Terms of Use
This document was last updated on 31 January 2021 (Version 1.0).
We recommend that you print a copy of this document for your records at the time of registering for our online learning platform.
If you require access to any previous versions of this document, please contact us at hello@paradigmshift.training.
1. Introduction
We hope you will find our online learning platform useful for your studies.
Before signing up to the platform, please read the following set of terms in full, as use of our platform will be deemed to constitute acceptance of the Terms of Use stated in this document. You should also read our separately provided Membership Agreement.
2. Intellectual property
Our online learning platform contains substantial amounts of intellectual property developed by us to help you with your studies. You do not have permission to make any form of copy of the intellectual property contained on this online learning platform without obtaining in advance our express written consent.
For the avoidance of doubt, intellectual property means any text, video file, audio file, PDF document, document in any other format, podcast, mp3, online questions and answers or any other form of learning material provided on this online learning platform.
Your use of this online platform is exclusive in nature and therefore you must not share your login details or any other form of access to the online platform with any other party without obtaining in advance our express written consent.
We retain full copyright in all content provided to you in the online platform except where copyright belongs to a third-party, such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Please note that any third-party copyright content is likely to be subject to similar restrictions imposed by the third-party. Please consult the copyright notice or similar statement(s) of the relevant third-party for clarification.
As copyright theft is a criminal act under UK law, we reserve the right to report any breaches of copyright to ICAEW as a disciplinary matter. All ICAEW students are fully bound by the ICAEW Code of Ethics which expressly states that Chartered Accountants (including trainee Chartered Accountants) should not commit any criminal offences and should not take any action which does not constitute professional behaviour. Referral to ICAEW on the basis of a violation of copyright law could potentially prevent you from qualification as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant.
3. Access period
Access to each course or set of materials provided on this website is time limited for copyright protection reasons. The date on which you will lose access to the resources will be clearly stated at the time of your purchase and will always be set in such a way that you obtain access to the resource for the duration of the relevant examination sitting or end of the relevant calendar year (given that the ICAEW syllabus is synchronised with the calendar year). In most cases, your access will last for the full calendar year but in the case of some sitting-specific content (such as Case Study), your access will cease after the relevant specific examination sitting (July or November) is over.
As we need to pay our online learning platform partner a “per student” fee for your access to the platform, we reserve the right to deactivate your learning account once it has been inactive for more than 9 (NINE) months. We are happy to reactivate any account deactivated for this reason, but you will need to contact us to request this at the following e-mail address: hello@paradigmshift.training.
However, please note that reactivation of your account will not entitle you to access any updated version of a course which you had purchased in the past whilst your account was active.
We will not deactivate your account before the stated expiry of your access to any purchased content unless you commit a material violation of our Terms of Use or Member Agreement. Please see this Terms of Use document and our separate Member Agreement for the circumstances in which we may terminate your account prior to the expiry date of your purchased course or resource.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the expiry of your access to any of our courses or materials, please e-mail us prior to your purchase at hello@paradigmshift.training.
4. No refunds
In line with standard industry practice in relation to software and other intellectual property which is accessed online, it is not our policy to offer a refund on any payments processed by our online learning platform. This is necessary to protect against situations where students purchase a course, use the materials in full but then request a refund, as this would be unfair on us as producers of the content and on other fee-paying students. You are welcome to contact us at hello@paradigmshift.training and/or use the available free sample content before finalising your purchase.
If a serious problem with the online learning platform arises and/or a serious error is identified in a course or set of materials, please contact us to discuss the matter further and we will consider a reasonable course of action. In agreeing to these terms, you agree that our reasonable decision on any such matter shall be final and binding.
5. Errata in courses and materials
Whilst we will always try our best to ensure that all content provided in the online learning platform is correct, there may be circumstances in which errors have unintentionally been made. In the same way that ICAEW regularly releases Errata Sheets to fix any issues identified with the official learning materials, we will endeavour to provide updates within the online learning platform to alert students to any issues of this kind.
We can normally only do so if a student has been proactive to contact us to alert us to the issue, so please e-mail us at hello@paradigmshift.training if you believe that the materials contain an error.
Please allow us a reasonable period of time to respond, particularly if you have raised the issue close to an examination sitting.
6. Currency and fees
As a UK company, all fees quoted on our learning platform are in British Pounds Sterling (GBP). The prices quoted are the final fees charged by us and no additional fee will be added by the learning platform.
However, if the default currency of your payment card is not GBP, you may be charged a currency conversion fee or other currency related fee by your card company. Such charges vary by card company and are entirely outside of our control so please check with your card provider before making payment if you have any concerns as we cannot advise further on this point.
7. Data Protection and marketing
All data entered onto our learning platform is held in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We hold a full data protection with the UK Information Commissioner (registration number: ZA842108).
If you wish to review our full Privacy Notice and GDPR statement, this can be accessed here: paradigmshift.training/GDPR
Our online learning platform has been configured in such a way that it will not disclose your real name: instead, the platform works on the basis of the username that you created at the time of signing up to the platform. If you post messages or content in our Forum, please be careful to exercise discretion regarding the information that you disclose if this unintentionally identifies you in some way (for example, by stating your real name or information regarding your employer and personal circumstances which could make it possible for someone to identify you).
In registering for this platform, you agree to allow us to send a reasonable number of marketing emails and communications in relation to new products and services provided by us in relation to the ICAEW CFAB and ACA qualifications. We will not share your data with other companies. If you wish to be excluded from marketing emails of this type, please contact us at hello@paradigmshift.training. You can alternatively unsubscribe from our marketing emails at any future time.
8. Login sharing
In line with standard industry principles, your purchase of any of our online learning products (including, but not limited to, e-books, question banks, presentations, PDF documents and webinars) is for your sole personal use as a registered CFAB or ACA student.
We do not permit students to share login details and for this reason your IP address will be monitored to prevent unauthorised access to our online learning platform and materials. We reserve the right to close your account without prior notice if we identify that your login has been shared with other users. We reserve the right to report any such closure of your account to ICAEW as a breach of professional conduct.
For the avoidance of doubt, you have permission to open our online learning platform on any of your own personal devices and devices provided by your employer, provided you are the only viewer or user of the content once opened. Similarly, you have permission to simultaneously open the online learning platform on multiple personal and/or employer devices provided that all the devices are being used by you alone – for example, you may wish to have a browser window displaying an interactive video open whilst you simultaneously have another browser window displaying an e-book for reference. This is permissible provided that the online learning platform is being used by you alone.