G J Walsh & Co understands our obligations to keep your personal information secure. Due to its nature as an accounting firm, GJ WALSH & CO collects and holds a large range of confidential personal and commercial information. That is why GJ WALSH & CO ensures the security of information held by our firm. This policy has been put in place to inform you of what personal information GJ WALSH & CO collects, and how we manage it and maintain its integrity and security.

GJ WALSH & CO is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 (Privacy Amendment Act) and the Privacy Regulation 2013 and must comply with the Australian Privacy Principals (APP). To find out more information about the Privacy Act and the APPs, please visit www.oaic.gov.au . In this privacy policy, “personal information’ has the same meaning as defined by Section 6 of the Privacy Act.

Whilst GJ WALSH & CO makes every effort to keep your personal information highly secure, we also believe that you have the right to be informed about how we handle your information. If, after reading this policy, you are unclear on any of the matters or simply want more information, please do not hesitate to contact our Practice Manager.

Collection of personal information

GJ WALSH & CO only collects the personal information that is necessary to provide the service you have requested from us. If you do not provide us with the personal information we have requested, we are unable to provide those services with efficiency and accuracy.

Generally GJ WALSH & CO collects and holds the following personal information:

• Name, address, contact details
• Date of birth
• Tax file number
• Australian Company Numbers and Australian Business Numbers
• Bank account details
• Details of your or your business’ income, expenses, assets and liabilities

Whilst we collect and hold a broad range of personal information gathered during the course of providing our services, we ensure that we collect and hold only that personal information which is relevant and necessary for us to provide the services for which you have engaged us.

GJ WALSH & CO will collect personal information only by lawful and fair means.

The personal information will usually be collected from you, your authorised representatives or from publicly available sources. We will only collect personal information from a third party if you have consented to such collection or you would reasonably expect us to collect the personal information in this way.

Purposes of collection

We primarily collect personal information to allow us to provide the services you have requested.

However, GJ WALSH & CO may also use the personal information to send newsletters concerning various accounting, business advisory and taxation matters, invite you to seminars or events, and to inform you of developments at the firm. If you would like to opt out of receiving this type of information, please contact us. Our contact details are listed at the end of this document.

We will never sell, rent or trade any of your personal information to a third party.

Unless you have given us prior consent, or it is required or authorised by law, we will never disclose personal information about you to a third party.

Third parties

You should be aware that GJ WALSH & CO may have to disclose personal information to the following third parties: the Australian Taxation Office, ASIC, Accountancy Insurance, Centrelink, your solicitors, your bank and financial institutions, any related corporations or affiliate practices and any other organisations to which you normally disclose information of this kind.

In addition to the above-named parties, there are other third parties which may, on occasion, have access to your personal information, such as IT technicians working on site, or potential buyers carrying out due diligence on our practice.

Personal information quality

Our aim is to ensure that at all times your personal information is accurate, complete and current. In order for us to accomplish this, you need to provide true, accurate, up-to-date and complete information about yourself where requested and inform us of any changes.

If you discover any inaccurate or incomplete information, please contact us so that we can correct the information.

Securing your personal information

GJ WALSH & CO is committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of the data you provide us and we will take all reasonable precautions to protect your personal information from unauthorised disclosure, use or alteration.

Your personal information will be held either physically in our offices, in a secure archive facility or electronic storage facility.

In order to keep your personal information secure, we have a number of systems in place. All computer access is password-protected and provided through a firewall, and all computers run anti-virus software. Our offices are supplied with secure shredding bins, and our office is fully secure with deadbolts and an alarm.

There are inherent risks in transmitting information across the internet and we do not have the ability to control the security of information collected and store on third-party platforms. In relation to our own servers, we take all reasonable steps to manage data stored on our servers to ensure data security.

Discarding your personal information

GJ WALSH & CO will hold any personal information used in the provision of your services for up to seven (7) years after completion of those services, after which all files will be destroyed or deleted securely.

Accessing your personal information

You can ask GJ WALSH & CO to provide you with access to all personal information that we hold about you. You will never be charged a fee for submitting a request to access to your personal information, though we reserve the right to charge you a fee for the access itself.

GJ WALSH & CO do not have to provide access where the personal information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between GJ WALSH & CO and an individual, and the information would not be accessible by the process of discovery in those proceedings; where denying access is required or authorised by law; or when providing access would be unlawful.

To submit a request for access to your personal information, please contact us. Our contact details are listed at the end of this document.

Government identifiers

At times, GJ WALSH & CO may ask you to provide details regarding certain government assigned identification numbers (eg tax file numbers, ABN, etc.) to assist us in providing your agreed services. We will only use these government identifiers where it is necessary and lawful to do so, and we will not otherwise use these identifiers within our own organisation.

Information the law requires us to collect

GJ WALSH & CO is not required by law to collect any particular personal information.

Complaints

If you have any complaints about the personal information we hold or the way that we manage it, please contact us. Our contact details are listed below.

Changes to this statement

This privacy policy is not a static document and we may make changes from time to time, for any reason. An up-to-date copy of our privacy policy can be found on our website.

Privacy Officer

If you would like to contact us with requests for access, questions about our privacy policy, or have any complaints, please send an email to Greg Walsh at admin@gjwalsh.com.au or write to us at PO Box 130, Ipswich Qld 4305. Alternatively, send us an enquiry via Contact Us page.