Discussion forums - terms of use

Important Legal Notice
Please read these terms and conditions carefully before using the forums. Using the forums indicates that you accept these terms and conditions. If you do not accept these terms and conditions, do not use the forums. This notice is issued by the Association of Accounting Technicians.

General Notes

  • Please remember that the forums are not the place to ask questions directly of the AAT. Occasionally the AAT will provide a factual response to postings on this forum where further clarification would be helpful. However, this action will be kept to a minimum. For direct enquiries or to comment generally on an aspect of the website then please visit our contact page.
  • Please do not misuse the forums - for more information on misuse of the forums please our full terms and conditions below.
  • The AAT accepts no responsibility for any views expressed or statements made, and reserves the right to remove comments for any reason and without notice.
    For more information, please read our full terms and condition below. This should be read in conjunction with our website terms and conditions and our privacy policy.


Terms and conditions

By using these discussion forums you agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions. The AAT reserves the right to cancel an account without notice, and without publicising the reason.
Index

Registration
When registering you will receive a username and password. All postings and messages sent using that username will be your responsibility, so please do not disclose your username and password to anyone else.

When you register, we will ask for your e-mail address. This information will be used to send you your password, to contact you about the discussion forums (or postings on it), or if you ask a particular question of the AAT, to reply to your question if deemed appropriate. In the last instance, please bear in mind that the forums are not the place to ask questions directly of the AAT (please see above).

We will not use this e-mail address for any purpose other than to contact you about the content of the forums, including potential misuses of the forums. We will not sell or redistribute your personal data.
This, and any information you submit to your online profile are covered by our website privacy policy.

Posting messages
Users are solely responsible for the content of any postings or messages they send through these forums.
When posting a message, your IP address (the address at which you are identified when you connect to the internet) will be logged along with your e-mail address. We may use these details to contact you, your organisation, employer or internet service provider directly in the event of misuse of the forums.

The AAT accepts no obligation to monitor the use of the forums but reserves the right to do so. The AAT also reserves the right to edit, remove or censor any messages without notice and for any reason, including any that it is in breach of these terms and conditions.

You must comply with the provisions relating to misuse below. The AAT reserves the right to remove such postings without warning or explanation.

The AAT advises you not to post personal information such as your name, address, postcode or telephone numbers which could advise someone of where you live. Be cautious with the information you disclose, online, and through messaging. The discussion forums are used at your own risk.

The AAT's staff may, but are under no obligation to, occasionally step in to provide authoritative answers or corrections to material on the discussion forums. This will not always be the case, however, and the AAT cannot guarantee the accuracy of information and advice posted on these forums. If in doubt, please contact the AAT for confirmation.

Accuracy of postings
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the AAT disclaims all representations or warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy of any content posted by users on the forums, including without exception implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy. In addition, the AAT does not warrant that the content of postings or messages is current, complete or error free. In no event will the AAT be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, special or punitive damages, however caused and whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with your use of the forums and the content contained in those forums.

Misuse of the forums
Please do not misuse the forums. They are used by a large number of AAT members who regard them as a valuable resource. Misuse will result in removal of your posting and may lead to a) deletion of your user account, or b) banning of all traffic to the forums from your IP address (the address at which you are identified when you connect to the internet). Your IP address is logged each time you log in. An individual IP address can cover a whole company, organisation or college.

We reserve the right to block a whole IP address at any time, and without prior warning or explanation.

Users may only use the forums for lawful purposes and must comply at all times with all applicable laws, statutes and regulations.

Users may not post or provide links to any content which is untrue, defamatory, obscene, threatening, harassing, sexually explicit, racist, offensive, contains bad language (this includes using keyboard characters to 'mask' offensive words from the normal obscenity filters) or otherwise unlawful.

Users may not post advertisements for goods or services on the forums. However, if you are a tutor and you would like to publicise a revision course, there is provision to do so in the "Revision courses forum". Posts to this forum will be reviewed by the AAT before being published. The e-mail address in your profile will be made public at this point.

The revision services offered by individuals in this forum do not constitute part of the formally approved NVQ/SVQ provision of AAT approved assessment centres. The AAT, therefore, does not check the quality of the tuition or revision courses offered by them and takes no responsibility for the quality of their content. You should satisfy yourself of the quality of the provider before subscribing to their service. A disclaimer will be added to each post upon publication to this effect.

Copyright considerations apply on these forums. Do not post or send anything to which you do not own the copyright.

Users must not post content or provide links to content which is off-topic for the forum (see Forum Categories below), is deliberately misleading or confusing, contains a virus or other code which has a similar effect, contains an exchange of information regarding live or formal assessments and evidence which contributes to a candidate's claim of competence and users may not collect or process other people's personal data. The decision about whether a posting falls in to these categories is entirely at the AAT's discretion, and we reserve the right to take action without giving notice or explanation.

In extreme cases we reserve the right to contact the owner of that IP address.
These regulations are here to protect our members and to ensure that the forums remain a valuable resource for information about the AAT, and as a meeting place for our members and those interested in the AAT.

AAT moderation
The AAT does set time aside to moderate the forums. However, if you have a question, comment, or complaint, please be aware that a member of the AAT's staff will not always be on hand to answer it. You can contact the following with any queries you have about the AAT or its courses:

Student Services by e-mailing studentservices@aat.org.uk
Members Services by e-mailing mailto:membersservices@aat.org.uk%20
If you have a complaint about any users or postings on the forum, please send details of the posting in question, including the date it was written, the title, and the user who posted it to webfeedback@aat.org.uk . A member of the AAT's staff will then deal with the posting or user appropriately according to AAT policy.

AAT policy on the circulation of evidence contributing to a candidate's claim of competence, including Unit 10 projects
The AAT's qualifications are based on national occupational standards and the basis of their certification is that the candidate should be able to demonstrate their competence through evidence that is 'valid, authentic, sufficient and current'. The authenticity aspect refers to the work being the candidate's own, independent achievement and not a piece of work that someone-else has produced.

In the course of producing such evidence, candidates must not use another person's work and claim it as their own. This includes anything that someone else has written and also anything written by someone else which has been reworded by the candidate. Such an action would invalidate that assessment evidence and would be contrary to the AAT code of ethics to which all candidates sign up when joining as AAT student members.
For the above reasons we do not condone the dissemination of information about live or formal assessments, and evidence which contributes to a candidate's claim of competence, including Unit 10 projects and portfolios between candidates. We appreciate that students require guidance in developing their projects and our advice is that you discuss and seek support from staff at your approved assessment centre. The AAT also offers guidance and a template which can be found in the Resource Centre section of this website.

You are also referred to the AAT Malpractice Policy which can be found on this website.