Common Cause QuickBooks Assistant

Last updated: 16 October 2026

Overview

The Common Cause QuickBooks Assistant is an internal tool, registered with Intuit as "Claude MCP". It lets authorised Common Cause staff query the co-operative's own QuickBooks Online accounts using Anthropic's Claude. It is not offered to the public or to other businesses.

The same app is also used by an automated assistant that runs on a Common Cause computer. Every 30 minutes it reads the same QuickBooks company, read-only. It sends a weekly summary and a note of newly overdue invoices and bills to the co-operative's owner, and answers their questions.

Operator

Common Cause Co-operative Limited, a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number 02900270). Registered office: 26 Leicester Road, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1SX.

Terms of use

  • The app is licensed for internal Common Cause use only, and connects only to Common Cause's own QuickBooks Online company.
  • The automated assistant uses the same app under these terms: internal use, Common Cause's own company only, and read-only.
  • The app is read-only: it cannot create, change or delete QuickBooks records.
  • The app is provided as is. Answers and summaries produced by AI may be incomplete or wrong. They are not accounting, tax or financial advice, and should be checked in QuickBooks or with our accountant.
  • Common Cause can disconnect the app at any time.
  • These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.

Privacy

Data involved The app reads personal data about customers, suppliers, members and staff held in QuickBooks: names, contact details, and invoice, payment and transaction details. It also stores the access credentials that let it connect.

Purpose and lawful basis We use this data to manage and report on the co-operative's finances, on the basis of our legitimate interest and our legal obligation to keep proper accounts.

Processors

  • Intuit (QuickBooks Online) holds the accounting data.
  • Anthropic (Claude) processes data retrieved from QuickBooks to answer questions and write summaries. This may happen outside the UK, under Anthropic's contractual data protection terms. Data sent through Anthropic's commercial API is not used to train its models.
  • Telegram delivers the automated assistant's summaries and answers to the owner's private chat. These can include customer and supplier names, amounts and due dates.

Storage and retention The access credentials are kept only on a device Common Cause controls. The automated assistant keeps a copy of the figures it reads (open invoices and bills, aging, profit and loss, and bank balances) on a Common Cause computer, readable only by its owner's account. The copy is replaced every 30 minutes and is never included in backups. Its summaries, answers and run records are kept on that computer for 90 days, and in its daily backups for 14 days. Disconnecting the app in QuickBooks, or running its disconnect command, stops access at once and deletes the stored credentials and the copy. History from the interactive assistant can be deleted in the Claude account.

Data is not sold, shared with anyone else, or used for any other purpose.

Your rights You can ask to access, correct or delete personal data about you by emailing admin@commoncause.org.uk. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).