OUR PRIVACY POLICY

In the course of operating our business there are times when we are required to collect personal information.

As a firm, we are committed to treating personal information with confidentiality and to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

This privacy policy applies to any person for whom we currently hold, or may in the future collect personal information.

Our privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to take into account changes of legislation, technology and our operations and practices.

What is Personal Information?

“Personal information” isinformation or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

What is the information that we may hold on your behalf?

We are a public accounting firm and hold information for our clients and for our employees including:

  • Contact information (eg name, address. Phone number, email address)
  • Financial information
  • Business and family circumstances
  • Information about assets and borrowings
  • Employment history
  • Gender
  • Date and place of birth
  • Tax file numbers
  • Driver’s license and other photographic identification
  • Any other personal information provided to perform accounting services or to provide employment

How do we collect personal information?

Usually we will collect personal information from individuals personally.  However it may be the case that we obtain personal information from other sources such as:

  • Government bodies such as the ATO (Australian Taxation Office), ASIC (Australian Securities & Investment Commission)
  • Professional advisors such as financial planners, lawyers or other accountants
  • Banks and financial institutions
  • from paid search providers

How do we hold personal information?

  • Physically on our premises
  • Electronically through:
  • Office computer network
  • Office laptop
  • Electronic Storage Devices held on premises
  • Electronic Storage Devices held off premises
  • Third Party cloud based software servers including Microsoft Exchange, Myob& BGL as well as various other software cloud servers

Why do we hold personal information and to whom do we disclose it?

We take reasonable steps to use and disclose personal information for the primary purpose for which it is collected which is generally to provide accounting and taxation services to an individual or their business or to their investment vehicles.

For employees or potential employees, the primary reason we collect information is for compliance reasons as well as to assess the suitability of prospective employees.

We may disclose personal information:

  • to other service providers or referral partners in order to provide accounting services
  • to Government bodies (eg ATO, ASIC)
  • with the consent of the individual to whom the information relates
  • to software providers that is used in the operation of our business
  • to third party contractors for services such as accounting, administrative, information technology.

We do not disclose personal information to overseas recipients apart from the extent that we use software providers that store data on servers located overseas.

We are committed to keeping your personal information and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that it is secure from any unauthorised access, misuse or disclosure.  We however cannot guarantee that personal information be accessed by unauthorised persons or that unauthorised disclosures won’t occur.

How do we handle data breaches?

A data breach is an unauthorised access or disclosure of personal information, or loss of personal information.The National Data Breach scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act requires entities to notify affected individuals and the Commissioner of certain data breaches.

We have implemented a data breach response plan to assist us to effectively deal with and to respond to data breaches in order to reduce possible harm to any persons affected by a data breach.

Accessing and correcting personal information

You may request us to provide you with access to personal information we hold about you. We will process all requests for access to personal information in accordance with the National Privacy Principles.  We will provide you with access to your personal information as soon as possible, subject to the request circumstances. However, we may refuse access in certain situations (as listed in the National Privacy Principles). If we refuse to give you access, we will provide you with reasons for our refusal.

If any personal information we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up to date, please advise and we will make all reasonable efforts to update the information where it is appropriate to do so.

Complaints

If you wish to complain about a possible privacy breach by our firm, please contact us in writing using the contact details below.  If the privacy issue can’t be resolved, you may take your complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner.

Contact details:

Principal – Wisechoice Accounting

Phone Number: 0439 764 566

Postal address: PO Box 726, Wynnum Qld 4178

Email address: john@wisechoiceaccounting.com.au