Confidentiality & NDA
Confidentiality is fundamental to white-label bookkeeping. A&M will sign your firm's agreement, or use its own.
Confidentiality is fundamental to the model
White-label bookkeeping only works if the firm can trust that its clients' information, and the fact of the arrangement, stay confidential. That is why A&M treats confidentiality as a precondition of an engagement, not a clause to negotiate at the end.
Agreements A&M will sign
A&M is willing to execute, before any client information is shared:
- The accounting firm's own NDA
- A confidentiality agreement
- An appropriate data-processing agreement
- A&M's standard NDA, where the firm prefers it
A firm's own paper is welcome and is usually the quickest route.
In a white-label engagement
The CPA or accounting firm retains ownership of the client relationship. A&M works behind the firm's brand, and communication with the client goes through the firm unless the firm decides otherwise.
A&M's position is that it should not independently solicit the firm's covered clients for competing services contrary to the executed engagement or NDA. The signed agreement between the parties controls the actual confidentiality and non-solicitation obligations, including their scope and duration.
What A&M's standard NDA typically covers
- A definition of confidential information that includes client records and the identity of the firm's clients
- Use of the information only to perform the agreed services
- No disclosure outside the company
- Security measures and access limited to authorised personnel
- Notification to the firm if client information is affected by an incident
- Return or deletion of information when the engagement ends
- No use of the firm's or its clients' names in A&M's marketing
People covered
Access to client records is limited to authorised personnel. A firm that needs evidence of staff confidentiality terms can ask for it as part of due diligence.
The executed agreement governs
This page describes A&M's approach. The signed agreement between the parties controls the actual confidentiality and non-solicitation obligations of each party. Nothing on this page is a contract or legal advice, and a firm should have its own adviser review any agreement before signing it.