Terms & Conditions
Last updated: 10 June 2026.
These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") apply to all services, tools, reports, and events provided under the Comma brand. Please read them with our Privacy Policy, Website Terms of Use, and any disclaimer attached to a report or tool. By engaging us, paying an invoice, uploading data, purchasing a report, registering for an event, or otherwise using our services, you accept these Terms.
Part A - General terms (apply to all services)
1. Who you are contracting with
The service you use determines which entity you contract with:
- Advisory, Business Foundations, Smart Growth & Systems, Cashflow Management (the Cashflow Plumbing framework), the Business Foundation Bootcamp, and The Comma Score are provided by Comma Advisory Pty Ltd (ABN 39699991109, ACN 699 991 109), trading as Comma Advisory ("Comma Advisory", "we", "us", "our").
- Business broking (Exit Strategy & Business Sales), and the Information Memorandum service are provided by Hetas Pandya (ABN 15 983 155 364), a licensed business broker (Licence No. 4909193), trading as Comma Business Brokers. Brokerage is a separate, licensed service and is not provided by Comma Advisory.
Where these Terms say "we" or "us", they mean the entity that provides the particular service you are using. The relevant service schedule in Part B applies on top of these general terms.
2. Our services and scope
We provide business advisory, operational setup, strategic consulting, cashflow analysis, business assessment tools, business-sale brokerage, and related services. Each engagement is limited to what is expressly described in your service proposal, invoice, booking, or the relevant tool. Anything outside that scope requires separate written agreement and may incur additional fees.
3. We are not a registered tax agent, BAS agent, or financial adviser
Hetas Pandya and Comma Advisory are not Registered Tax Agents, BAS Agents, or Licensed Financial Advisers under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth) or the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). We provide business management, setup coordination, software configuration, and operational cashflow reporting for internal management purposes only. We do not provide taxation advice, interpret tax law, determine tax liabilities, or lodge returns with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Any cash set-aside, working capital reserve, or 1/11th liquidity calculation produced by our tools represents an internal operational cash management buffer only, and is not a calculation or determination of any amount payable to or by the ATO. You must consult a qualified Registered Tax Agent or BAS Agent for tax determinations and lodgements.
4. General information, not personal advice
Our services, reports, scores, and tools provide general information and indicative estimates only. They do not take into account your full financial situation, objectives, or needs, and are not personal financial, tax, accounting, or legal advice. You remain responsible for your own decisions and should obtain your own professional advice before acting. See the disclaimer attached to each report or tool.
5. Your responsibilities
You agree to provide timely, accurate, and complete information, records, and access (including to accounting software and relevant staff where applicable). You confirm you are authorised to provide any data you give us and, where you act for a business, that you are authorised to bind it. The accuracy of our work depends on your information; we do not independently verify it unless expressly agreed.
6. Fees and payment
- Fees are as quoted in your proposal, invoice, booking, or on the relevant tool, and are exclusive of GST unless stated. All amounts are in Australian dollars.
- Invoices are payable within seven (7) days unless stated otherwise.
- We may charge a late fee of 1.5% per month on any amount outstanding beyond 14 days.
- Where a service requires payment before delivery (for example, a report or event), we will tell you, and the deliverable is released only once payment is received.
7. Recovery of overdue amounts
If you do not pay an amount when due, we may pause or withhold delivery, suspend access, and take steps to recover the debt. You agree to reimburse us for all reasonable recovery costs, including debt-collection and legal costs and court fees, to the extent permitted by law.
8. Cancellation, cooling-off and refunds
- Unless a service schedule says otherwise, you may cancel before we begin work on a custom deliverable for a full refund of any amount paid for that deliverable.
- Once a custom report or deliverable has been prepared, or a service has commenced, fees for work done are non-refundable except where the Australian Consumer Law requires otherwise.
- No statutory cooling-off period applies to business-to-business engagements. Service-specific cancellation terms (events, brokerage, etc.) are in Part B.
9. Conflicts of interest, and how we act across buyers and sellers
We operate across the whole business lifecycle, including helping people start, grow, buy, and sell businesses. Some of what we do is licensed brokerage; much of it (advisory, the Cashflow Plumbing framework, and The Comma Score) is not. You acknowledge and agree that:
- Two tracks. We may provide advisory, assessment, educational, software, reporting, or other services to parties who have an interest in the same business or transaction. However, where we are engaged as a business broker, we act only for our appointed client (under a written appointment that complies with the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) - usually the seller) and do not act for, advise, or represent any opposing party in that transaction.
- Reports and advisory are not agency. Buying a Comma Score report, a Cashflow Plumbing report, or any other output does not make us your broker or agent and does not create an agency or fiduciary relationship.
- Businesses we represent. Where Comma Business Brokers is currently engaged to sell a business, we do not provide buyer-side reports, advice, interpretation, or commentary on that business to any prospective buyer. Information about that business is provided only in our capacity as the seller's broker (for example, through the Information Memorandum).
- Sequential engagements & information barriers. Our services span both sides of transactions over time. We may provide an advisory report to a prospective buyer who does not proceed and later be engaged by the seller of that business (or vice versa). You consent to this multi-client model, provided that we maintain strict electronic and operational information barriers to ensure that confidential financial information or commercial intelligence obtained from one party is never disclosed to, or used for the benefit of, an adverse party.
- No duty to non-clients. We owe no duty of care or fiduciary duty to any person we are not engaged by.
10. No responsibility for transaction outcomes
Where our services, reports, or tools relate to buying, selling, growing, or making decisions about a business:
- Our output is one input only. It is not a valuation, audit, guarantee, or recommendation to proceed or not proceed with any business, purchase, sale, or transaction.
- Any decision to proceed or not proceed, and the price, terms, timing, success, or failure of any transaction, is yours alone and the result of your own independent due diligence and professional advice.
- To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss arising from a transaction proceeding or not proceeding, or from its price, terms, or outcome, whether or not our report, score, or advice was a factor.
11. Third-party platforms and providers
Some services involve facilitating applications or transmitting data through third-party platforms, software, and government registries, for example ASIC via Business API, domain registrars, Xero, Zoho, and similar providers. You acknowledge and agree that:
- You authorise us to act as your administrative lodging agent with ASIC via authorised Business APIs where you have engaged us for company establishment.
- We do not access your personal myGov, myGovID, or ATO Online Services accounts. Where business tax registrations (such as ABN or GST) are required, we provide educational guides and direct links to public Australian Government portals (such as abr.gov.au), where you must verify and lodge your applications directly as the sole applicant.
- Each platform is governed by its own terms, conditions, and pricing, which you are responsible for reviewing and complying with. Where required, you must hold your own account and authorise our access.
- Third-party fees, government charges, and platform costs are your responsibility and may be passed on to you.
- Any registration, lodgement, application, or setup completed through a third-party platform is based on the information you provide, and you are responsible for its accuracy.
- We are not liable for the availability, performance, errors, downtime, pricing, security, or decisions of any third-party platform, provider, or authority, or for any outcome of a registration or lodgement made using your information.
- Where we assist with business registrations, we do so administratively only; we are not your registered tax or BAS agent (see clause 3).
12. Confidentiality
Each party will keep the other's non-public information confidential and use it only for the engagement, except where disclosure is required by law, to professional advisers, or to service providers who help us deliver the service. This clause survives the end of the engagement.
13. Intellectual property
All methods, frameworks, tools, software, templates, scoring engines, reports, and materials we create or use - including the Cashflow Plumbing framework, The Comma Score, the Information Memorandum templates, and all related branding - remain our intellectual property or that of our licensors. On full payment, you receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the deliverable we provide for your own business purposes. You may not copy, resell, redistribute, reverse-engineer, or create derivative works from our materials, tools, or methods.
14. Limitation of liability
We do not guarantee any specific financial, operational, or commercial outcome; our services involve judgement and strategy, not certainty. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we exclude all liability for indirect, incidental, or consequential loss, and our total liability for any claim is limited to the total fees you paid us for the relevant service. Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts, or modifies any consumer guarantee or right under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot lawfully be excluded. Where we are liable under a non-excludable guarantee, our liability is limited (where the law permits) to re-supplying the service or paying the cost of re-supply.
15. Indemnity
To the extent permitted by law, you indemnify us against any third-party loss, damage, claim, or expense incurred by us arising directly from: (a) inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information or records provided by you; (b) your breach of these Terms or any applicable statutory law; or (c) advertising, marketing, or promotional copy published by you to third parties, except to the extent that such loss or claim was caused by our breach of contract, negligence, or wilful misconduct.
16. Force majeure
We are not liable for any delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, fire, flood, power or internet outages, failure of a third-party provider, pandemic, or government action. If such an event continues for more than 30 days, either party may end the engagement, and we will refund any fees paid for services not yet delivered.
17. Termination
Either party may end an ongoing engagement with 30 days' written notice. We may suspend or end an engagement immediately if you breach these Terms, fail to pay, or misuse our services or tools. Fees for work completed up to termination remain payable.
18. Dispute resolution
If a dispute arises, the parties will first try to resolve it by good-faith discussion. If it is not resolved within 21 days, the parties will attempt mediation through a mediator agreed between them (or appointed by the Queensland Law Society) before starting court proceedings. Nothing in this clause prevents either party from seeking urgent court relief (for example, to protect intellectual property or confidential information).
19. Privacy and overseas AI data processing
We handle personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the Australian Privacy Principles. We retain and delete personal information as described in that policy, and you may request access, correction, or deletion of your information as set out there.
Overseas AI disclosure and consent (APP 8.2(a)). You expressly acknowledge and consent that de-identified operational and transaction data may be processed using automated cloud artificial intelligence providers located outside Australia (specifically Anthropic, PBC in the United States). In providing this consent you acknowledge that Australian Privacy Principle 8.1 will not apply to this overseas disclosure, that Comma Advisory Pty Ltd will not be accountable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) for the acts or omissions of the overseas recipient, and that you may not be able to seek redress under Australian privacy law or the laws of the foreign jurisdiction.
20. Entire agreement and precedence
These Terms, together with your proposal/invoice/booking, our Privacy Policy, and any disclaimer, are the entire agreement between us and replace anything said or written earlier. They prevail over any terms you supply (for example, on a purchase order). If there is a conflict, the order of precedence is: (1) a signed proposal or agency agreement, (2) the relevant service schedule in Part B, (3) these general terms, (4) other materials.
21. General
If any clause is unenforceable, the rest continues to apply. A failure to enforce a term is not a waiver of it. Neither party may assign its rights without the other's prior written consent; however, we may assign or novate our rights and obligations under these Terms to a related body corporate or successor entity upon giving you written notice, provided that such novation does not adversely affect your rights or the standard of services delivered (for example, when our operating entity changes, see clause 23).
22. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our business, the law, or our services. Changes are published on our website and apply to all new engagements and renewals. For ongoing engagements, we will give at least 14 days' written notice of any material change; continuing to use our services after that constitutes acceptance.
23. Our operating entity
Comma Advisory is the trading name of Comma Advisory Pty Ltd (ABN 39699991109, ACN 699 991 109).
24. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia, and both parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.
Part B - Service schedules
Schedule 1 - Advisory services (Business Foundations, Smart Growth & Systems)
Provided by Comma Advisory. Scope is set in your proposal. Implementation decisions are yours. Where we assist with business setup, registrations, or software configuration, clauses 3 and 11 apply. We do not guarantee commercial outcomes (clause 14).
- Director ID statutory requirement. Where your engagement includes company formation, all proposed directors must personally obtain a 15-digit Director Identification Number from the Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS) prior to incorporation, in accordance with section 1272C of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). We will not submit your ASIC Form 201 until your Director ID is recorded with us.
- Registered office vs. virtual address. Where we provide a virtual address, it serves as a commercial mailing facility only. It can be nominated as your company's ASIC Registered Office only where we have given you written occupier consent for that address under section 143 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), which you must hold before nominating it.
- Acquisition-target assessments (where included). Where your advisory engagement includes help evaluating a business you are considering acquiring, we may use our internal assessment tools (including The Comma Score) as part of that work. Any such assessment is general and indicative only, based solely on the information available to us, and is not a valuation, audit, or recommendation to acquire. You remain responsible for your own independent due diligence and for obtaining your own professional advice before acquiring any business. Clauses 9 and 10 apply - including that we do not provide buy-side assessments, advice, or commentary in relation to a business that Comma Business Brokers currently represents.
Schedule 2 - Cashflow Management (the Cashflow Plumbing framework)
Provided by Comma Advisory. "Cashflow Management" is how this service is described on our website; the framework and product name is Cashflow Plumbing.
- What it is. We analyse the bank transaction data you provide and produce a report covering where your money goes, likely savings, an indicative GST and tax set-aside target, recommended "buckets," and (for some packages) a forward forecast - followed by a setup session to help you put the system in place.
- How you provide data, and how long we keep it. You upload your own bank transaction data as a CSV file exported from your internet banking. We do not accept PDFs or screenshots, and we do not connect to your bank or to any accounting software. The raw file you upload is never stored. We retain only a de-identified transaction set, which is permanently deleted once your report is delivered and you have signed off, and in any case automatically within thirty (30) days of upload. We keep it for that short window so we can verify the accuracy of your report against the data our engine used. You are responsible for retaining your own primary accounting records for statutory tax and audit purposes.
- De-identification. Your account name, account number, and BSB are removed at the point of upload, before anything is stored. We only process de-identified transactions (date, description, amount, balance).
- AI analysis and overseas processing. The analysis is generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by an advisor before release. Aggregated, de-identified output may be processed by a third-party AI provider located outside Australia (Anthropic, PBC in the United States); no personal identifier is sent at all, including your name, account name, account number and BSB. You expressly consent to that overseas disclosure, and acknowledge that Australian Privacy Principle 8.1 will not apply to it, that Comma Advisory Pty Ltd will not be accountable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) for the acts of the overseas recipient, and that you may not be able to seek redress under Australian privacy law. Processing is under commercial API terms, not consumer terms, and your data is never used to train, retrain or improve AI models. See our Privacy Policy.
- Delivery and payment. Your report is prepared on upload but released only once your invoice is paid and an advisor has approved it. You then receive your report and a link to book your setup session.
- Estimates only. All figures are indicative estimates based solely on your data and are not tax determinations (clauses 3, 4, 10, 14).
- Refunds. Because each report is custom-prepared from your data, fees are non-refundable once the report has been generated, except where the Australian Consumer Law requires otherwise. You may cancel for a full refund any time before you upload your data.
Schedule 3 - The Comma Score
Provided by Comma Advisory. The Comma Score is an online assessment tool used by business owners/sellers preparing for sale and by prospective buyers assessing a business.
- What it is. Based on the answers and information provided, the tool produces an indicative score and report (available in tiers). The scoring engine is proprietary and is not disclosed.
- Indicative only - not a valuation. A Comma Score report is a general, indicative assessment based only on the information available at the time. It is not a valuation, audit, guarantee, or recommendation to buy, sell, or not proceed with any business or transaction.
- Prepared for you only. A report is prepared solely for the person who purchased it, is confidential to them, and must not be transferred to or relied on by any other person - including a counterparty to a transaction. We owe no duty of care to any person who is not our client.
- Buyer reports are automated, online, and advice-free. Buyer reports are generated automatically from the information you enter and are general and indicative. We do not provide any buyer-side advisory, consultation, interpretation, or commentary in connection with a buyer report.
- Businesses we represent are excluded. If Comma Business Brokers is currently engaged to sell a business, buyer reports on that business are not available; information about it is provided only by the seller's broker (for example, through the Information Memorandum). See clause 9.
- Sellers, buyers and outcomes. You acknowledge clauses 9 and 10. If you purchase a report as a prospective buyer and do not proceed, we may later be engaged by the seller of that business (or vice versa); you consent to this, and we are not liable for any transaction proceeding or not proceeding, or for its price, terms, or outcome, whether or not our report was a factor. Each party is responsible for its own independent due diligence and professional advice.
- May also be delivered within advisory (option). Buyer-side analysis may be provided as part of an advisory engagement rather than as a standalone purchase - see Schedule 1 (Acquisition-target assessments). In that case it forms part of the advisory deliverable and is governed by these Terms and the advisory disclaimer.
- Access and acceptable use. Where the tool requires payment (for example, a report fee) or an account, you must pay the stated fee and keep your login secure. You must not misuse, scrape, reverse-engineer, or attempt to extract the scoring logic.
- Automated processing. The score is generated by automated means and report content may be AI-generated; see our Privacy Policy for how automated processing is used.
Schedule 4 - Business broking (Exit Strategy & Business Sales)
Provided by Comma Business Brokers (Hetas Pandya, ABN 15 983 155 364, Licence No. 4909193) - a separate, licensed service, not Comma Advisory.
- We act for one party. We act for a single appointing client under a written appointment that complies with the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) (Form 6A) - usually the seller. We do not act as broker for both sides of the same transaction. A prospective buyer is not our client and must rely on their own due diligence and advice.
- Separate agency agreement. Brokerage engagements are governed by that written appointment/agency agreement, which sets out the agreement type (exclusive, exclusive-firm, or open), the commission rate or fee, when commission is earned and payable, the agency period, and any "tail" period during which commission remains payable if you sell to a buyer we introduced. Where we have a beneficial interest, we will make the disclosures required under the Property Occupations Act. That appointment/agency agreement prevails over these Terms for brokerage matters.
- Information Memorandum. Where we prepare an Information Memorandum or marketing materials, they are based on information supplied by the seller, who warrants its accuracy. We do not independently verify it.
- Buyers. Prospective buyers are responsible for their own due diligence and must not rely on any representation by us or in any Information Memorandum; confidential business-for-sale information is provided subject to confidentiality and, where required, a non-disclosure agreement.
- No-deposit protocol & trust escrow. Comma Business Brokers does not hold transaction deposit funds, expression of interest (EOI) monies, or balance payments, and does not operate a real estate trust account. All buyer deposits and transaction monies must be paid directly into the audited statutory trust account of the seller's appointed Australian Legal Practitioner or the buyer's appointed Australian Legal Practitioner, to be held as stakeholder pending settlement.
- Conflicts and licensing. Clauses 9 and 10 apply. Brokerage is licensed in Queensland; interstate sales require an appropriately licensed party.
Schedule 5 - Business Foundation Bootcamp and events
Provided by Comma Advisory.
- Registration and payment. A place is confirmed on payment. Fees are as stated at registration.
- Cancellation by you. If you cancel your registration for a paid event: 14 or more days before the event, you receive a full refund or a transfer to a future event; 7 to 13 days before, a 50% refund or a transfer to a future event; under 7 days before, or a no-show, no refund, with a transfer at our discretion.
- Cancellation or rescheduling by us. We may reschedule or cancel an event; you may transfer to the next event or receive a refund of the event fee.
- Materials and conduct. Workbooks and materials are licensed to you for your own use and may not be resold or redistributed. We may record events; by attending you consent to incidental recording/photography. We may remove anyone for disruptive conduct.
- Liability. Clause 14 applies to events.
Schedule 6 - Information Memorandum (IM) service
Provided by Comma Business Brokers. Each Information Memorandum is prepared from information supplied by the seller, is not independently verified, is not an offer, valuation, or financial product advice, and is provided in confidence. Recipients must conduct their own due diligence. Clauses 9, 10, and 12 apply.