Privacy Policy

Hughes Pettit Accounting Services Pty Ltd and its associated entities (“Hughes Pettit”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information obtained through its operations as a professional services firm.

This Privacy Policy outlines the general information handling practices you can expect from Hughes Pettit. If you require any further information concerning privacy and the ways in which we handle your personal information, please contact us via the contact details set out below.

Collection of Personal Information

Hughes Pettit collects and holds personal information from clients, customers, employees, contractors and other individuals. ‘Personal information’ means information or an opinion about an individual whose identity is apparent or reasonably ascertained. We collect and hold this information when it is necessary for business purposes.

The main types of personal information Hughes Pettit collects and holds relate to the contact details and organisational roles of our clients, suppliers and other business contacts. Typically, this information includes names, birth dates, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and job titles. In the course of providing professional services to our clients, we may collect and hold more detailed personal information, for example:

  • where relevant to the services we are providing you, your financial information about your assets, occupation and income, bank account balances, account activities, payment history;
  • government identifiers such as Tax File Number, drivers’ license, passport and Medicare numbers and visa/work permit status
    shareholdings and details of investments;
  • details of superannuation and insurance arrangements;
  • educational qualifications, employment history and salary;
  • Membership of a political association or membership of a trade union; and/or personal information about your spouse and dependents.

It may also be necessary, in some circumstances, for us to collect sensitive information in order to provide specific services or for recruiting purposes. Examples of the types of sensitive information that may be collected in such circumstances include professional memberships, racial or ethnic origin, criminal record and health information.

Whenever we collect information from you, we will do everything we can to let you know:

  • how to contact us;
  • why we are collecting the information;
  • the organisation or types of organisations to which we usually disclose that kind of information;
  • if we are required by law to collect the information;
  • the consequences for you if the information is not provided;
  • how you may access and correct the information;
  • how to complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles; and
  • whether we will disclose your information to overseas recipients, and the countries in which such recipients are likely to be located.

We collect most information directly from individuals when we deal with them. The personal information we collect may be provided in forms filled out by individuals, face to face meetings, email messages, telephone conversations, when you use our websites, social media, digital apps or tools, or by third parties. If you contact us, we may keep a record of that contact. There may also be occasions when we collect your personal information from other sources such as:

  • your employer where they are our client
  • your family members
  • your representatives
  • agents or referral partners
  • government agencies
  • a related body corporate or business partner or associate of Hughes Pettit
  • when you link or authorise the linking of third party services such as banking services to our digital apps or tools, and/or
    a publicly available record.

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).

Use of Personal Information

Hughes Pettit uses your personal information only for the business purposes for which it was collected and to operate our business. The main purposes for which we collect, hold and use personal information are:

  • to provide our services;
  • to respond to an individual's request;
  • to maintain contact with clients;
  • to keep clients and other contacts informed of the services we offer and industry developments that may be of interest to them, and to notify them of service offerings, seminars and other events we are holding;
  • for general management and reporting purposes, such as invoicing and account management;
  • for recruitment purposes;
  • for purposes related to the employment of our personnel and providing internal services to our staff; and
  • other purposes related to our business.
    to protect our rights or property and that of our users and, where appropriate, to comply with legal processes, which may include disclosures to law enforcement, regulatory or government agencies

If you choose not to provide us with personal information, we may be unable to do such things.

Disclosure of Personal Information

Generally, we will only disclose your personal information for a purpose set out above. We do not routinely disclose personal information to other organisations, unless:

  • use or disclosure is permitted by this policy;
  • we believe it is necessary to provide you with a product or service which you have requested;
  • to protect the rights, property or personal safety of any member of the public or a customer of Hughes Pettit or the interests of Hughes Pettit;
  • some or all of the assets or operations of Hughes Pettit are or may be transferred to another party as part of the sale of some or all of Hughes Pettit's business;
  • you give your consent; or
  • such disclosure is otherwise required or permitted by law, regulation, rule or professional standard.

Except as set out in this policy, we do not sell to or trade personal information with third parties.

Hughes Pettit uses a range of service providers to help us maximise the quality and efficiency of our services and our business operations. This means that individuals and organisations outside of Hughes Pettit will sometimes have access to personal information held by us and may collect or use it from or on behalf of Hughes Pettit.

This may include, but is not limited to;

  • other professionals such as accountants, auditors, actuaries, solicitors, etc;
  • bankers, financiers, insurers, stockbrokers, investment advisors, etc;
  • independent contractors and consultants;
  • off-site security storage providers;
  • information technology providers

We require our service providers to adhere to our privacy guidelines and not to keep, use or disclose personal information we provide to them for any unauthorised purposes.

Security of Information

Hughes Pettit will generally hold your personal information as either physical records, records on our servers, and in some cases, records on third party servers, which in some instances may be located overseas.

We will endeavor to take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold about you from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, and also require our employees and contractors to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by Hughes Pettit.

Our security measures include:

  • Appropriate security access to our office premises;
  • Clauses in employee agreements requiring confidentiality;
  • Technology security measures such as firewalls, the use of passwords, encryption, and digital certificates;
  • Secure document destruction services

Access and Correction

Upon request, you may be provided with access to the personal information Hughes Pettit holds about you. We reserve the right to charge any reasonable costs incurred by us in providing access in certain circumstances. If you would like to make a request for access, please set out your request in writing and send it to our Privacy  Officer at the contact details set out below. In all cases we will treat requests to access or change information in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

If you feel that any personal information Hughes Pettit holds about you is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, please contact us. We will then take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is corrected.

If you wish to express any concerns, or to make a formal complaint, about how we are handling personal information, these should be submitted to our Privacy Officer at the contact details below.

Internet Privacy

In general, you can visit our website without revealing personal information about yourself. When you visit our website, our internet service provider and website managers may make a record of your visit, logging information such as your email address and/or IP address (if applicable), the date and time of your visit, the pages accessed, the domain where you clicked through from, and the type of browser you have used. This information is collected for trend and statistical purposes, and so that Hughes Pettit can analyse and enhance its website’s functions and capabilities.

Our website may make use of cookie technology, to provide you with better and more efficient service next time you visit our website. Cookies are unique identifiers which are sent from our website to your computer or system (PC), tracking the web pages you have visited. Cookies enable us to relate your use of the website to information that you have specifically provided to us (such as a member password for any service we may provide via the website) and allow your web browser to track searches you have performed on our website. Cookies are stored on your PC, not on our servers. You can elect to disable Cookies through your browser setting options.

Changes to Our Privacy Statement

We may modify or amend this privacy statement from time to time at our discretion. When we make changes to this statement, we will amend the revision date at the bottom of this page. We encourage you to periodically review this privacy statement to be informed about how we are protecting your information.

Privacy Contact Details

For further information please contact us by using the contact details below:
Email:
Telephone: +61 2 9251 5400
Facsimile:    +61 2 9251 5422

We take all complaints seriously, and will respond to your complaint within a reasonable period. If you believe that Hughes Pettit has not adequately handled your privacy complaint, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

This policy was last updated in January 2021.