5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd’s Privacy Policy

‘5 Financial’ is a trading name of 5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd.

5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd is committed to treating the personal information we collect in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (‘APP’) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). This policy sets out how 5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd handles personal information.

This privacy policy does not apply to personal information collected by 5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd that is exempted under the Privacy Act, for example, employee records.

Our privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to take account of changes in legislation, technology, and our operations and practices. We aim to ensure the policy is appropriate to the changing environment. The most current version will always be available on our website.

1. Purposes for which 5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information

We only collect, hold, use and disclose personal information which is reasonably necessary to ensure that we can provide you with the products and services that are appropriate to your needs.

Generally, we collect, use and hold your personal information for purposes such as:

  • to provide professional services to you or someone else you know
  • to process transactions
  • to provide accounting services and solutions through technology
  • to provide you with information and marketing material about other services that may be of interest to you
  • to respond to requests and to maintain contact with you
  • to provide you with information relevant to you
  • to keep you informed of our services and industry developments
  • to facilitate our internal business operations, including the fulfilment of any legal or regulatory requirements
  • for administrative purposes
  • to analyse our services and client needs with a view to improving those services
  • for engagement of service providers, contractors or suppliers relating to the operation of our business
  • for other purposes related to the performance of our business functions and activities as Accountants

2. Kinds of personal information 5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd collects

Due to the nature of the products and services we provide, and the requirements of legislation and regulations, we ask for a range of personal information from our clients.

The types of personal information we may collect can include details such as:

  • Names, employment titles, contact details
  • Date of birth and gender
  • Information in identification documents (e.g. passport, driver’s licence)
  • Tax file numbers and other government related identifiers
  • Assets and liabilities
  • Educational qualifications and employment history
  • Personal income
  • Visa and work permit status
  • Bank account details
  • Shareholdings and details of investments
  • Superannuation details
  • Tax and financial statements
  • Information regarding insurance
  • Personal information about your spouse and dependants

It may be necessary in some circumstances for 5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd to collect sensitive information about you in order to provide specific services. This may include:

  • Health status
  • Ethnic origin
  • Details of any membership/s to professional associations
  • Criminal record

You have a right to refuse to provide us with your personal information, or to anonymity, or the use of a pseudonym. However, if you do refuse to provide such information, or request the use of anonymity or a pseudonym, we may be unable to complete or fulfil the purpose for which such information was collected, including providing you or our clients with the services we were engaged to perform.

3. Collection, holding, using and disclosing of personal information

(a) Collection – General

When we collect, hold, use and disclose personal or sensitive information, it must be done through lawful and fair means. Consent must be obtained to collect, hold, use and disclose personal information. We are not required to obtain your consent to collect, hold, use of disclose your personal or sensitive information if the collection is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order. There are other exceptions to the requirement of obtaining your consent in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. If you would like more information on these requirements, please contact us.

(b) Methods of collection

5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd use a variety of formats for the collection of personal and sensitive information. These include:

  • Requiring clients to complete a Client Profile or other forms
  • Receipt of emails, letters and other correspondence
  • Telephone calls
  • Appointments in person
  • Publicly available records
  • Through a client’s personal representative
  • Through use of our website, such as online enquiry forms

In every circumstance we will attempt to obtain personal and sensitive information directly from you.

(c) Collection of someone else’s personal information

You should only provide us with someone else’s personal information where you have their express consent to do so and it is for the purpose of us providing services to you. Matters in this policy should be communicated to any person whose information you collect and provide to us. In providing such information, you agree that you have obtained the relevant consent, and that you are authorised to do so.

(d) Unsolicited personal information

There may be circumstances where we are provided with personal information that we did not actively seek. An example may be misdirected mail, or an excess of documents provided to us by clients.

In such situations, we will decide whether we could have obtained the information lawfully in accordance with the APPs. If the information was not lawfully obtained, it will be destroyed or de-identified. We will try to notify the relevant person, whose information has been mistakenly received, if this situation arises.

4. Security of personal information

Safeguarding the privacy of your information is important to us. We hold personal information in a combination of secure computer storage facilities and paper-based files. We also take steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, interference, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd trains its employees carefully on handling personal information and confidentiality of such information.

Once we have no purpose for holding your personal information, we will take all reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the information.

5. Disclosure of personal information to others

Where you have engaged 5 Wealth Management Pty Ltd, you agree for 5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd to share information with 5 Wealth Management Pty Ltd to assist them in providing you with financial advisory services.

5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd utilises third party providers (such as IT providers and market researchers) for its business and to deliver services to you. It may be necessary for us to disclose non-sensitive personal information to these providers from time to time. Such disclosure will be in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the APPs.

6. Privacy on our websites

When you visit our website, we may use cookies to identify your browser so that next time you visit our website we remember your log in details. A cookie is a small file which remains on your computer and contains information enabling our website to recognise your browser. Cookies are also used to monitor visits to our website. If you do not wish to use cookies, you can adjust the settings on your browser to reject cookies or notify you when they are being used. Any links to third party websites on our website are not covered by our privacy policy.

7. Direct marketing

We do not disclose our clients’ personal information to third parties for the purpose of research or marketing. We may however use your personal information to guide our own marketing communications. Where practicable we will seek your consent before we use your personal information for this purpose. You may tell us at any time that you do not wish to receive any further direct marketing materials, whereupon we will stop sending you such materials. In accordance with the Spam Act, should you wish to unsubscribe from commercial electronic messages from us, you may do so at any time through the “unsubscribe” facility on that type of electronic message. If you do not unsubscribe, we will continue to send you information by electronic message and may also use messaging methods other than email.

8. Access to personal information

If you ask, we will advise you of the personal information we hold about you. We will facilitate access to your information by allowing a personal inspection or by providing copies or a summary of relevant documents, depending upon what is most appropriate in the circumstances. Unless impracticable, we will endeavour to provide access to your personal information within 30 days of your request. Any charge we make for providing access to our records will be reasonable and we will advise you of the likely charge in advance.

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect and hold about you is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading. We will review your personal information with you on a regular basis. We may also obtain updated information about you from third parties. If you (or a third party) provide evidence that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete, we will take steps to correct it before using the information.

9. Procedure if your request to access or correct is refused

There may be limited circumstances where your request is refused or partially refused.

If this occurs we will give you a written notice that sets out:

  • The reasons for the refusal, including the reasons why access cannot be granted in an alternative way (except where it would be unreasonable to provide those reasons)
  • How to make a complaint about the refusal
  • Any other matter as prescribed by the regulations

If your request to correct is refused you have the option of submitting a statement associated with your personal information. For more information contact us.

10. How to make a complaint

If you consider that any action of 5 Advisory & Tax Pty Ltd breaches this policy or the Australian Privacy Principles, you can make a complaint. Once we have received your complaint, it will be assessed and acted upon within a reasonable time.

To make a complaint please contact us. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

Updates to our Privacy Policy

We are constantly reviewing our statements and policies in order to keep up to date with relevant legislation and client expectations. Consequently, this policy may be amended from time to time as the need arises. The latest version will always be available on our website (www.5financial.com.au), and upon request.

April 2019