performance, accuracy, availability or outputs of third-party AI models or Third Party Services integrated into the Platform, to the extent permitted by law. Unless expressly agreed in writing, BalanceTrace does not commit to updating Methodology Materials at any particular frequency or to reflect any particular change in law, standards or guidance. The Customer must promptly report suspected errors, unsafe outputs, material unexpected behaviour in Generated Outputs or methodology concerns, with sufficient detail for investigation, through the support or contact channels made available on the Platform, and BalanceTrace shall have no liability to the extent that the Customer’s failure to report promptly has contributed to or increased any loss. Support is provided on a reasonable endeavours basis in accordance with the Support Services Terms. BalanceTrace may correct, qualify, withdraw or restrict affected content or functionality, but a report does not transfer the Customer’s professional responsibilities to BalanceTrace.

13. Generated outputs and retained material. Subject to the Platform Terms and Conditions, BalanceTrace’s rights in Platform Technology and Methodology Materials, and section 7, the Customer may use Generated Outputs for its internal business and client-service purposes. Outputs may resemble material generated for others and are not guaranteed to be unique, copyright-protectable or non-infringing, and BalanceTrace makes no representation as to the Customer’s ownership of or proprietary rights in any Generated Output and does not indemnify the Customer against third-party intellectual property claims relating to them. A downloaded or retained Generated Output is a snapshot that may not reflect later changes. BalanceTrace does not provide long-term archiving of audit files. Following cancellation, termination or expiry of the Customer’s Subscription or discontinuation of the Services, the Customer will have 30 days to export supported Customer Data and Generated Outputs, unless it requests earlier deletion. After that period, active copies may be deleted or irreversibly anonymised and may not be recoverable, subject only to limited retention in isolated backups or where required by law or for legal claims, as described in the Platform Terms and Conditions and the Data Processing Schedule. BalanceTrace will not restore data from backups to enable a late export. The Customer is responsible for exporting and retaining complete audit files and records before that period expires and for the periods required by applicable professional, legal and regulatory obligations.

14. Reliance and third-party use. The Customer must not rely on any Generated Output before completing the review required by section 7, treat the Platform, Generated Outputs or Methodology Materials as the sole basis for a material professional decision, or represent them as independently verified, professionally assured or endorsed by BalanceTrace. The Customer is responsible for determining whether and how to communicate or provide them to any client, regulator or other third party, for adding appropriate context and qualifications, and for ensuring that such use complies with professional obligations, confidentiality duties, data-protection law, intellectual-property rights and the Platform Terms and Conditions.

15. No endorsement or affiliation. BalanceTrace and its Platform, Generated Outputs and Methodology Materials are not endorsed, approved, certified or operated by the Financial Reporting Council, ICAEW, ACCA, the Financial Conduct Authority or any other regulator, professional body or standard setter unless BalanceTrace expressly states otherwise in an official publication on its website or in its Platform documentation with a verifiable basis. References to any body, standard or framework identify relevant subject matter only and do not imply affiliation, verification, participation or approval. BalanceTrace is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not carry on any regulated activity or provide regulated financial advice.

16. Legal effect and contract terms. This disclaimer describes the allocation of professional responsibility and the limitations inherent in the Platform, Generated Outputs and Methodology Materials. It does not exclude BalanceTrace’s obligation to provide the Services with reasonable care and skill or vary any express warranty or service-level commitment set out in the Platform Terms and Conditions. The Platform Terms and Conditions, the Customer’s order confirmation or Account details, the Data Processing Schedule and the Privacy Policy govern the service, including contractual warranties, exclusions and limitations of liability, financial caps and remedies, and prevail over this disclaimer in the event of inconsistency. Nothing in this disclaimer excludes or limits liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (c) any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

17. Governing law and jurisdiction. Subject to any governing-law and jurisdiction provisions in the applicable Platform Terms and Conditions, this disclaimer and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.