Privacy Policy

Cooper & Associates Accountants and its associated entities respect and value your privacy. This privacy policy outlines how we collect, store, protect and use your Personal Information and comply with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) [Privacy Act] and the associated Australian Privacy Principles [APP’s]. You can find more information about the Privacy Act on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website at www.oaic.gov.au/privacy.

Whilst we will take reasonable steps to ensure we comply with our obligations, we cannot guarantee that Personal Information cannot be accessed by unauthorised persons (e.g. hackers) or that unauthorised disclosures will not occur.

Who does it apply to?

This policy applies to any person or entity for whom we currently hold, or may hold information for in the future, with the exception of employees (current and former).

What information does this privacy policy apply to?

This policy applies to Personal Information. The Privacy Act defines Personal Information as:
…information or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

What Personal Information do we collect and hold?

The information we collect and hold will differ for each individual. Generally, the types of information that we may collect and hold include:
• Tax File Numbers;
• contact details;
• date and place of birth;
• financial information;
• business circumstances;
• information about assets and investments;
• banking and credit card details;
• employment history;
• family circumstances;
• expertise and interests;
• any other Personal Information required to perform the financial, accounting and business services for the individual.

If you do not provide us with the Personal Information we request of you, we will be unable to provide our services with efficiency and accuracy. Further, it is not practicable for us to provide our services to people anonymously.

What Sensitive Information do we collect and hold?

Sensitive Information is a specific sub-set of Personal Information. The Privacy Act defines Sensitive Information as information, or opinions about:
• an individual’s racial or ethnic origin;
• health information;
• political opinions;
• membership of a political association, professional or trade association or trade union;
• religious beliefs or affiliations;
• philosophical beliefs;
• sexual orientation or practices;
• criminal record;
• genetic information;
• biometric information that is to be used for certain purposes;
• biometric templates.
We will not collect Sensitive Information without your consent.

How we collect Personal Information

Generally we will collect Personal Information directly from you.

Sometimes it may be necessary for us to collect your Personal Information from a third party, or from a publicly available source. It is not possible to provide an exhaustive list of these sources, but they may include:
• professional advisors or agents for individuals who we act for;
• banks and financial institutions;
• Government bodies;
• lawyers and legal firms;
• insurance companies;
• real estate agents;
• businesses about their employees, contractors, customers or suppliers;
• surveys.

We will only collect Personal Information in that way where you have consented, you would reasonably expect us to collect Personal Information in that way, or if it is necessary for a specific purpose in the performance of our services.

We may also collect Personal Information about you from your use of our website and information you provide to us including where you wish to subscribe to our newsletters, request services, ask us to respond to queries or correspondence, or apply for employment with our Firm. If you provide us with someone else’s Personal Information, you should only do so if you have their express authority or consent. You should also take reasonable steps to inform them of the matters set out in this Privacy Policy.

Our website hosts various Social Media Applications or services that allow you to share Personal Information and content with other users. Any Personal Information or content that you contribute to any Social Media Applications can be read, collect and used by other users over whom we may have no control. We are not responsible for any use, misuse or misappropriation by other users of any Personal Information or content that you contribute to any Social Media Applications.

Our website includes links to third party websites. If you access those websites (even via a link from our website) you will be subject to their privacy policy. You may wish to consider the privacy policy of the third party website providers, which Cooper & Associates Accountants will not be taken to endorse by providing a link on our website.

How we store and protect Personal Information

We store all Personal Information that we have collected either physically at our premises or electronically. Our electronic data storage includes, but is not limited to:
• internal servers;
• removal storage devices, such as DVD and USB etc;
• third party hosted exchange email in Australia;
• third party hosting and storage provider with servers based in Australia;
• third party hosting and storage provider with servers based in the United States of America, by Rackspace, AWS and Microsoft Azure.

All physical records are stored on-site in lockable document storage facilities. Electronic records are predominately stored on-site, although may go off-site with staff from time to time.

We take the following reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised access to Personal Information:
• secure premises;
• password protected databases;
• password protected workstations;
• passwords to access printers;
• locked storage cabinets;
• network firewalls.

We ensure all employees who are authorised to access Personal Information are aware of their obligations under the Privacy Act through training, policies and procedures.

Purposes for collecting, holding, using and disclosing Personal Information

We endeavour to only use and disclose your Personal Information for the purpose for which it is collected. Generally, Personal Information is collected for the purposes of providing financial, accounting and business advice and services to an individual or their associated entities. The specific purpose for which information is collected will vary depending on the needs of the individual.

Personal Information may also be collected by us for secondary purposes which may include:
• business promotion and development;
• to inform you of updates and changes to the law that may affect you;
• to invite you to events run by third party providers;
• to provide a referral.

In the case of potential employees, Personal Information is collected to assess the individual’s suitability for a position within our Firm.

We may disclose Personal Information to third parties including:
• Abacus Financial Services (QLD) Pty Ltd trading as Cooper & Associates Financial Services;
• professional advisors or agents for individuals who we act for;
• banks and financial institutions;
• Government bodies;
• lawyers and legal firms;
• insurance companies;
• real estate agents;
• businesses about their employees, contractors, customers or suppliers.

We will not disclose Personal Information to overseas recipients, with the exception of our third party hosting and storage provider with servers based in the United States of America.

We will never sell your Personal Information.

How you can access your Personal Information

Clients of Cooper & Associates Accountants should contact our Privacy Officer on (07) 4972 6727 or privacy@coopersaccountants.com.au should they wish to access or update the Personal Information we hold on file.

It is important that you notify us as soon as practicable should there by any changes to your Personal Information.

Personal Information will not be disclosed without appropriate proof of identity.

We will not unreasonably deny you access to your Personal Information but access may be denied in certain circumstances. Should we deny your request for access we will provide you with an explanation of your decision.

We reserve the right to charge a fee for costs incurred in actioning your access requests.

What to do if you believe there has been a breach of Privacy

Complaints about breaches of Privacy should first be made to us in writing. We aim to respond to all complaints within 30 days of receipt.

Complaints can be sent to:
The Privacy Officer
PO Box 5099
GLADSTONE QLD 4680
or
privacy@coopersaccountants.com.au

Complaints that are unable to be resolved in the first instance can be referred to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

From time to time it may be necessary to review this policy. You can find the current version of our Privacy Policy on our website.

This policy was last updated in February 2018.