Privacy Policy

1.  About this policy

Greyhound Accounting (ABN 79 092 644 961) provides accounting, taxation and related services. We collect personal information in the course of providing those services. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how we protect it, and how you can access or correct it.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy (Tax File Number) Rule 2015.

2.  The information we collect

What we collect depends on the services you engage us for. It usually includes:

  • name, date of birth, contact details and residential or business address
  • tax file numbers, for you and where relevant your associated entities
  • identity documents, such as driver licence, passport or Medicare details
  • financial information, including income, deductions, bank account details, assets, liabilities and business records
  • employment and occupation details
  • details of family members or associated entities where relevant to your tax position
  • directorships, shareholdings, trusteeships and beneficial ownership details
  • correspondence between us

Where we provide company or trust formation, registered office or similar services, we also collect the information required for customer due diligence under anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing law.

3.  How we collect it

We collect most information directly from you, in meetings, by telephone, by email, through our client portal, or on forms and checklists.

We also collect information from third parties where it is reasonably necessary and you have authorised us to do so, including from:

  • the Australian Taxation Office
  • your previous accountant or adviser
  • your bank, employer or software providers
  • the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
  • publicly available sources

4.  Why we collect it and how we use it

We use personal information to:

  • provide the services you have engaged us for
  • prepare and lodge returns, statements and forms on your behalf
  • communicate with you and respond to your questions
  • verify your identity as required by law
  • issue invoices and collect payment
  • meet our obligations under taxation, corporations, anti-money laundering and professional standards law
  • maintain our records and manage our practice

We do not sell personal information, and we do not provide it to third parties for their marketing.

5.  Tax file numbers

Tax file numbers carry specific protections. We collect, use and disclose tax file number information only where taxation, personal assistance or superannuation law authorises us to do so, and only for the purpose of providing services to you.

We do not use a tax file number to identify you in our records. We take reasonable steps to protect tax file number information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

6.  Who we disclose it to

We may disclose your personal information to:

  • the Australian Taxation Office, ASIC, AUSTRAC and other government agencies, where required or authorised by law
  • our subcontractors, who assist us in preparing your work, all of whom are located in Australia and are bound by written confidentiality agreements
  • the third-party software and cloud providers listed in section 7
  • our professional advisers, insurers and quality reviewers, where reasonably required
  • any other person you have authorised us to deal with

We do not disclose your information to anyone else without your consent unless we are required or authorised by law to do so. In some cases, such as a report to AUSTRAC, the law prohibits us from telling you that a disclosure has been made.

7.  Where your information is held, including overseas

We hold your information in the following systems:

  • Xero and Xero Practice Manager (accounting and practice management), Australia
  • FYI (document management), Amazon Web Services data centres in Sydney, Australia
  • CAS 360 (ASIC and corporate compliance), Australia
  • Microsoft 365 (email and document storage), Australia and overseas
  • Ignition (client engagement, proposals and billing), United States of America

Ignition holds your name, contact details, engagement scope and billing information. Your tax file number, tax returns and working papers are not stored in Ignition and are held in our Australian-hosted systems.

Where a provider stores or processes information outside Australia, we take reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that it maintains appropriate security and privacy practices.

8.  How we protect your information

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include:

  • multi-factor authentication on our systems
  • individual user accounts, with access limited to what each person needs
  • encrypted storage and transmission
  • password management and endpoint security software
  • written confidentiality agreements with everyone who works on client files
  • secure destruction or deletion of records we no longer need to keep

9.  Data breaches

If we experience a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). We will tell you what has happened and what you can do in response.

10.  How long we keep your information

We keep records for the period required by taxation law, the Corporations Act 2001, anti-money laundering law and our professional obligations. This is generally at least five years, and seven years for customer due diligence records. After that period we securely destroy or delete them.

11.  Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. Contact us using the details in section 14.

We will respond within 30 days. There is no charge for making a request, although we may charge a reasonable amount for the cost of providing access where a request is substantial.

We may refuse access in the limited circumstances permitted by law. If we do, we will explain why in writing and tell you how to complain.

Our working papers remain our property and are not generally provided to clients. This does not limit your right to access personal information we hold about you.

12.  Complaints

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first using the details in section 14. We will acknowledge your complaint and respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

Website: www.oaic.gov.au
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001

13.  Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is available at https://greyhoundaccounting.com.au/privacy-policy/ or from us on request.

14.  Contact us

Ellen Davis
Greyhound Accounting
PO Box 5000, Heathwood VIC 3134
(03) 5415 0240
ellen@greyhoundaccounting.com.au