Lonsdale Accountants is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 and the National Privacy Principles (NPP’s) which came into effect on 21 December 2001. As part of our commitment to our clients and staff, Lonsdale Accountants has developed this Privacy Statement in order to comply with the NPP’s and Privacy Amendment Act. All staff members at Lonsdale Accountants have a duty to protect the privacy of personal information. Strict policies provide staff with guidelines for collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information.
This policy is to provide guidance to ensure our adherence to the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988. It is not intended to, nor can it, replace the provisions of the Act itself. If a staff member is in doubt about how to treat personal information in a particular situation, they should refer the matter to the Privacy Officer for clarification and determination.
Lonsdale Accountants may update or modify this privacy statement if and when required according to legal developments.
If changes do occur this policy will be posted at this location. Please visit this website frequently so that you may be aware of the changes.
COLLECTION
Lonsdale Accountants proposes only to collect personal information that is necessary to carry out a legitimate business request; e.g. to complete your annual tax return. When collecting personal information, Lonsdale Accountants will aim to do so in a fair and lawful manner. Types of information we collect may include the following:
- Your name (including business, company, partnership, trust, superannuation or other names)
- Your residential and/or postal addresses
- Your date and place of birth
- Your contact telephone numbers (including mobile and facsimile numbers)
- Your email address
- Your Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Your Tax File Number (TFN)
- Other financial and taxation information as required
The purposes for which we collect the information may include the following:
- To prepare financial statements and reports
- To prepare income tax and other taxation returns
- To prepare and maintain corporate secretarial records
- To meet statutory obligations
- To assist in the performance of the duties for which we have been requested to perform
- We may send you marketing and other information (such as newsletters that may be relevant to your business or information relating to forthcoming events). Should you not wish to receive this information please contact this office immediately.
- When you visit this site, we may collect and store information about your visit on an anonymous basis. We do not collect information which will allow us to identify you. This information may include the time of your visit and the pages you accessed on our site. We collect this information for our marketing analysis and this information will not be passed to any third party.
USE AND DISCLOSURE
Lonsdale Accountants acknowledges that your personal information is highly confidential and to this end the information collected will only be used for the purpose in which it was collected unless you have consented, the secondary purpose for which information is being used or disclosed is related to the primary purpose and you would expect such use or disclosure, the use for direct marketing where we believe the information may be relevant to you and there is provision for you to elect not to receive any future direct marketing we believe the information may be relevant to you and there is provision for you to elect not to receive any future direct marketing material or the circumstances are related to public interest such as law enforcement or public or individual health and safety.
It is our policy not to sell or pass on any personal information that you may have provided us unless we have your express consent to do so. We may however disclose your personal information where we are under a legal duty to do so.
DATA QUALITY
Lonsdale Accountants will endeavour to ensure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
DATA SECURITY
Lonsdale Accountants will take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. All staff members are issued with a password upon commencement to ensure that no unauthorised persons can gain access to your personal information. Documents that are of a confidential nature, eg. Financial statements and income tax returns are disposed of by a shredder or into security bins.
OPENESS
This Privacy Statement clearly expresses our policy on how we manage personal information. Lonsdale Accountants will make our Privacy Policy available on request and we will let you know what sort of personal information we hold, for what purpose, and how we collect, hold, use and disclose that information.
ACCESS AND CORRECTION
Lonsdale Accountants aims to give you access to personal information we hold about you on request, however we will not provide you with access to your personal information if:
- Providing access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of a person
- Providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others
- The request for access is frivolous or vexatious
- The information is related to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between us and would not be discoverable in those proceedings
- Providing access would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations with you in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations
- Providing access would be unlawful
- Denying access is required or authorised by or under law
- Providing access would be likely to prejudice certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body or an enforcement body requests that access not be provided on the grounds of national security
- If access is denied we will provide reasons why. You should anticipate that it might take some time to process your request for access as there may be a need to retrieve information from storage. Lonsdale Accountants has the right to charge you for providing access to your personal information. If you believe that the information we hold is not accurate, complete or up-to-date we will take steps to ensure that the information is corrected.
TRANS-BORDER DATA FLOWS
Where necessary, your personal information may be transferred to international organisations in order to complete a legitimate business request. This is most likely to be carried out by our International Tax Division.
HOW LONG IS PERSONAL INFORMATION KEPT
Information is kept until it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected or as long as is required by law.
CONTRACTORS
From time to time, Lonsdale Accountants may engage contractors to the business. When we do this we will seek a commitment from the contracting persons that they will treat all personal information they are exposed to in accordance with the Act and this Privacy Statement. All contractors will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to uphold this rule.
SENSITIVE INFORMATION
Lonsdale Accountants will not collect sensitive information which includes such things as information about a client’s health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions or membership of political associations unless the client has consented; it is required by law, or in other special circumstances (e.g. health or public safety).
HOW TO CONTACT US
If you wish to discuss any aspect of our policy or what sort of personal information Lonsdale Accountants holds, for what purpose and how it collects, holds, uses and discloses that information, please contact us by telephone on +61 3 9655 3900 during business hours, by facsimile on +61 3 9655 3910 or by email at info@lonsdaleaccountants.com.au