Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Fiscally Responsible Solutions ("FRS," "we," "us," or "our") is a sole proprietorship based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, providing bookkeeping, financial reporting, and business operations support services to small businesses and solopreneurs across Canada.

We are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the personal information entrusted to us. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and safeguard personal information in accordance with British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and any other applicable provincial privacy legislation. As a BC-based business serving clients across Canada, both PIPA and PIPEDA may apply to our operations depending on the nature and scope of the information handling activity.

By accessing our website at fiscallyresponsible.ca (the "Site"), submitting information through our forms, or engaging our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described herein.

2. Definitions

For the purposes of this Policy:

• "Personal Information" means information about an identifiable individual, as defined under PIPA and PIPEDA, including but not limited to name, email address, telephone number, business name, financial information, and employment details.
• "Business Information" means information relating to the operations, financial position, or activities of a business entity submitted through our forms or communicated during the course of our engagement.
• "Services" means all bookkeeping, financial reporting, payroll, HR admin support, business operations, and related services provided by FRS.

3. Information We Collect

We collect personal and business information through the following channels:

3.1 Information Submitted Through Our Website

3.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our Site, certain technical information may be collected automatically by our hosting provider (currently Netlify, Inc.) in server logs, including IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, and date/time of access. We also use Microsoft Clarity, a website analytics and session-replay tool provided by Microsoft Corporation, and Google Analytics 4, a website traffic analytics tool provided by Google LLC, to understand how visitors interact with the Site. These tools may collect website usage data such as pages visited, mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, page interactions, browser and device information, approximate location, session statistics, referring URLs, and form interaction patterns. Google Analytics may set first-party cookies, including a client ID cookie used to distinguish users and sessions. This information is used for security, performance monitoring, aggregate analytics, and Site usability improvement. We do not use this information to personally identify individual visitors, make decisions about individual visitors, or run advertising campaigns.

3.3 Information Collected in the Course of Services

Upon engagement as a client, we may collect additional personal and business information necessary to perform the services agreed upon, including but not limited to: bank and financial account records, payroll data, tax remittance information, employee records, vendor and customer details, corporate documents, and other financial or operational records. The handling of client engagement data is further governed by the terms of our service agreement.

4. Purposes of Collection and Use

We collect and use personal information for the following purposes:

1. Service Assessment and Delivery. To evaluate whether our services are a suitable fit for your business, to prepare for consultations, and to deliver the bookkeeping, financial reporting, payroll, HR, and business operations services you have engaged us to provide.
2. Communication. To respond to inquiries, schedule meetings, provide updates on the status of your engagement, and communicate information relevant to our services or your account.
3. Program Administration. To assess eligibility for and administer the Founders First Program, including reviewing applications, making selection decisions, and managing ongoing program participation.
4. Business Analytics and Service Improvement. To analyze patterns in inquiries, assess the effectiveness of our outreach, understand the needs of prospective and current clients, and improve the quality and relevance of our services over time. This includes the retention and analysis of form submissions, quiz responses, and engagement data for internal analytical purposes.
5. Legal and Regulatory Compliance. To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and professional standards, and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims where necessary.

5. Consent

By voluntarily submitting personal information through our Fit Quiz, Founders First Program application, scheduling tools, or email, you consent to the collection, use, and retention of that information for the purposes described in this Policy.

Where we seek to use personal information for a purpose not identified at the time of collection, we will obtain your consent before proceeding, unless the new purpose is permitted or required by law.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the information provided in Section 11 below. Please note that withdrawal of consent may limit our ability to provide certain services or respond to your inquiries.

6. Disclosure of Personal Information

We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise make available your personal information to third parties for marketing or commercial purposes. We do not monetize personal information in any form. We do not disclose the identity, industry, or nature of business of any client to any third party beyond what is strictly required to deliver services or comply with applicable law.

We may share personal information with third-party service providers who assist us in operating our business and delivering services, solely to the extent necessary for them to perform their functions. Our current service providers include:

• Netlify (Netlify, Inc.) — website hosting, content delivery, and form submission processing
• Google Workspace (Google LLC) — email, cloud storage, and internal data management
• Cal.com — appointment scheduling
• Microsoft Clarity (Microsoft Corporation) — website analytics, heatmaps, session replay, and Site usability improvement
• Google Analytics 4 (Google LLC) — website traffic analytics, aggregate measurement, and Site performance insight
• Accounting and bookkeeping software (for active client engagements only) — which may include QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, FreshBooks, Sage, or other platforms as required by the client engagement

In addition to third-party platforms, FRS may utilize proprietary, internally developed tools for bookkeeping and financial record management. These tools are developed, maintained, and operated exclusively by FRS, and data processed through them is not shared with or accessible to any external party.

We do not use client financial data to train artificial intelligence models or for any purpose unrelated to the delivery of contracted services.

These providers are bound by their own privacy policies and applicable data protection laws. We select providers that maintain adequate security standards, though we acknowledge that certain providers may process data outside of Canada (see Section 8).

We may also disclose personal information where required or permitted by law, including in response to a court order, subpoena, regulatory inquiry, or other lawful request by a government authority.

7. Data Retention

Website analytics and session-replay data available to us through Microsoft Clarity is retained in the Clarity dashboard for up to thirty (30) days from the time of recording, subject to Microsoft Clarity's settings and retention practices. Website traffic analytics available through Google Analytics 4 is retained according to the data retention settings in our Google Analytics property and Google's retention practices.

Information collected in the course of an active client engagement is retained for a minimum of seven (7) years following the termination of the engagement, in accordance with Canada Revenue Agency record-keeping requirements and applicable professional standards.

You may request the deletion of your personal information at any time, subject to our legal and regulatory retention obligations (see Section 9).

8. Cross-Border Data Transfers

Certain third-party service providers used in the operation of our business are headquartered in or may process data in the United States, including Netlify, Inc., Google LLC, Cal.com, and Microsoft Corporation. As a result, your personal information and website usage data collected through Microsoft Clarity and Google Analytics may be transferred to, stored, or processed in jurisdictions outside of Canada, including the United States.

Where personal information is transferred outside of Canada, it may be subject to the laws of the receiving jurisdiction, including lawful access requests by government authorities in those jurisdictions. We take reasonable steps to ensure that our service providers maintain appropriate safeguards for the protection of personal information, but we cannot guarantee that foreign jurisdictions will provide the same level of protection as Canadian privacy law.

9. Your Rights Under PIPA and PIPEDA

Subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law, you have the following rights with respect to your personal information held by FRS under British Columbia's PIPA and/or the federal PIPEDA, depending on the circumstances of collection:

• Right of Access. You may request access to the personal information we hold about you. We will respond to such requests within thirty (30) days.
• Right of Correction. You may request that we correct any personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date.
• Right to Withdraw Consent. You may withdraw your consent to the continued collection, use, or retention of your personal information, subject to legal or contractual obligations.
• Right to Request Deletion. You may request the deletion of your personal information. We will honor such requests unless retention is required by law (for example, client records subject to CRA record-keeping requirements).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information provided in Section 11. We may require you to verify your identity before processing your request.

10. Safeguards

We implement reasonable organizational and technical safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, loss, or destruction, including:

• Access to personal information is restricted to authorized personnel only (the sole proprietor of FRS).
• Electronic data is stored in password-protected, access-controlled environments with multi-factor authentication enabled where available.
• Our website is served over HTTPS with TLS encryption and is hosted on Netlify's secure infrastructure.
• Proprietary internal tools used for bookkeeping are developed and maintained exclusively by FRS and are not accessible to any external party.
• Third-party service providers are selected with regard to their security practices and compliance standards.

While we take reasonable precautions to safeguard your information, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of personal information transmitted to or stored by us.

10.1 Breach Notification

In the event of a breach of security safeguards involving personal information that poses a real risk of significant harm, we will comply with applicable breach notification requirements under PIPA and PIPEDA, including notifying affected individuals and the relevant privacy commissioner (the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia and/or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada) where required by law.

11. Accountability and Contact Information

Fiscally Responsible Solutions has designated the owner and sole proprietor as the individual accountable for privacy compliance and oversight of all personal information handling practices described in this Policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or our handling of your personal information, or if you wish to exercise any of your rights described herein, please contact:

We will acknowledge receipt of your inquiry and endeavor to respond within thirty (30) days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, as applicable.

12. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use Microsoft Clarity, a session-replay and analytics tool provided by Microsoft Corporation, to understand how visitors interact with the Site and improve usability. Clarity sets first-party and third-party cookies and may record session activity, such as mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, page interactions, browser and device information, and form interaction patterns. Clarity may provide heatmaps, aggregated behavioral metrics, and session replays. We do not use Clarity data for our own advertising campaigns, and we do not sell or monetize this data.

We also use Google Analytics 4, a website traffic analytics tool provided by Google LLC, to understand traffic sources, pages visited, session statistics, approximate location, browser and device information, and aggregate website performance. Google Analytics may set first-party cookies, including the _ga cookie, to distinguish users and sessions. We use Google Analytics for internal measurement and website improvement only.

Clarity is configured to mask form inputs and personal information collected through Site forms. We do not intentionally send names, email addresses, phone numbers, financial details, quiz responses, or form message content to Google Analytics. For more information about how Microsoft and Google collect and use data, please review the Microsoft Privacy Statement and the Google Privacy Policy.

Our hosting provider (Netlify, Inc.) may also set strictly necessary cookies or collect limited technical data for security and performance purposes.

13. Third-Party Links

Our Site may contain links to third-party websites, including our scheduling platform (Cal.com) and external resources. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any external site before submitting personal information.

14. Children's Privacy

Our services are designed for business owners and are not directed at individuals under the age of eighteen (18). We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If we become aware that personal information has been collected from a minor without verifiable parental consent, we will take prompt steps to delete such information.

15. Amendments to This Policy

We reserve the right to update or modify this Privacy Policy at any time to reflect changes in our practices, service offerings, or applicable law. Any material changes will be indicated by updating the "Last Revised" date at the top of this Policy. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.

Continued use of the Site or our services following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.

16. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, including the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Any disputes arising from this Policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of British Columbia.