Privacy Policy

Echelon Ledger LLC (“Echelon Ledger,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates echelonledger.com (the “Site”) and provides bookkeeping services to businesses. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we handle it, and what choices you have.

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at privacy@echelonledger.com.

1. Scope of This Policy

This policy covers two distinct relationships:

Site visitors. Anyone who browses echelonledger.com, reads our articles, or submits a contact or consultation request.

Clients. Businesses that have signed an engagement agreement with Echelon Ledger and for whom we maintain financial records.

Where this policy and a signed engagement agreement or data processing addendum conflict on the handling of client financial information, the engagement agreement controls.

This policy does not cover the practices of third-party websites, software, or service providers you reach through links on our Site. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

• Contact and consultation requests. Name, business name, email address, phone number, website URL, and whatever you choose to include in a message field.
• Scheduling. If you book a consultation, the information required by our scheduling provider, including the time you select and any intake answers you give.
• Email communications. The contents of emails you send us and any attachments.
• Client onboarding. For prospective and active clients: entity name and structure, state of formation, industry, accounting software in use, approximate transaction volume, and similar operating details needed to scope an engagement.

2.2 Client Financial Information

Once an engagement begins, we necessarily handle financial records belonging to the client business. Depending on the engagement, this may include bank and credit card statements, payment processor reports, payroll reports provided by the client, invoices, receipts, vendor records, general ledger data, and financial statements.

We access this information only as required to perform the bookkeeping services defined in the engagement agreement. We do not use client financial records for marketing, we do not sell them, and we do not share them with third parties except as described in Section 5.

Where we access a client’s accounting platform, we request an individual user account with least-privilege permissions rather than shared credentials. Clients retain ownership and administrative control of their own systems and are responsible for removing our access when an engagement ends.

2.3 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Site, our hosting provider and analytics tools collect standard technical information:

• IP address (which may be truncated or anonymized by our analytics provider)
• Browser type, browser version, and operating system
• Device type and screen dimensions
• Referring URL and exit pages
• Pages viewed, time on page, and scroll depth
• Date and time of access
• Approximate geographic region derived from IP address

2.4 Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Site uses a limited set of cookies and local storage:

• Strictly necessary. Required for the Site to load, route requests, and protect against abuse.
• Analytics. Used to understand which pages and articles are useful, how visitors move through the Site, and which calls to action lead to consultation requests. We use PostHog for product and web analytics.

We do not run advertising networks, retargeting pixels, or cross-site behavioral advertising on the Site.

Most browsers let you block or delete cookies through their settings. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may prevent parts of the Site from working.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information described above to:

• Respond to inquiries and consultation requests
• Evaluate whether an engagement is a good fit and prepare a proposal or engagement agreement
• Deliver the bookkeeping services defined in an engagement agreement
• Communicate with clients about deliverables, deadlines, questions, and document requests
• Send invoices and process payments through our payment provider
• Operate, secure, and improve the Site
• Understand which content attracts qualified visitors and improve it
• Maintain records required for tax, accounting, insurance, and legal purposes
• Comply with applicable law and respond to lawful requests
• Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud, abuse, or security incidents

We do not use client financial data to train machine learning models, and we do not submit identifiable client financial records to third-party AI tools except where a vendor is engaged under contractual confidentiality and data protection obligations as described in Section 5.

4. How We Use AI

Echelon Ledger uses AI-assisted tooling in parts of its workflow, including transaction categorization assistance, anomaly detection, documentation drafting, and content production. AI output is reviewed by a human before it affects a client’s books or is published on the Site.

AI tools do not have unsupervised authority over a client’s financial records. We do not use fully autonomous bookkeeping, and no financial judgment is delegated to an automated system without review.

Where a vendor’s AI features are used in connection with client data, we select providers that offer business or enterprise terms restricting use of customer data for model training.

5. How We Share Information

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

We disclose information only in these circumstances:

Service providers. We use vendors to run the business, including website hosting, analytics, email, scheduling, document storage, accounting software, and payment processing. These vendors receive only the information needed to perform their function and are bound by contract to protect it.

At your direction. For example, when a client asks us to send financial reports to their CPA, tax preparer, attorney, or lender.

Professional advisers. Our own attorneys, accountants, and insurers, in confidence and as needed.

Legal requirements. When required by law, subpoena, court order, or other lawful process, or where we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, investigate fraud, or respond to a security incident.

Business transfer. If Echelon Ledger is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, information may transfer as part of that transaction, subject to this policy.

6. Data Security

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information we handle, including:

• Multifactor authentication on business accounts and financial platforms
• Least-privilege access and individual user accounts rather than shared credentials
• Encrypted transmission of data in transit
• Encrypted storage for financial documents
• A password manager for credential handling
• Periodic access review and removal of access when an engagement ends
• Vendor selection that accounts for security posture and contractual data protections

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and clients share responsibility for the security of their own systems, credentials, and account administration.

If we become aware of a security incident affecting your information, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

7. Data Retention

We retain information for as long as needed for the purpose it was collected, and afterward as required by law, professional standards, insurance requirements, or the resolution of disputes.

General guidelines:

• Contact and consultation inquiries that do not become engagements: up to 24 months
• Client engagement records and financial working papers: for the duration of the engagement and at least seven years afterward, or longer where required
• Billing and tax records: at least seven years
• Site analytics: as configured in our analytics platform, typically 12 to 24 months

Clients remain responsible for retaining their own original source documents. Echelon Ledger is not a system of record for a client’s financial documents.

8. Your Choices

• Email. You can unsubscribe from non-essential email at any time using the link in the message or by contacting us. We will still send operational messages related to an active engagement.
• Cookies. Manage or block cookies through your browser settings.
• Global Privacy Control. We honor GPC signals as an opt-out of sale or sharing where applicable. Because we do not sell or share personal information, this does not change our practices.
• Access and correction. Contact us to request a copy of, or a correction to, the personal information we hold about you.

9. California Privacy Rights

This section applies to California residents and supplements the rest of this policy. It is provided under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CCPA/CPRA”).

9.1 Categories of Personal Information

In the preceding 12 months, we have collected the following categories:

We do not collect sensitive personal information as defined by the CCPA for the purpose of inferring characteristics, and we do not use it beyond the purposes permitted under the statute.

9.2 Sale and Sharing

We have not sold personal information and have not shared personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising in the preceding 12 months. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16.

9.3 Your Rights

Subject to verification and statutory exceptions, California residents may:

• Know what personal information we have collected, the sources, the purposes, and the categories of recipients
• Access a copy of personal information we hold about you
• Delete personal information we have collected, subject to exceptions
• Correct inaccurate personal information
• Opt out of sale or sharing (we do neither)
• Limit use of sensitive personal information (we do not use it beyond permitted purposes)
• Be free from discrimination for exercising these rights

9.4 How to Exercise Your Rights

Send a request to privacy@echelonledger.com with enough detail for us to verify your identity and locate your information. We will respond within the time required by law. You may use an authorized agent; we will require proof of authorization and may still verify your identity directly.

9.5 Financial Information Exemption

Personal information collected, processed, sold, or disclosed in accordance with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and its implementing regulations is exempt from the CCPA. Because Echelon Ledger provides bookkeeping services to businesses, some information we handle may fall within that exemption. We apply the protections described in this policy regardless.

10. Business Contact Information

Much of what we collect is business-to-business contact information about people acting in a commercial capacity rather than personal or household information. We treat it with the same care described here.

11. Children’s Privacy

The Site is intended for business owners and operators. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided information to us, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Third-Party Links and Tools

The Site links to third-party resources, software vendors, and reference material. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, security, or privacy practices. Review their policies before providing information.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as our services, tooling, or legal obligations change. We will revise the “Last updated” date at the top and, for material changes affecting clients, provide notice by email or through the engagement.

14. Contact Us