Escrow and release
When a business accepts a proposal, the payment goes into escrow. It leaves the business account and it does not arrive in the accountant’s. It sits, held, where neither party can take it alone. That is the whole mechanism, and every rule on this page is a rule about what moves it out of that state.
Held, not forwarded
- 1. The business pays at acceptance
- Checkout runs against the exact amount the accountant quoted. The server sets that figure from the stored proposal, never the browser, so what is charged is always what was agreed.
- 2. The funds are held
- The engagement is confirmed only once the payment has been captured and confirmed by our payment partner. A failed or abandoned checkout hires nobody.
- 3. The work happens
- The accountant starts knowing the money is already secured. The business has not handed anything over yet. Neither side is exposed to the other.
- 4. Completion takes two
- One party marks the work complete. The other confirms it. Neither side can close a job alone, or quietly decide it is finished.
- 5. The funds release
- On confirmation the held amount is released to the accountant, and both sides can leave a rating.
You see the number before you owe it
- The accountant quotes one fixed amount for the agreed scope, in writing, in the thread. There is no hourly meter and no running total.
- The full amount charged is shown before you authorise the payment, and it is the last thing you are asked for.
- Nothing is added afterwards. A confirmed engagement cannot grow a second invoice — a change in scope means a new proposal you are free to decline.
- Browsing, posting a job, applying, messaging, and holding a verified profile all cost nothing. Money only enters at the point a proposal is accepted.
Deadlines have consequences, not arguments
Every job carries a deadline agreed in the proposal. Missing it costs a defined amount, calculated the same way for everyone, applied without either side having to chase it.
- Day 1 late
- Grace. Nothing is deducted. Work delivered a day behind schedule is not a penalty case.
- Days 2 to 5
- A fixed deduction accrues for each day late, on the schedule published in the Terms and Conditions. It never exceeds the value of the job.
- Day 6
- The engagement is cancelled, the business is refunded in full, and the accountant receives nothing for it.
Any deduction is taken out of the escrowed amount at the moment of release, so the business never has to ask for it and the accountant is never asked to send money back. Refunds go to the original payment method through our payment partner, on their timetable and your bank’s.
What stops a client never confirming
The most obvious way to abuse an escrow is to sit on it and say nothing. That path is closed.
- Auto-release after 5 days
- Once completion is requested, silence from the other side releases the funds automatically. Doing nothing is not a way to withhold payment.
- Amounts are server-set
- Every figure is read from the stored proposal. A tampered request cannot change what is charged, held, or released.
- Payouts verified first
- An accountant completes payout setup before they can quote, so a confirmed job never stalls on where the money should go.
Before any of this can start
- The accountant completes a one-time payout setup. Bank and PAN details are entered directly with our payment partner and never touch Accmeet.
- The accountant records a written agreement to deliver the described work before a price can be quoted.
- The business records a written agreement to the escrow terms before paying.
- Both agreements are stored with the exact wording, the version, and the time, so a dispute has a record rather than two conflicting memories.