Terms of Service

1. What OpenBooks does

OpenBooks prepares financial and compliance work from a record it keeps current: it categorizes transactions, reconciles accounts, gathers supporting evidence, maintains an append-only ledger, and drafts reports and regulator filings for a person to review. OpenBooks is a preparation service. It is not your attorney, CPA, or financial adviser, and preparing a report or a return is not a substitute for professional tax or legal advice.

2. The human boundary

The human sign-off is load-bearing and does not move. OpenBooks prepares; a person reviews and approves. Specifically, OpenBooks:

• Never moves money. There is no ACH, no wire, and no card charge in the product — ever. This is a limitation of the software, not a promise we could choose to break.
• Never submits a filing. A filing is transmitted only after a person reviews and approves it.
• Never signs a report or attestation. Signatures and attestations are made by a person, not by OpenBooks.
• Never silently edits a sealed record. The ledger is append-only; a correction is made through a sealed amendment that remains visible in the record. There are no silent edits.

3. Account and bank data

Where you connect a bank or financial account, OpenBooks receives read-only access through a regulated aggregation provider (such as Plaid, Stripe Financial Connections, or SimpleFIN, as applicable). OpenBooks never receives or stores your bank login or password. You may revoke access at any time from your settings or your bank.

4. Concierge and software delivery

For early customers, OpenBooks operates a concierge model: the OpenBooks team may execute portions of the work manually while the self-serve software matures. Whether a step is performed by software or by the team, the same boundaries in Section 2 apply — nothing moves money, files, or signs without your approval.

5. Pricing and fees

OpenBooks is priced at a flat, public $149/mo per responsibility, per organization. It is a monthly service arrangement, not a per-seat SaaS subscription. Specific scope, and any referral or revenue-share arrangement, are set in a separate order or Master Services Agreement. There is no long-term lock-in beyond the notice period in Section 8.

6. Your responsibilities

You are responsible for the accuracy of the information and access you provide, for reviewing and approving any filing, payment, or report before it is submitted or sent, and for your own legal and compliance obligations. You agree to use the service lawfully and in line with our Acceptable Use Policy.

7. Fees

Fees are the flat, public $149/mo per responsibility, as set in your order or Master Services Agreement. There is no long-term lock-in beyond the notice period in Section 8. Fees are exclusive of taxes, which are your responsibility where applicable.

8. Term and termination

Either party may terminate on 30 days’ written notice. On request, OpenBooks will provide an export of your data in JSON and CSV. After termination, your data is deleted per the timelines in our Privacy Policy, subject to records we are required to retain by law.

9. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

The service is provided “as is.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, OpenBooks disclaims implied warranties and limits its aggregate liability to the fees you paid in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim. OpenBooks is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

10. Indemnification

Each party will defend and indemnify the other against third-party claims arising from its own breach of these terms or violation of law, subject to prompt notice and reasonable cooperation. This mutual indemnity is a starting position to be finalized with counsel.

11. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be settled by binding arbitration in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Governing law and venue are defaults for a US company and can be adjusted per customer.)

12. Changes and contact

We may update these terms; material changes will be posted here with a new date. Questions: hello@openbooks.fyi.