Privacy Policy and Disclaimer

Our Commitment

C.E. Smith & Co., Mackay (CESCO) recognises that your privacy is important. We have created this policy in order to demonstrate our firm’s commitment to your privacy. This Policy sets out our policies on the management of information and explains what sort of information we hold, the purposes for which we hold it and how we collect, store and handle that information. We are a privacy conscious organisation and are strongly committed to your right to privacy.
We are bound by, and committed to supporting, the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) set out in the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012. The information set out below is largely a summary of our obligations under the APP.

Collection

Our main purposes for collecting personal information are to facilitate your taxation and accounting compliance, financial products or services, or related services, and to update our records. At or before the time we collect personal information from you we will take reasonable steps to inform you why we are collecting that personal information, who else we might disclose that personal information to and what may happen if you do not provide personal information to us.
Wherever practicable, we will ask you for the information directly. However, we may need to contact other people and organisations, such as business associates, your employer and referees to confirm information about you.

Use and Disclosure

We are subject to certain legislative and regulatory requirements that necessitate us obtaining and holding detailed information that personally identifies you and/or contains information or an opinion about you. In addition, our ability to provide you with a comprehensive taxation and accounting advice service is dependent on us obtaining certain personal information about you, including: 

  • Name

  • Address (including e-mail address)

  • Telephone and facsimile numbers

  • Gender

  • Date of birth

  • Tax file number

  • Employment details and employment history

  • Financial details

  • Details of your current financial circumstances, including your assets and liabilities (both actual and potential), income, expenditure, etc.

  • Information about your employment history, employment circumstances, family structure, commitments and social security eligibility;

  • We will obtain your consent before using or disclosing sensitive information for the purpose of direct marketing.

Data Security

We take reasonable steps to protect the information we retain from misuse, interference, loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We will not retain any of your information for any longer than it is required by us, except to satisfy legal requirements. We will destroy or de-identify your personal information when it is no longer required.
As a general rule, CESCO will not use or disclose personal information about an individual other than for its primary purpose of collection, unless:

  • The individual has consented to such use or disclosure; or

  • CESCO has reason to suspect that unlawful activity has been, or may be engaged in, and uses or discloses the personal information as a necessary part of its investigation of the matter or in reporting its concerns to relevant persons or authorities; or

  • The use or disclosure is required or authorised by or under law; or

  • CESCO reasonably believes that the use or disclosure is reasonably necessary for a specified purpose by or on behalf of an enforcement body.

  • We will not adopt a government agency identifier (such as a tax file number or Medicare number) as the identifier for an individual.

Our staff who have access to your information have been briefed on the requirements of the Privacy Act. Our contracted service providers have also been made aware that they are required to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act. Your information is stored in secure facilities. Our information systems and files are kept secured from unauthorised access and our staff and contracted agents and service providers have been informed of the importance we place on protecting your privacy and their role in helping us to do this.  

Openness and cross border disclosure of personal information

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

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

It is unlikely that CESCO will disclose your personal information to third parties outside of Australia. We would only do this if required or permitted by law.  We would take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the APPs in relation to the information.

The information we collect from you may also be disclosed to third parties if the disclosure is required by or permitted by law. In the event that we propose to sell our business we may disclose your personal information to potential purchasers for the purpose of them conducting due diligence investigations. Any such disclosure will be made in confidence and it will be a condition of that disclosure that no personal information will be used or disclosed by them. In the event that a sale of our business is affected, we may transfer your personal information to the purchaser of the business. As a client you will be advised of any such transfer.

Quality, Access and Correction

You may access the personal information we retain and request corrections. This right of access is subject to some exceptions allowed by law. We will provide written notice outlining any reasons for refusing access to your personal information.
We will endeavour to ensure that at all times the personal information about you that we hold is up to date and accurate. The accuracy of the personal information is dependant to a large degree on the information you provide and you should advise us if there are any errors in your personal information.

Adoption, use or disclosure of government related identifiers

In some circumstances we are required to collect government identifiers, for example, your Tax File Number. We will not use or disclose this information other than when required to do so by law or, when consented to by you.

Anonymity and Pseudonymity

You may deal with us anonymously and by using a pseudonym where it is lawful, practicable and reasonable to do so.

Sensitive Information

We will only collect sensitive information about you if you consent to the collection and the information is reasonably necessary for our organisations’ function or activities. Exceptions to this include where the information is required by law, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim.

Privacy Complaints

If you wish to complain about any breach or potential breach of this privacy policy or the Australian Privacy Principles, you should lodge a complaint with us. You should contact our Privacy Officer in writing, by email cesmith@cesmithmackay.com.au or by posting a letter to PO Box 167, Mackay Qld 4740. 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 Privacy Commissioner who may investigate your complaint further.

Further Information

Should you wish to read more information about the privacy legislation or the National Privacy Principles we recommend that you visit the Federal Privacy Commissioner's website at www.oaic.gov.au