BRW ACCOUNTING PTY LTD is committed to treating the personal information we collect in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). This policy sets out how BRW Accounting Pty Ltd handles personal information.

This privacy policy does not apply to personal information collected by BRW Accounting Pty Ltd that is exempted under the Privacy Act, for example employee records.

Our privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to take account of changes in legislation, technology, and our operations and practices. We aim to ensure the policy is appropriate to the changing environment. We will inform you of any changes we make to this privacy policy as necessary.

Our privacy policy is based on openness about how we use and protect your information.

1. Purposes for which BRW ACCOUNTING PTY LTD collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information

We only collect, hold, use and disclose personal information which is reasonably necessary to ensure that we are able to provide you with the products and services that are appropriate to your needs. We will outline to you when you engage our services the purposes for which we will collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information.

2. Kinds of personal information BRW ACCOUNTING PTY LTD collects

Due to the nature of the products and services we provide, and the requirements of legislation and regulations, we ask for a range of personal information from our customers.

The types of personal information we may collect can include details such as

• Names, employment titles, contact details;
• Date of birth and gender;
• Information in identification documents (e.g. passport, driver’s licence);
• Tax file numbers and other government related identifiers;
• Assets and liabilities;
• Educational qualifications and employment history ;
• Personal income;
• Visa and work permit status;
• Bank account details;
• Shareholdings and details of investments;
• Superannuation details;
• Tax and financial statements;
• Information regarding insurance;
• Personal information about your spouse and dependants.

It may be necessary in some circumstances for BRW ACCOUNTING PTY LTD to collect sensitive information about you in order to provide specific services. The types of sensitive information we may collect include

• Health status;
• Ethnic origin;
• Details of any membership/s to professional associations;
• Criminal record.

You have a right to refuse to provide us with your personal information or to anonymity or the use of a pseudonym. However, if you do refuse to provide such information, or request the use of anonymity or a pseudonym we may be unable to complete or fulfil the purpose for which such information was collected, including providing you or our clients with the services we were engaged to perform.

3. Collection, holding, using and disclosing of personal information

(a) Collection – General

When we collect, hold, use and disclose personal or sensitive information it must be done through lawful and fair means. Consent must be obtained to collect, hold, use and disclose personal information. We are not required to obtain your consent to collect, hold, use of disclose your personal or sensitive information if the collection is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order. There are other exceptions to the requirement of obtaining your consent in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. If you would like more information on these requirements, please contact our Privacy Officer.

(b) Methods of collection

BRW ACCOUNTING PTY LTD use a variety of formats for the collection of personal and sensitive information. These include

• Requiring clients to complete a Client Profile or other forms;
• Receipt of emails, letters and other correspondence;
• Telephone calls;
• Appointments in person;
• Publicly available records;
• Through a customer’s personal representative;
• Through use of our website, such as via contact mailboxes or online enquiry forms, or through the registration process (see more information about ‘web analytics’ in Clause 2).

In every circumstance we will attempt to obtain such personal and sensitive information directly from you. If that is unreasonable or impracticable, we will attempt to obtain such information from other sources in accordance with Clause 3(a) above.

(c) Collection of someone else’s personal information

You should only provide us with someone else’s personal information where you have their express consent to do so and it is for the purpose of us providing services to you. Matters in this policy should be communicated to any person whose information you collect and provide to us. In providing such information you agree that you have obtained the revenant consent and this is authorised to do so.

Unsolicited personal information

There may be circumstances where we are provided with personal information which we did not actively seek. An example may be misdirected mail, or an excess of documents provided to us by clients.

In such situations, our Privacy Officer will make a determination on whether we could have obtained the information lawfully in accordance with the APPs. If the information was not lawfully obtained it will be destroyed or de-identified. We will try to notify the relevant person, whose information has been mistakenly received, if this situation arises.

4. Security of personal information

Safeguarding the privacy of your information is important to us. We hold personal information in a combination of secure computer storage facilities and paper based files, and take steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, interference, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

BRW ACCOUNTING PTY LTD trains its employees carefully on handling personal information and confidentiality of such information.

Once we have no purpose for holding your personal information, we will take all reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the information.