GoForma is the trading name of Ember Nine Ltd ('Forma', 'Forma Accounting', 'We', 'Us', 'Our') and operates as a private limited company in England and Wales under company number 11871779. Our registered office is 40 Bowling Green Lane, London, United Kingdom, EC1R 0NE.
Topics
- What information do We collect about you?
- How will We use this information?
- The lawful bases we rely on
- Identity checks and anti-money laundering
- How we use artificial intelligence
- Sending information outside the UK
- How long we keep your information
- Your rights
- Marketing
- Cookies
- Call recording and transcription
- Other Websites
- Changes to Our privacy policy
- How to contact us
What information do We collect about you?
We collect personal information, such as your name, address, e-mail and contact telephone number when you register with us or place an order for Our services. We also collect information when you voluntarily complete customer surveys, provide feedback or participate in competitions. Website usage information is collected using cookies.
How will We use the information about you?
We will only use this information to process your order, manage your account and, if you agree, to e-mail you about other products and services We think may be of interest to you.
We use information collected from Our Website only to personalise your repeat visits to the Website. Any information about your visits to Our Website that are shared with third parties such as Google are for analytical purposes only and any information shared remains anonymous. GoForma will also engage with review platforms in order to measure your customer satisfaction with Our products and services.
GoForma will not share your information for marketing purposes with any companies outside Our group.
In processing each order, your information is shared with our payment processor Stripe and with your card provider. We do not have access to, hold or store your card details. If you have any concerns about payment information, please refer to your provider's own privacy policy.
The lawful bases we rely on
Under the UK GDPR we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We rely on the following:
- Contract: to provide the accounting services you have engaged us for, manage your account, and take payment.
- Legal obligation: to meet our duties under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the Companies Act 2006, and tax legislation, including verifying your identity and retaining records.
- Legitimate interests: to record and analyse calls, to use software including artificial intelligence to deliver our services more accurately and quickly, to improve our service, and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Where we rely on legitimate interests we have assessed that our interests do not override your rights, and you may object at any time.
- Consent: to send you marketing. You may withdraw consent at any time.
Identity checks and anti-money laundering
As an accountancy practice we are required by the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 to verify the identity of our clients and their beneficial owners before we begin work, and to keep that information up to date.
To do this we collect identity documents such as a passport or driving licence, evidence of your residential address, and information about the ownership, control and nature of your business. We may also use electronic verification services that check your details against reference databases. An electronic check leaves a soft footprint on your credit file, which does not affect your credit rating.
Lawful basis. We process this information to comply with a legal obligation under Article 6(1)(c) of the UK GDPR. We cannot act for you without it.
Reporting. We are required to report knowledge or suspicion of money laundering to the National Crime Agency. Where we do so, we may be prohibited by law from telling you that a report has been made, and we may be unable to explain why we have paused or ended our work.
Companies House identity verification. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, Companies House requires identity verification for company directors and Persons of Significant Control. Where we file on your behalf we will need your verification reference.
GoForma is registered with and supervised by HM Revenue & Customs for anti-money laundering purposes under registration number XEML00000145914, held in the name of Ember Nine Limited.
How we use artificial intelligence
We use software that includes artificial intelligence to help us work more quickly and consistently. This is in addition to the call transcription described below, and covers:
- reviewing your accounting data and flagging anomalies for an accountant to check;
- preparing drafts, summaries and working notes;
- helping us respond to your questions and messages more quickly;
- transcribing and summarising telephone calls, as described in the Call Recording and Transcription section below.
A person is always responsible for the work. These tools support our accountants; they do not replace them. Every piece of work we deliver, and every filing we submit on your behalf, is reviewed by a qualified member of our team who remains responsible for it. Nothing is issued to you, and no filing is made, on the basis of an automated output alone.
No automated decision-making. We do not make decisions that produce legal effects for you, or similarly significantly affect you, by automated means alone. You are not subject to automated decision-making of the kind described in Article 22 of the UK GDPR.
Lawful basis. We rely on legitimate interests: delivering an accurate and timely service to you. You have the right to object to processing carried out on this basis. If you would prefer that we did not use these tools on your information, contact your accountant or email support@goforma.com and we will discuss what is possible.
Who processes your information. Where these tools process your information they do so as our data processors, under contract and on written data processing terms. The categories of provider we use are accounting and bookkeeping software, telephony and transcription services, client communication platforms, and general-purpose AI assistants used by our team in the course of their work. We select providers on business terms appropriate to confidential financial information.
Sending information outside the UK
Some of the providers we use to deliver our services, including transcription and communication tools, process data outside the United Kingdom. Where information is transferred outside the UK we ensure an appropriate safeguard is in place, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the European Commission's standard contractual clauses, or that the destination is covered by UK adequacy regulations. You may ask us for details of the safeguards that apply to a particular transfer.
How long we keep your information
We keep your personal data only for as long as we need it. The main periods are set by law rather than by us.
- Identity and anti-money-laundering records: five years from the end of our business relationship with you. Regulation 40 of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 requires us to keep these records, and to delete them at the end of that period unless we are required to keep them for another legal purpose.
- Your engagement file, including accounts, returns, working papers and correspondence: six years from the end of the accounting period or tax year to which they relate. This reflects the periods within which HMRC may open an enquiry or raise an assessment, and within which a claim may be brought against us.
- Call recordings and transcripts: twelve months, as set out in the Call Recording and Transcription section below.
- Marketing preferences: until you ask us to stop contacting you, and then only the minimum needed to honour that request.
- Website analytics: as set out in our cookies section.
Keeping your engagement file protects you as well as us. If HMRC queries a return three years after it was filed, that file is what answers them.
Marketing
We would like to send you information about products and services of Ours that may be of interest to you. If you have consented to receive marketing information, you may of course opt out at a later date.
You have the right at any time to stop us from contacting you. If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please email info@goforma.com.
Your rights
You have the following rights over the personal data we hold about you:
- Access: to request a copy of the information we hold about you.
- Rectification: to have inaccurate information corrected, and incomplete information completed.
- Erasure: to ask us to delete your information.
- Restriction: to ask us to limit how we use your information while a query is resolved.
- Portability: to receive certain information in a portable format.
- Objection: to object to processing we carry out on the basis of legitimate interests, including our use of artificial intelligence and call recording.
- Withdrawing consent: to withdraw consent to marketing at any time.
Limits on erasure. We will delete your information wherever we are free to do so. Where we are required by law to keep it, or where we need it to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim, we are entitled to refuse, and we will tell you which applies and the date the information will be deleted. This is not a matter of discretion on our part: the right to erasure under Article 17 of the UK GDPR does not apply where processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, or for legal claims. Marketing is separate, and we will stop contacting you immediately on request whatever else we are required to retain.
To exercise any of these rights, email info@goforma.com. If you are a GoForma client, you can also contact your accountant or email support@goforma.com. We will respond within one month.
Complaining to the regulator. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection, at ico.org.uk, by calling 0303 123 1113, or by writing to Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. We would ask that you raise it with us first so that we have the chance to put it right.
Cookies Policy
When We provide services, We want to make them as easy and useful for you as possible. Where services are delivered on the internet, this will sometimes involve placing small amounts of information on your device (computer or mobile phone). These include small text files known as cookies. They cannot be used to identify you personally, cannot carry viruses, or install malware. We use cookies to help us improve the user experience on this Website and to determine what device you are viewing the site on so that the correct version is shown.
Google Analytics
This Website uses Google Analytics to help analyse how visitors use this site. Google Analytics uses cookies, which are small text files placed on your computer, to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form. No personally identifiable information is collected about you unless you explicitly submit that information via a fill-in form on this Website.
The anonymous information generated by Google Analytics cookies about your use of this Website is processed to compile statistical reports on Website activity. We use these reports to evaluate aggregate visitor usage so that We can optimise the content to better meet your future needs.
We do not link, or seek to link, an IP address with the identity of a computer user. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.
How We use cookies
A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse Web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow Web applications to respond to you as an individual, tailoring operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about Web page traffic and improve Our Website in order to tailor it to visitor usage. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer.
Opting out of Google re-marketing cookies
Site users can opt out of Google Analytics for Display Advertisers and opt out of customised Google Display Network ads by visiting Google's Ads Preferences at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated?hl=en_GB. Further information is available at https://www.google.com/settings/u/0/ads/anonymous.
Blocking cookies
Cookies help you to get the most out of Our Websites. If you do wish to disable Our cookies, instructions for common browsers are as follows:
- Google Chrome: Settings > Show advanced settings > Privacy > Content settings > Cookies.
- Microsoft Internet Explorer: Tools > Internet Options > Privacy tab > adjust the slider.
- Mozilla Firefox: Tools > Options > Privacy panel > Accept cookies for sites.
- Opera: Settings > Quick Preferences > Enable Cookies.
- Safari on OSX: Safari menu > Preferences > Security > Accept cookies.
Other Websites
This privacy policy only applies to the GoForma Website. If there are any links that take you to another site, you should read their own privacy policies.
Changes to Our privacy policy
We keep Our privacy policy up to date and in line with current legislation. As We review the Website We may from time to time update information, which will appear on this page. The date this policy was last updated is shown at the top of it.
Call Recording and Transcription
What we collect
When you speak with us by telephone, we record the call. This includes both inbound calls to our main line and outbound calls made by our team. Recordings are processed using AI-powered transcription and analysis tools to generate speaker-separated transcripts, call summaries, key takeaways, action items, and follow-up notes.
Why we collect it
We record and process calls for the following purposes:
- Quality assurance: to monitor and improve the quality of our service
- Training and development: to support the professional development of our team
- Accurate record-keeping: to maintain a precise record of advice given and instructions received, which is important given the nature of accounting and tax advice
- Dispute resolution: to provide an objective record in the event of a disagreement
- Follow-up: to ensure key points, tasks, and issues from calls are captured and acted on
Lawful basis
We process call recordings under the legitimate interests lawful basis (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR). We have completed a Legitimate Interests Assessment which concluded that our interests in recording calls for the purposes above do not override the rights and freedoms of the individuals concerned. A copy of this assessment is available on request.
How we notify you
We inform you that calls are recorded through:
- An automated announcement when you call our main line
- A notice on our consultation booking pages
- A note in our booking confirmation emails
- This Privacy Policy
Your right to opt out
You can ask us not to record a call at any time. Simply let your accountant know at the start of, or during, a call, and they will pause or stop the recording. You can also contact us to request that future calls are not recorded.
Who has access
Call recordings and AI-generated summaries are accessible only to authorised GoForma staff involved in delivering our services to you. We do not share recordings with third parties, except for the following data processors who process data on our behalf under appropriate data processing agreements:
- Aircall: Cloud telephone system, records and stores call audio
- Fireflies.ai: AI transcription and analysis, generates transcripts, summaries, and follow-up notes
- Crisp: Client communication platform, stores call recordings alongside other client interactions
How long we keep it
- Call audio recordings and transcripts: 12 months from the date of the call
- AI-generated summaries and follow-up notes: for the duration of your client relationship plus 12 months
- Call metadata (date, time, duration): for the duration of your client relationship plus 12 months
Your rights over call recordings
In relation to your call recordings, you have the right to:
- Access: request a copy of your call recordings and/or transcripts
- Erasure: request that your recordings and related data are deleted
- Object: object to your calls being recorded in future
- Rectification: request correction of any inaccurate personal data in transcripts
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@goforma.com, or support@goforma.com if you are a client. We will respond within one calendar month.
How to contact us
For any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us at info@goforma.com or write to us at GoForma, 40 Bowling Green Lane, London, EC1R 0NE.