Privacy Policy

OUR COMMITMENT

HJC Accountants, its related entities are committed to maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of personal information. From 12 March 2014 new privacy laws apply to HJC Accountants and its related entities as a result of amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). As such, we will adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s) when collecting, using, disclosing, securing and providing access to personal information.

COLLECTION

HJC Accountants collects personal and sensitive information about individuals, including our clients, persons associated with or employed by our clients, or our business contacts, to provide our professional services and to effectively manage our business relationships.
The types of personal information we collect may be business contact details or may involve detailed knowledge of an individual’s financial or personal circumstances, depending on the particular service we are required to provide.

The personal information HJC Accountants collects from you depends on how you interact with us. The information we collect will generally be collected through our communications or dealings with you. However, we may also collect it from third parties including but not limited to your Solicitor, third party, service providers, bank, financial institutions, industrial regulatory bodies and Insurance Companies. Depending on the type of service you are seeking, we may also conduct credit reports on our clients or collect your Tax File Numbers which are sensitive information.

In the course of providing services, we collect personal information in a number of ways:

• Electronically
• Via Telephone
• Mail, or
• Through our website

HJC Accountants may also collect your personal information from a third party where:

• You consented to the collection of information
• We are required or authorised under Australian Law, court/tribunal, or someone other than you; or
• It is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain the information from you.

We may also collect personal information that is publically available.

USE AND DISCLOSURE

HJC Accountants generally uses personal and sensitive information to provide specified professional services, and to raise awareness about recent business-related developments that may be of relevance or interest. We may also share personal information internally within HJC Accountants and its related entities, in order to communicate information about our wide range of business services or latest business solutions.

Generally HJC Accountants obtains your consent in writing or implied, prior to disclosing your personal information to a third party. However, in some circumstances we may use and disclose your personal and sensitive information where it is required or permitted by Law or in emergency situations.

HJC Accountants may be required to provide your personal and sensitive information to:

• Australian Taxation Office
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)

HJC Accountants are likely to disclose information to entities located outside Australia in particular, Honk Kong, in the provision of our services, including receipt of bank statements. We endeavour to ensure that such third parties comply with the APP’s, our privacy policy and confidentiality obligations under Australian jurisdiction. You accept that the privacy laws of off-shore entities may differ from and be less stringent than the requirements of the privacy laws of the jurisdiction of Australia. In those cases we are not responsible for imposing laws of the overseas jurisdiction, and you may not be able to seek redress under
those laws.

By giving HJC Accountants your personal information, you consent to such transfer and disclosure. In addition, we believe that the recipients of such information are subject to a law, binding scheme or contract which effectively upholds principles for fair handling of the information that are identical or substantially similar to the applicable Australian privacy laws.
HJC Accountants will take all reasonable steps to notify you of the information collected, used and disclosed at all times.

DATA QUALITY & SECURITY

Protecting personal information is a priority at HJC Accountants. We take into account security and confidentiality when handling personal information in both the physical and electronic environment.

It is also important to us that the information we maintain and use is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If at any time personal details change, please let us know so we can update our records. The information we hold about you is treated confidentially and is only accessed when necessary. Whilst we take caution to protect your personal information and data, no data transmission over the internet or electronically can be completely secure.
Once we have received your information, HJC Accountants takes all appropriate measures to use procedures and security programs to ensure its security on our systems. We take reasonable steps to protect the information we retain from misuse, loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We will not retain any information for any longer than it is required by us, except to the extent permitted by law to satisfy legal requirements. HJC Accountants may also de-identify your information where applicable.

We will destroy or de-identify your personal information when it is no longer required.

Many of the service providers or third parties you may deal with through your relationship with HJC Accountants will also have Privacy policies concerning the manner in which they collect, hold, use or disclose personal information which can be viewed on the provider’s web site.

You may also assist us to keep your personal information secure by ensuring appropriate back-ups, security and virus check procedures are in place for any data or information provided to or received from HJC Accountants electronically. Please use your discretion and exercise caution when providing your personal information.

ACCESS AND CORRECTION

You may request access to the personal and sensitive information we retain about you and request corrections or deletions at any time. However, this right of access is subject to some exceptions permitted by law.

To make a request, please put your request in writing or call our privacy officer using the contact below

HJC Accountants reserves the right to charge a fee for searching for and providing access to your personal information. In the event we refuse you access to your personal information, we will provide you with an explanation for that refusal.

We will endeavour to ensure that at all times the personal information that we hold about you is up to date and accurate. The accuracy of the personal information is dependent to a large degree on the information you provide and you should advise us if there are any errors or changes to your personal information.

IDENTIFIERS

In some circumstances we are required to collect government identifiers, for example, your Tax File Number. We may be required to collect government identifiers from the Australian Taxation Office or a regulated entity to the extent permitted by laws in the provisions of our services. We will not use or disclose this information other than when required to do so by law, or when consented to by you.

OPENNESS

We may use and disclose personal information for the purpose for which it was provided or secondary purposes in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use of disclosure.

We may disclose personal information to third parties or external contractors carrying out functions and duties for and on behalf of HJC Accountants or it’s related entities. It is a condition of our agreement with each of our external contractors that they adopt and adhere to this privacy policy.

COOKIES

HJC Accountants use cookies and other similar technologies which often include an anonymous unique identifier. A ‘cookie” is technology that allows our web site to store information in your browser used only by our site while you are on our site. They serve to help us track web traffic and users’ preferred locations and languages. Each web site can send its own cookies to your browser if your computer software allows it. We may receive information from you via our cookies.

If you prefer not to receive cookies, you may alter your web browser configurations to decline cookies and therefore deliver no information. If you require further information in relation to cookies please contact us on the details below.

ANONYMITY

Without your consent, we will no collect sensitive information about you. Exceptions to this include where the information is required by law, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim. We will notify you as soon as practicable should we require or collect sensitive information about you.

SENSITIVE INFORMATION

Without your consent, we will not collect sensitive information about you. Exceptions to this include where the information is required by law, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim. We will notify you as soon as practicable should we require or collect sensitive information about you.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

If you wish to complain about any breach or potential breach of this privacy policy or the National Privacy Principles, you should contact our Privacy Officer by any of the methods contained in this policy statement and request that your complaint be directed to the Privacy Officer. Your complaint will be considered within seven days and responded to accordingly. It is our intention to use our best endeavours to resolve any complaint to your satisfaction; however, if you are unhappy with our response, you are entitled to contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) who may investigate your complaint further.

CONTACT DETAILS

The Privacy Office
126 Torquay Road
Grovedale Vic 3216
Ph (03) 52443007
E-mail: admin@hjc.net.au

If you require a copy of our Privacy Policy in another form, please contact us.