Privacy Policy

Updated 1 October 2021

M G Arthur & Associates (MGAA) is committed to treating personal information we collect in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principle in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). This policy has been developed to provide an overview on how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information reasonably to ensure that we fulfil our engagement to provide you with our services appropriate to your needs. It is not intended to cover categories of information that are not covered by the Privacy Act.

Our privacy policy will be reviewed regularly to take into account of changes in legislation, technology, and our operations and practices. We aim to ensure the policy is appropriate to the changing environment. We will inform you of any changes we make to this privacy policy as necessary.

1. Collection and Storage of Personal Information

Due to the nature of the wide range of services we provide, and the requirements of legislation and regulations, we ask for a range of personal information from our clients, employees, job applicants, contractors and other individuals.M G Arthur & Associates (MGAA) has set out in this document our basic terms and conditions (the "Terms and Conditions"), which together with our Engagement letter (together called "this Agreement"), will apply to all work performed by MGAA for you (the "Client") with respect to this Engagement.

1.1. The types of personal information that we collect and hold relate to;

contact details and organisational roles of our current and prospective clients, suppliers and other business contacts. This information includes names, date of birth, tax file numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and job titles;
personal information collected in the course of providing products and services to our clients (this includes financial information in which we are engaged to perform financial services, or credit information);
personal information collected when individuals communicate with us (including communication via telephone or email);
personal information collected when we are requested to pay our or ATO payment obligations on behalf of our clients (this typical includes credit card details);
personal information collected from job application when applicants apply for a job with us and individual contractor when performing a role for us (in some instances this may include sensitive information such as health information if related to the role being applied for or being performed);
personal information collected from our employees during the course of carrying out our duties and activities as an employer (in some instances this may include sensitive information such as health information if related to the role being applied for or being performed;
personal information collected in relation to persons who attend seminars or other events we run, sponsor or are otherwise involved in;

1.2. How the information is collected;

2.1 Most personal information is collected directly from individuals when we deal with them. This may occur via forms completed by an individual, face to face meeting, email message, telephone conversation, text messages, when one uses our website or social medial, or via third parties. If an individual contact us, we may keep a record of that.

2.2 At a seminar or an event we run, sponsor or are otherwise involved in, we make take photographs or videos of individuals.

2.3 Personal information may also be provided to us by third parties, including our clients. This may include personal information contained in materials provided to us in the course of providing products and services to our clients. When this occurs, we rely on the person providing us with that personal information having the right to do so.

2.4 We also collect personal information via our website such as when you request for an appointment or complete a form online.

2.5 Because of the nature of our business, it is generally impracticable for us to deal with individuals on an anonymous basis or through the use of a pseudonym, although sometimes this is possible (for example, when seeking staff or client feedback generally).

1.3. Where is the information Stored

3.1 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 in Sydney. We take steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, interference, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

3.2 We may retain personal information during and after our engagement to comply with our legal requirements. We conduct regular IT back-up and archiving practices both onsite and offsite (all locations are based in Australia). We will continue to hold such information confidentially, as required by law. Once we have no purpose for holding your personal information, we will take all reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the information.

2. Use of Personal Information

2.1. The purpose for which we collect, hold and use personal information include;

to provide our products and services;
to provide information to regulatory bodies for compliance obligation of our clients, including Australian Taxation Office and Australian Securities Investment Commission, etc. ;
to respond to an individual's request and queries;
to communicate, and maintain contact;
?to send marketing communications (see below point 2.2);
for general management and reporting purposes, such as invoicing and account management;
for recruitment purposes;
for purposes relating to the employment, management and development of our personnel;
other purposes related to our business (for example, photographs taken at an event may be used for training and promotional purposes); and
where required or permitted by law, regulation or professional standards.

2.2. Marketing Communication

We use your personal information to send marketing communication, including keeping clients and other contacts informed of industry developments, and our products and services, what we believe may be interest to them. These communications may be sent in various ways, including by email or other electronic means. Individuals are given the opportunity to unsubscribe from receiving these communications from us.

2.3. Your rights

You have a right to refuse to provide us with your personal information or to request anonymity or the use of a pseudonym. However, if you choose to do so, 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. Disclosure of Personal Information

3.1. We do not routinely disclose personal information to other organisation unless;

use of disclosure is permitted by this policy;
when wee believe it is necessary to do so in relation to the product or services we are provide;
it is required to protect the rights, property or personal safety of any member of the public or a our client;
it is required as sale or restructure of part of our business;
when consented by you; or
when such disclosure is otherwise required or permitted by law, regulation, or professional standard

3.2. Disclosure of information to third parties

We engage third party specialist professionals, public practitioners and other service providers, where warranted to obtain the advice you need or to assist us to provide our service to you. These may include cloud service providers (such as BGL, Xero, Annature etc), outsource service providers (such as book keeping and accounting service providers) and other professionals (such as quantity surveyors, evaluators, solicitors, advisors, auditors, etc). It may be necessary for us to disclose personal information to these providers from time to time. Such disclosure will be in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the "Privacy Act".

3.3. Disclosure of information outside Australia

In performing our duties, we allow our staff to work from home and from locations outside of our office premises. We also engage staff and outsourced service providers in overseas locations, particularly in Sri Lanka and India. The concerned personnel work subject to confidentiality obligations and appropriate restriction on their handling your information, located on our servers through remote access. Any such disclosure of personal information does not change any of our commitment to safeguard your privacy and the information remains subject to any existing confidentiality obligations.

4. Privacy on our Websites and Applications

4.1 Any personal information we collect via our websites, including mobile applications is covered in this policy. This include personal information you provide to us directly - such as where you make a request or complete a registration form.

4.2 We may log certain statistics about the users, for example the users' domains and browser types. This information does not specifically identifies an individual and it is used solely to ensure that the websites and applications provide the best possible navigational experience for users.

4.3 Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Cookies may be used in some MGAA websites. They are small text files that are placed on your computer by the websites that you visit.. If you are uncomfortable with the use of cookies, you can manage and control them through your browser, including removing cookies by deleting them from your 'browser history' (cache) when you leave the site. You may refuse a cookie and still fully navigate the websites.

4.4 Any links to third party websites on MGAA website are not covered by our privacy policy. Any personal information provided to cloud service providers or other parties as mentioned above are then managed under their respective Privacy Policy.

5. Access to information

You have the right to access any personal information regarding you that we hold. We will provide access to personal information upon request by an individual, except in the limited circumstance where it is permitted for us to withhold this information (for instance, where granting access would infringe another person's privacy). Information will be provided in the manner requested if it is reasonable and practical to do so.

We may charge a fee to cover the cost of locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested.

6. Correction of Personal Information

Please contact us if you believe that information we hold about you in incorrect or out of date, or if you have concerns about how we are handling your personal information

7. How to Make a Complaint

We take privacy practices seriously and work to address these concerns. If you have any further queries relating to our privacy policy, or have a complain, please contact our Practice Manager at 02 9639 4420 or admin@mgarthur.com.au

Back to Our Services