Stannards Accountants & Advisors Pty Ltd (ABN 48 006 857 441) are committed to treating the personal information we collect in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act). This Privacy Policy sets out how Stannards handles personal information.
By providing your personal information to us, you are taken to have read, understand and consent to this Privacy Policy and to such collection, access, transfer, storage and processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Use of the words ‘Stannards’, ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’ is a reference to Stannards Accountants & Advisors Pty Ltd Stannards may modify this Privacy Policy at any time to reflect its current privacy practices. We will publish any updated Privacy Policy on our website.
This Privacy Policy applies to all information we collect about you whether online or otherwise and outlines the types of personal information we hold, the purposes for which it is held, and how that information is collected, held, used and disclosed. This Privacy Policy does not apply to personal information collected by Stannards that is exempt from the requirements of the Privacy Act, for example employee records.
What sort of information do we collect?
Personal information has the meaning given to that term in the Privacy Act and includes information or an opinion (whether true or not) about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.
In general, Stannards collects personal information about its clients, contractors, suppliers, prospective employees, and employees of its corporate clients, contractors and suppliers.
We collect personal information about you that is relevant to perform the scope of work which we are engaged to perform, which may include:
names, job titles, contact and address details
information in identification documents (for example: passport or driver’s licence)
tax file numbers and other government-issued identification numbers
date of birth and gender
bank account details, shareholdings and details of investments
details of superannuation and insurance arrangements
educational qualifications, employment history, salary and referee reports
visa or work permit status
your Internet Protocol (IP) address
payment details, and
personal information about your spouse and dependants.
If you are a client or a prospective employee, it may be necessary in some circumstances for Stannards to collect sensitive information about you in order to provide specific services or for recruiting purposes. Examples of the types of sensitive information that may be collected in such circumstances include professional memberships, ethnic origin, criminal record and health information.
It is generally not practical to remain anonymous or to use a pseudonym when dealing with Stannards as usually we need to use your personal information to provide specific services to you, or which relate to or involve you.
In some cases, Stannards may be required by law to collect certain personal information. If we do not collect your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the services you require.
Employee records exemption
Personal information regarding current or former employees that relates to their employment with us may be exempted from the requirements of the relevant privacy laws. To the extent permitted by law, Stannards may rely on these exemptions.
If you become our employee of Stannards, the personal information provided to us during the recruitment process will become part of your employee record and this Privacy Policy will not apply to the extent that we use the information in relation to your employment with us.
How do we collect personal information?
In the course of providing you with products and services, we collect personal information in a variety of ways. Unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so, we collect your personal information from you directly including by using cookies on our website.
We usually collect personal information about you when you are in contact with us, including over the telephone, when you send us correspondence (e.g. by letter, facsimile or email) or when you have contact with us in person.
We may also collect personal information that you submit to our website such as resumes and email addresses. If you provide us with a resume or similar employment related materials, we will use that information for the purpose of processing and responding to your application for employment and may retain that information in order to consider you for other positions with us as they become available.
Sometimes it may be necessary for us to collect your personal information from a third party. For example, we may collect your personal information from your employer where they are our client, from your personal representative, another Stannards representative, contractors or suppliers we engage to assist us in the provision of services or a publicly available record.
If you provide us with someone else’s personal information, you should only do so if you have their authority or consent to provide us with that information. You should also take reasonable steps to inform them of the matters set out in this Privacy Policy.
We use cookies to help us verify your account and device and determine when you’re logged in, so we can provide the appropriate experiences and features on our website. (We also use cookies to help prevent fraudulent use of login credentials and to remember choices you’ve made). You can disable cookies at any time via your web browser’s security settings.
At the time of collection, or as soon as practicable after we have collected it, we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to notify you of the collection and of any matters relevant to the collection, unless it is obvious from the circumstances that you would know or would expect us to have the information.
How do we use personal information?
Stannards collects, holds and uses personal information for a number of purposes including:
to provide and enhance our services;
to respond to requests or queries;
to maintain contact with our clients and other contacts to keep them informed of our services, industry developments and events;
to verify your identity;
for administrative purposes, including processing payment transactions;
for recruitment purposes;
for purposes relating to employment, providing internal services or benefits to our partners and staff and for matters relating to the business;
when engaging service providers, contractors or suppliers relating to the operation of our business;
to manage any conflict of interest or independence (including auditor independence) obligations or situations;
to conduct surveys and seek your feedback;
to meet any regulatory obligations;
as part of an actual (or proposed) acquisition, disposition, merger or de-merger of a business or entering into an alliance, joint venture or referral arrangement;
to develop our expertise and know how, for benchmarking purposes, analytics, quality assurance and thought leadership, and other purposes related to our business;
if you are a supplier or contractor to Stannards, to contact you for business purposes and to manage our relationship with you or your organisation; and
for other purposes as described in this Privacy Policy.
As part of a client engagement, if you are a customer, an employee, a contractor or supplier of services to one of our clients, then we may collect, use and disclose your personal information as part of providing services to that client.
Do we disclose personal information to others?
The conduct of our client engagements in accordance with Australian professional standards means that information acquired by us in the course of the engagement is subject to strict confidentiality requirements. We may engage external consultants to assist with providing services to or for our clients, and to otherwise operate our business and manage our business systems.
These third parties are only permitted to use the information for the services or function for which they have been engaged, and are required to have in place reasonable safeguards for protecting personal information
The types of third parties to whom we may disclose your personal information include:
experts or other advisors or third parties contracted as part of a client engagement;
our agents, third party contractors and suppliers that assist us to provide services to our clients or otherwise to operate our business and manage our business systems including contractors and consultants whom we may engage, outsourced bookkeeping and accounting service providers, file storage service provides, and IT technicians who may need access to your information when providing us with support;
our professional advisers;
third parties as part of an actual (or proposed) acquisition, disposition, merger or de-merger of a business or to enter into an alliance, joint venture or referral arrangement; or
government or regulatory bodies or agencies, as part of an engagement or otherwise, (for example, the Australian Taxation Office).
We may disclose your personal information to these third parties so that they can assist us with providing the best possible service to you.
This policy extends to the provision of our work papers for review as part of the quality review program of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand/or CPA Australia which monitors compliance with professional standards by its members.
If you are a client of Stannards, we may disclose your personal information (or if you are a corporate client, information about your business or company) to outsourced service providers based in Vietnam who assist us in providing bookkeeping and accounting services to you.
When you provide us with your personal information you give us your consent to disclose your personal information outside of Australia for the purposes described above and acknowledge that we are not required to ensure that overseas recipients handle that personal information in compliance with the Privacy Act.
We are not otherwise likely to disclose information to overseas recipients unless it is with your consent, or the disclosure is required or authorised by law (including any tax treaty with an overseas government to which Australia is a party).
The privacy and collection practices of entities to which we disclose personal information are governed by their own privacy policies and collection notices.
We will not otherwise disclose information about you unless the disclosure:
is required or authorised by law; or
you have consented to our disclosing the information about you.
What do we do to keep personal information secure?
We take reasonable steps, and require our service providers to take reasonable steps, to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure using a number of physical, electronic and procedural safeguards.
Is the personal information up-to-date?
We endeavour to make sure that the personal information which we hold is accurate, complete and up-to- date. To assist us in this, you need to provide true, accurate, current, and complete information about yourself as requested and properly update the information to us to keep it true, accurate, current, and complete.
If we are notified that the information we hold is not accurate, complete or up-to-date, we will take reasonable steps to validate the information and ensure that it is corrected (if necessary), or note the requested changes to the information.
If you believe that the personal information that we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, you may request amendment of it by contacting our Privacy Officer in writing at the details below.
What do we do with personal information when it is no longer needed?
We take steps to destroy or de-identify personal information that is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected if we are no longer required or permitted by law to retain it, using secure methods to destroy or de-identify the information.
We will also take steps to destroy or delete your personal information if we receive written notification from you withdrawing your consent to our storing and processing of such information or requesting that we destroy or delete such information where we are not otherwise required by law to retain your personal information.
Do we allow access to personal information?
In most circumstances we allow an individual to access the personal information we hold about them. However, access may be denied where we are permitted or required by law to deny access to such information.
If we refuse to provide you with access to your personal information, we will generally provide you with reasons for the refusal.
If we do not hold the personal information you request, you will generally be informed in writing.
Cloud Computing
We utilise cloud computing services provided by Dropbox in completing our work.
Dropbox use data centres in the United States of America where your data may be sent
Change in control of Stannards
If we sell or otherwise transfer part or the whole of Stannards or our business to another entity (including in the course of a transaction like a sale, merger or acquisition or as part of a dissolution, liquidation, administration, receivership or other form of insolvency), you agree that your personal information that is collected by Stannards may be disclosed to a third party, prospective buyer, transferee or insolvency practitioner and that this is reasonable to enable that party to continue or manage the business.
What is our procedure for handling privacy enquiries or complaints?
Any questions, enquiries or complaints relating to this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices or procedures, including requests for access or amendments to personal information, should be directed to our Privacy Officer in writing at:
Email: advisors@stannards.com.au
Address: PO Box 581, South Yarra Australia 3141
We aim to resolve any enquiries promptly. We may charge you a fee to cover the reasonable costs incurred by us in providing you with access to your personal information, such as photocopying, administration and postage costs. If you make a complaint, you will need to provide our Privacy Officer with sufficient details about your complaint, in addition to any supporting evidence or information. We will contact you if we require any further information from you and will notify you in writing of the outcome of the Privacy Officer’s investigation. If you are not satisfied with the Privacy Officer’s determination, you can contact us to discuss your concerns or contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Further information is available at www.oaic.gov.au