privacy

Introduction:

J. Morash & Company Inc., Chartered Accountants, (The Firm) is committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information provided by its clients and protecting all personal information in its possession or control. The Privacy Policy sets out the principles and procedures that the firm follows in meeting its privacy commitments to its clients and complying with the requirements of federal and provincial privacy legislation.

The following is an outline of the ten underlying Principles in the Personal Information and Electronics Documents Act (PIPEDA)

 

Principle #1 Accountability

• The firm is accountable for all personal information in its possession or control. This includes any personal information that the firm received directly from clients who are individuals, or indirectly, through clients that are organizations such as corporations, government entities or not-for-profit organizations.
• The firm has:
  • Established and put into effect policies and procedures aimed at properly protecting personal information;
  • Educated its partners and employees regarding its privacy policy and their role and responsibilities in keeping personal information private

 

Principle #2 Identifying Purposes

• The firm collects personal information from our clients for the following reasons:
  • To provide professional services to our clients and to use/disclose the information for any purpose related to the filing of tax returns and the provision of requested products and services;
  • To provide information to anyone working with or for the firm as needed for the provision of accounting related services;
  • To collect debts owed to the firm
  • To comply with legal and regulatory requirements

 

Principle #3 Consent

• We will not collect, use or disclose your personal information without your consent except in the following situations:
  • The firm is collecting a debt
  • The firm is obtaining legal advice
• Such personal information could include:
  • Home and business addresses;
  • Home and business telephone numbers;
  • Personal identification numbers (e.g. social insurance number, credit card numbers);
  • Financial Information (credit ratings, payroll information, personal indebtedness);
  • Personnel information;
  • Other personal information

 

Principle #4 Limiting Collection

• The firm collects only that personal information required to perform its professional services and operate its business, and such information is collected by fair and lawful means

 

Principle #5 Limited Use, Disclosure and Retention

• The firm uses or discloses personal information only for purposes for which it has consent, or as required by law. The firm retains personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill those purposes.
• As required by professional standard, rules of professional conduct and regulations, the firm documents the work it performs in records, commonly called working paper file. Such file may include personal information obtained from a client.
• Working paper files and other files containing, for example, copies of personal or corporate tax returns are retained for the time period required by law and regulation or indefinitely for active clients.
• The personal information collected from a client during the course of a professional service engagement may be:
  • Shared with the firm’s personnel participating in such engagement;
  • Disclosed to partners and employees within the firm to the extent required to assess compliance with applicable professional standards and rules of professional conduct, and the firm’s policies, including providing quality control reviews of work performed;
  • Provided to external professional practice inspectors (e.g. representatives of the Canadian Public Accountability Board, or a provincial institute of Chartered Accountants), who by law, professional regulations, or contact, have the right of access to the firm’s files for inspections purposes

 

Principle #6 Accuracy

• The firm endeavors to keep accurate, complete and up-to-date, personal information in it’s possession or control, to the extent required to meet the purposes for which it was collected
• Individual clients are encouraged to contact the firm to update their personal information

 

Principle #7 Safeguards

• The firm protects the privacy of personal information in its possession or control by using security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information

 

Principle #8 Openness

• The firm is open about the procedures it uses to manage personal information.
• Up-to-date information on the firm’s privacy policy can be obtained from the firm

 

Principle #9 Individual Access

• The firm responds on a timely basis to requests from clients about their personal information which the firm possesses or controls
• Individual clients have the right to contact the firm to obtain access to their information. Similarly, authorized officers or employees of organizations that are clients of the firm have the right to contact the firm to obtain access to personal information provided by the client. In certain situations, however, the firm may not be able to give clients access to all their personal information. The firm will explain the reasons why access must be denied and any recourse the client may have, except where prohibited by law.

 

Principle #10 Challenging Compliance

• The firm has policies and procedures to receive, investigate and respond to clients’ complaints and questions relating to privacy
• To challenge the firm’s compliance with its Privacy Policy, clients are asked to provide an email to the firm. The firm will ensure that a complete investigation of the client complaint is undertaken and will report the results of this investigation to the client, in most cases, within 30 days.

 

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