At Unique Accounting and Taxation Services (UA&T), we value your privacy. We handle and protect your private information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) outlined in the Privacy Act 1988.

In the Policy, the terms 'we', 'us', and 'our' refer to Unique Accounting & Taxation Services.

1. What is meant by personal information?

Personal information refers to data or opinions, whether true or otherwise, that could reasonably establish you as the individual.

2. The types of personal information we may collect

UA&T only collects personal data that is necessary for conducting business with you or keeping you informed of our services. We collect information about our clients, connections of our clients, business contacts, and website visitors to provide the relevant services and manage our professional relationships. The personal information we collect can include your:

• Name, postal address, email address, and telephone number
• Date of birth and gender
• Job title and workplace
• TFN, ABN, and other identification numbers
• Payment details such as bank account and credit card/direct debit information if purchasing a service from us
• Superannuation and insurance details 

The Privacy Act deems some personal information as 'sensitive information' such as a trade association membership. If we collect this type of information from you, we'll ensure that the information has come from you personally, or that you consent to us collecting it.

3. How we receive your personal information

We usually receive and collect the information outlined above directly from you. This could be during a number of instances, including:

• Interactions with staff in person or over the phone
• Registering to our website or subscribing to our news and updates
• Correspondence over email/post/text/web contact form/social media etc.
• Completion of a survey or competition we've sent out
• Purchasing one of our services
• Applying for a job with our company

Occasionally, we may need to request personal information about you from a third party, such as from:

• One of your representatives
• Companies that send us marketing opportunities
• Our joint partners
• Sources where information about you is publicly accessible

If you supply another person's personal information in any format, we accept with the understanding that they have given their permission to have their personal information passed on, stored, and recorded.

4. How we use your personal information

UA&T obtains, stores, and uses your personal data for a number of reasons, including to:

• Confirm your identity
• Supply you with the service/s you have requested
• Keep you up-to-date with our services, relevant news, and any other industry-related information we believe to be of interest to you
• Reply to questions, requests, feedback, or complaints
• Assist us in improving your digital experience
• Progress any job applications you have submitted
• Conform to legal/governing requirements or any other industry-related purposes

Disclosure of personal information to third parties

On occasion, we may be required to share your information with third parties, such as:

• Outsourced service providers or advisors
• Companies we are partnering with in-line with the service that a client has requested
• Any professionals or suppliers contracted as part of an engagement
• Government or regulatory agencies, for example, if we submit a tax return on your behalf or if we are required to disclose personal data by law
• Other accounting, legal, or industry-related firms

The third parties mentioned above carry out certain functions such as data collection and analysis, auditing, technical services, banking, and marketing. They may also supply products, services, or software that we integrate alongside our services.

Your personal information is never disclosed to third parties with the sole intention of sending you marketing material unless you have given your full consent. We source each third party carefully, and any information that we disclose to them is served with specific regulations on how they are to use that information. For market research purposes, the information we provide to third parties is only used to examine user requirements with regards to accounting services.

Some of our third parties may be based outside of Australia and can include locations in New Zealand, the United States, and other countries.

We occasionally share aggregated data with third parties that is in no way specific to your personal identity. Aggregated data can look at how people use a product or service, how they navigate a website, or how they communicate with the business. It creates insight for improvement and is usually used for promotional activity or market research.

5. Keeping your personal information safe and secure

At UA&T, we store your personal information either electronically or as physical copies. The security and safety of your personal information is something we care strongly about, and we take the appropriate measures to protect it. These security measures include the use of encryption software and restricted access where necessary for data stored electronically, and secure cabinets with access restricted to those who hold a security pass for hard-copy documentation.

If you register with us online, you control your account with a unique username and password of your choice. Inputting a strong password helps to prevent any unauthorised persons from obtaining your details.

While we adopt all feasible security measures to protect your information, we cannot control the security of the entire internet. We advise you that any personal communication sent to us via email may be less protected in transit, and we recommend that if you are engaging with us or our services online, you do so in a safe environment.

6. Accessing and amending your personal information

When you supply us with your personal data, you have the right to request access to it and make any amendments. You can do this by contacting us via our online contact form, email, or phone, and we will endeavour to respond as soon as possible. We'd appreciate as much detail as possible in reference to your request, including the information you wish to access and how you would like to access it, or the information you want to amend. Where possible, we will send you a copy of your personal information details, as requested.

In some instances, we may be unable to provide you with access to your personal information records, or we may deny your request to make amendments. In some cases, you may be required to pay an administration fee before the request can be accepted, and you will be informed of this before the request is formally submitted. If either of these instances occurs, we will explain our reasons to you in writing. If you disagree with the decision, you can follow our complaints procedure, found in section 10.

7. Our aim to protect children

We take special care to try and protect the privacy of children in this digital environment. We do not target our website at children under the age of 18, and we ask them not to submit any personal information to us. We do not intentionally store personal information about anyone under the age of 18 unless we have a particular reason to do so in regards to an engagement that requires us to obtain this personal information.

8. How we use direct marketing

UA&T may use the personal information you have supplied us to send you marketing material relating to our services, special offers, and other news relevant to our accounting firm.

If you wish to opt-out of us using your personal information to send marketing materials, you can do so at any time by:

• Clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the communications you receive from us via email to opt-out of electronic marketing
• Contacting us through our online form or email ___________ explaining that you want to unsubscribe from all future email/phone/hard-copy marketing communications (deleting as appropriate)
   

9. How we use cookies on our website

Cookies are small unique text files that your browser stores on your computer when you first visit a website. Their purpose is to enhance the quality of your digital experience and do not track the browsing activity unless you consent to this. Most browsers identify cookies using a pop-up which asks you to accept or refuse cookies. If this doesn't occur, the browser will likely be configured to accept cookies automatically. You can manually change this preference to block cookies, however, be aware that doing so may cause parts of the website to perform less effectively.

We use cookies on our website to collect aggregate data in a statistical format. We may receive information such as the number of website visitors, which sections of our website receive the most views, and the time/date a user browses the website. This information is not personally identifiable in any way and simply allows us to improve our services.

10. Queries and complaints

If you don't agree with the way we have collected or stored your personal information, you can submit a complaint outlining your reasons why and send it to us via our online contact form or email address. Once received, we will thoroughly look into the complaint and send our response as soon as possible. Should the complaint take longer than usual to investigate, we will continue to keep you up to date with the progress.

11. Changes to the Policy

We may occasionally make amendments to this Privacy Policy. We do our best to ensure that this website version is our most up-to-date Policy. You can request a copy of our current Policy by contacting us using the online contact form or by emailing us.

Disclaimer

The information included in this website has been provided by Unique Accounting & Taxation Services and is intended to inform rather than advise. We endeavour to keep this information up-to-date, accurate, and accessible to our users. While we make every effort to ensure this, unintentional errors may occur and regulations may change. We therefore make no guarantees regarding the accuracy and reliability of information declared on the website—any information you take as assurance is done so at your own risk. We have no control over external websites that may be reached from our website through external links, and it should not be implied that we agree with or endorse their conveyed views.