Privacy Policy

Hack, Anderson & Thomas, Chartered Accountants, is strongly committed to protecting your privacy.

Hack, Anderson & Thomas is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (as amended by the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012).

The information below provides an outline of how we will protect your privacy.

Collection of Personal Information

In the course of our activities we may collect your personal information for the purpose of carrying out services that you have engaged us to provide to you. When you send correspondence to us or to an employee of Hack, Anderson & Thomas, we collect and store the details and the contents of the correspondence.

Most of your personal information will be collected directly from you and we will only collect this information if it is necessary to perform one or more of our functions or activities. In some situations we will collect personal information from a third party, such as the Australian Taxation Office, or from your financial institution, financial planner or solicitor. In these situations we will inform you of the information received from the third party.

Our ability to provide you with a comprehensive service is dependent on us obtaining certain personal information. This might include:

• Name and contact details;
  
• Employment details and employment history;
  
• Details of your current financial circumstances, including your assets and liabilities (both actual and potential), income, expenditure, insurance cover and superannuation;
  
• Tax file numbers.

The personal information that Hack, Anderson & Thomas collects about you will only be used or disclosed for the following purposes:

• To assist us to provide you with the primary services that you have requested;
  
• To help us with a secondary purpose that is related to the primary services requested but only if you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose your information for this secondary purpose; 
  
• Where required by law or for inspection to ensure compliance with mandatory professional standards;
  
• Where reasonably necessary to assist a law enforcement agency;
  
• Where external service providers require for the purposes of audit, legal advice, consultancy, issuing statements or handling mail;
  
• To send you information that you have not specifically requested, that we consider relevant to your business. If you receive informative material from us that you do not want to continue receiving we ask that you please let us know by email at admin@hat.com.au or write to us at Level 3, 180 Albert Road, South Melbourne, Vic, 3205.

Other than in the above circumstances Hack, Anderson & Thomas will only use or disclose your personal information if:

• Your consent has been obtained (expressly or implied).

Quality of Personal Information

Our goal is to ensure that, at all times, the personal information we hold is up to date and accurate. If you become aware, or believe, that any personal information we hold is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, please contact us.

Keeping your Personal Information secure

We will take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information held by us from misuse, loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Our security measures include:

• Physical security – Restricted access to our premises and physical records, including security coded doors and the use of lockable filing cabinets;
  
• Computer and network security – Password protection, firewalls and virus checks to help prevent the access to electronic information by unauthorised persons;
  
• Personnel security – Staff are provided with training in security awareness, practices and procedures;
  
• Information no longer required to be held by us to provide services or for compliance is destroyed or returned to you.

Openness

We will remain open with you about what sort of personal information we hold, how we collect it, and for what purposes we use and disclose this information.

 
Accessing your Personal Information

Individuals may at any time, request access to personal information that Hack, Anderson & Thomas holds about them. Where possible, we will provide you with access to that information either by providing you with copies of the information requested, allowing you to inspect the information requested or providing you with an accurate summary of the information held. If we need to deny your request for access we will let you know why. Generally this will only be in cases where providing access would be unlawful or not within the realms of the legislation. All requests for access to personal information should be in writing to The Privacy Officer as shown below.

Identifiers

Hack, Anderson & Thomas does not adopt government agency identifiers, for example, tax file numbers, as a primary means of identifying you.

Anonymity

Where possible, Hack, Anderson & Thomas may deal with the individual anonymously. However, if you do not provide information requested we may be limited in our dealings with you.

Transborder Data Flows

Hack, Anderson & Thomas will not transfer your personal information outside Australia. If we are required to transact with, or send information on your behalf to, an overseas organisation, we will seek your consent with regard to the transfer.

Sensitive Information

Generally Hack, Anderson & Thomas does not collect sensitive information about you. If we do need to collect sensitive information (eg. Medical reports) we will only do so with your consent.

Would you like more information on our Privacy Policy?

If you would like more information about the way we manage personal information please contact our Privacy Officer on (03) 9867 3200 from 8:30am to 5pm (Melbourne time) Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can write to our Privacy Officer using the contact details below.

Our Contact Details

Privacy Officer

Hack, Anderson & Thomas

Level 3, 180 Albert Road

South Melbourne Vic 3205

Ph (03) 9867 3200

Fax (03) 9867 3810

Email: admin@hat.com.au.