HYD Advisory is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s) which came into effect on 13^th March 2014. As part of our commitment to our clients and staff, HYD Advisory has developed this policy to explain how the firm handles personal information and complies with the requirements of the Australian Privacy Act 1988.

This policy is to provide guidance to ensure our adherence to the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988. It is not intended to, nor can it, replace the provisions of the Act itself. If a staff member is in doubt about how to treat personal information in a particular situation, they should refer the matter to the Privacy Officer for clarification and determination.

HYD Advisory may update or modify this privacy statement if and when required according to legal developments. If changes do occur they will be posted at www.hydadvisory.com.au. Please visit this website frequently so that you may be aware of the changes.

COLLECTION

HYD Advisory proposes only to collect personal information that is necessary to carry out a legitimate business request; e.g. to complete your annual tax return. When collecting personal information, HYD Advisory will aim to do so in a fair and lawful manner.  In the course of providing professional services to our clients, we may collect and hold more detailed personal information (example – financial details or credit information if we are required to perform these types of services)

Types of information we collect may include the following:

• Company/Client Name/Trust Name
• Postal Address
• Date and Place of Birth
• Contact Telephone Numbers
• Email Address
• ABN
• TFN
• Financial and Taxation Information

The purposes for which we collect the information may include the following:

• To prepare individual and company tax returns, super funds, trusts and financial statements
• To update and maintain corporate secretarial records
• To meet statutory obligations of our clients

Use of Personal Information Disclosure

HYD Advisory collect, hold and use personal information to;

• Provide our services
• To respond to our client’s requests
• To maintain client contact
• For management and reporting reasons – including invoicing and account management
• In recruitment processes
• Other purposes related to our business
• To update clients and other contacts of our services and any industry developments and firm functions

We may collect, hold and use your personal information to promote out services via newsletters and e-newsletters.  If you do not wish to receive this marketing collateral please inform us by writing to The Privacy Officer at HYD Advisory – Locked Bag 5002, Sylvania Waters, NSW 2224, or via email to admin@hydadvisory.com.au Alternatively if we email you, please use the unsubscribe function in the email to notify us.

HYD Advisory acknowledges that your personal information is highly confidential and to this end the information collected will only be used for the purpose in which it was collected unless you have consented, the secondary purpose for which information is being used or disclosed is related to the primary purpose and you would expect such use or disclosure.

It is our policy not to sell or pass on any personal information that you may have provided us unless we have your express consent to do so. We may however disclose your personal information where we are under a legal duty to do so.

DATA QUALITY

HYD Advisory will endeavour to ensure that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

DATA SECURITY

HYD Advisory will take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. All staff members are issued with a password upon commencement to ensure that no unauthorised persons can gain access to your personal information. Documents that are of a confidential nature, eg. Financial statements and income tax returns are disposed of by a shredder or into security bins.

OPENNESS

This Privacy Statement clearly expresses our policy on how we manage personal information. HYD Advisory will make our Privacy Policy available on request and we will let you know what sort of personal information we hold, for what purpose, and how we collect, hold, use and disclose that information.

ACCESS AND CORRECTION

HYD Advisory aims to give you access to personal information we hold about you on request, however we will not provide you with access to your personal information if:

• Providing access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of a person;
• Providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
• The request for access is frivolous or vexatious;
• The information is related to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between us and would not be discoverable in those proceedings;
• Providing access would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations with you in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations;
• Providing access would be unlawful;
• Denying access is required or authorised by or under law;
• Providing access would be likely to prejudice certain operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body or an enforcement body requests that access not be provided on the grounds of national security.

If access is denied we will provide reasons why. You should anticipate that it might take some time to process your request for access as there may be a need to retrieve information from storage. HYD Advisory has the right to charge you for providing access to your personal information.

If you believe that the information we hold is not accurate, complete or up-to-date we will take steps to ensure that the information is corrected.

If at any time you wish to know what personal information we hold about you, you may contact us by writing to The Privacy Officer at HYD Advisory  – Locked Bag 5002, Sylvania Waters, NSW 2224, or via email to admin@hydadvisory.com.au.

If you believe that information we hold about you is incorrect or out of date, or if you have concerns about how we are handling your personal information, please contact us and we will try to resolve those concerns.

If you wish to have your personal information deleted, please let us know and we will take reasonable steps to delete it (unless we need to keep it for legal, auditing or internal risk management reasons).

If HYD Advisory becomes aware of any ongoing concerns or problems concerning our privacy practices, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns. If you have any further queries relating to our privacy policy, or you have a problem or complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your problem or complaint you may make a complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner.

HOW LONG IS PERSONAL INFORMATION KEPT?

• Information is kept until it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected or as long as is required by law.

CONTRACTORS

From time to time, HYD Advisory may engage contractors to the business. When we do this we will seek a commitment from the contracting persons that they will treat all personal information they are exposed to in accordance with the Act and this Privacy Statement. All contractors will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to uphold this rule.

SENSITIVE INFORMATION

HYD Advisory will not collect sensitive information which includes such things as information about a client’s health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions or membership of political associations unless the client has consented; it is required by law, or in other special circumstances (e.g. health or public safety).

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OVERSEAS AND WITHIN THE HYD GROUP NETWORK

HYD Advisory utilises service providers overseas to process data and help deliver our services in an efficient, cost effective and timely basis to you. We may disclose your personal, accounting and taxation information to these providers from time to time to enable them to access, process and store your data and electronic files.

This means for example, that your XERO or MYOB (or other commonly used accounting software) file may be accessed from our service provider based in Vietnam. You may receive an automatic notification that your file has been accessed by our service provider with date and time references. Outsourcing of data processing overseas is now commonly used by Australian Accounting and Legal practices and permitted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.

We have taken steps to ensure the security of your personal information by ensuring that the overseas service provider has strict security processes and protocols in place to protect your data and is compliant with Australian privacy law. There are stringent systems and controls in place to protect the personal information held from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

DIRECT MARKETING

HYD Advisory may engage in direct marketing to you from time to time. This may involve promoting our tax and accounting services delivered directly by us or our finance and wealth service offerings delivered in conjunction with our joint venture partners.

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you wish to discuss any aspect of our policy or what sort of personal information HYD Advisory holds, for what purpose and how it collects, holds, uses and discloses that information, please contact us The Privacy Officer on ph:8543 6800 during business hours, fax: 9522 9683 or email admin@hydadvisory.com.au

HYD Advisory reviews this policy annually and may update by publishing the updated version on our website at www.hydadvisory.com.au

This policy was last updated in July 2017.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
Copyright @ 2017 HYD Advisory Pty Ltd
All right reserved
Suite 3, 284 Belgrave Esplanade, Sylvania Waters, NSW 2224.
Mon – Fri 9:00 – 17:00
Ph: (02) 8543 6800
admin@hydadvisory.com.au

DISCLAIMER

It’s important to note that the information that is represented in this website is only general in nature. No information has been tailored to any specific client need, which is why no content on the website has the intention to be considered advice. Those reading through the content of the website must not act or fail to act as a result of absorbing any of the content contained throughout the website. We encourage you to contact one of our advisers at HYD Advisory, HYD Accounting, HYD Wealth, HYD Finance, or HYD Cloud to gain advice that will be relevant to your own individual circumstance which will assist you in making an informed decision.