Privacy Policy

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. a)  Humphries Associates Limited (“Humphries Associates”) complies with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 (the Act), when dealing with personal information.  Personal information is information about an identifiable individual (a natural person).
  3. b) We collect and store personal information for the purpose of conducting our business of providing accounting, taxation and business advisory services.  We also collect and store personal information to market our services and to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including in relation to our privacy and anti-money laundering compliance obligations.
  4. c) Depending on the nature of your engagement with Humphries Associates and the services required, the personal information we will collect from you may include:
  • Name, date of birth, address and contact details
  • Occupation (including employment history)
  • Education and qualification
  • Payment details and billing information
  • Government-issued identification information (such as drivers licence and passport)
  • Financial information (such as IRD number, income, salary and assets)
  1. d) This policy sets out how we will collect, use, store, protect and disclose your personal information.  We also explain your rights to access and correct your personal information. 
This policy does not limit or exclude any of your rights under the Act.  If you wish to seek further information on the Act, see www.privacy.org.nz.
  1. e) We regard privacy as an important part of our relationship with our customers.  The following privacy policy applies to all users of Humphries Associates’ services and visitors to our website.
  1. COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION
  2. a) In order to access and use the Humphries Associates website or services, we may require personal information from you and other sources in order to provide the best service possible.  We generally collect the personal information directly from you, except where third parties provide it to us with your authority or the information is publicly available.  Providing personal information is optional, however if you choose not to supply personal information to us on request, it may affect our ability to provide you with our services or to meet our legal obligations.  
  3. b) Humphries Associates has engaged third party agents to assist with its Customer Due Diligence (CDD) requirements under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009.  Personal information may be collected by our third party agents from you directly in accordance with all applicable laws and the terms of this policy.  If we, or our third-party agents are unable to obtain the requested information from you, or if you are unwilling to provide that information, we may be unable to provide our services to you.
  1. STORAGE OF COLLECTED INFORMATION
  2. a) The security of your personal information is important to us.  We are required to take reasonable care to ensure that personal information is protected against loss, misuse or unauthorised disclosure.  We will therefore not keep personal information for longer than is necessary for the purpose of which it was collected.
  3. b) We hold and store limited hard copies (on paper) of personal information on site at our physical business premises.  When provision of the required services is completed, all records which need to be retained are scanned digitally and any other records are returned to you.  All digital records are stored and processed by our cloud services provider, which is a third party.  We do not use off-site facilities to store hard copies of any records.
  4. c) All correspondence may also be stored, particularly in regard to sales, support and accounts, including email, financial information and letters.
  5. d) When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card numbers) on our website, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).  When Credit Card details are collected, we simply pass them on in order to be processed as required.  We never permanently store complete Credit Card details.
  6. e) We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.
  1. ACCURACY AND ACCESS TO COLLECTED INFORMATION
You are encouraged to review, correct, and update personal information so that it is maintained as completely, accurately and as up-to-date possible.  Under most circumstances you have the right to reasonable access to personal information we hold and to request that your personal information be updated or corrected.  If your personal information changes, or if you no longer desire our services, you may correct, update, delete or deactivate it by emailing us at ad***@hu*************.nz. 
  1. COMMUNICATIONS 
  2. a) Humphries Associates uses personal information for essential communications with you, such as emails, accounts information and critical service details in order to provide our services or respond to your enquiries.  We may also use this information for the purpose of marketing and promotional emails.  If at any time you do not wish to receive such correspondence, you can request to be removed from any mailing lists by emailing us at ad***@hu*************.nz or by opting out.
  3. b) Humphries Associates is not liable for any security or privacy breach or hacking that occurs as a consequence of your failure to use systems and online procedures that are secure and authenticated when communicating information to Humphries Associates.  You play an important role in protecting your information by taking basic precautions to protect your computer and data.  You should keep your computer secure, only deal online with people and organisations you know and trust, and check that your personal information travels across the internet on secure connections.  There are many resources about computer security (such as websites, books, and magazines) that can help guide you on what security precautions are appropriate for your situation.
  1. THIRD PARTIES
  2. a) Humphries Associates may at its discretion use third parties to provide essential services on its website or for its business processes.  We may disclose your personal information as necessary to third parties who:
  • Undertake checks that are necessary under law on our behalf (including for CDD)
  • Perform functions and provide services on our behalf (data storage providers, IT service providers and our professional advisors)
  • Government departments (including Inland Revenue Department) to perform services on your behalf and comply with our legal obligations.
  • Debt collection agencies recovering debts on our behalf.
  1. b) We may share your personal information with third parties based outside New Zealand.  This means your personal information may be processed in an overseas country which does not provide the same level of protection to personal information as in New Zealand.
  2. c) Humphries Associates may need certain information to complete the services agreed to.  As already stated, we protect our information when collecting, using, and storing it.  There may be occasions when we need additional information from third parties such as solicitors, bankers, stock and station agents, or other organisations, in order to complete the services agreed to.  You authorise us to collect and to disclose information relating to your affairs direct from such third parties as you specifically authorise, either verbally or in writing.
  3. d) We suggest you review the privacy policy of any third parties you specifically authorise so you can understand how your personal information will be handled by the particular third parties.
  4. e) Humphries Associates will not share or disclose your personal information with third parties for any purpose other than to provide professional services to you and to comply with applicable laws and regulations. 
In addition to this, Humphries Associates , as members of Chartered AccountantsTM Australia and New Zealand, are subject to and bound by the rules and procedures of the organisation, so work and files are subject to practice review rules and requirements.  Compliance with professional rules and standards is monitored.  These procedures may require us to disclose part or all of your personal information to Chartered AccountantsTM Australia & New Zealand, its reviewers and/or disciplinary bodies.  You therefore acknowledge and agree to disclosure of files and information made for these purposes.  We assure you that the same ethical standards regarding confidentiality that we adhere to will apply in this circumstance as well as similar data protection safeguards as those under the Act.
  1. DISCLOSURE
We may be required to disclose your personal information for the purpose of complying with our legal obligations (such as in response to requests by government or law enforcement agencies, courts, tribunals and regulatory authorities), responding to your questions in relation to our services and to undertake the services you have engaged us to provide to you, or to comply with any data privacy or security audits or to investigate or respond to a complaint or security threat.  We will not disclose personal information, except in accordance with the law and to anyone else whom you authorise us to disclose it.
  1. LINKS
Links on the Humphries Associates website to websites of external entities are provided for your information and convenience and not covered by this policy.  The terms and conditions set out in this privacy policy only cover the domain names directly maintained by Humphries Associates.  We suggest you review any external site’s privacy policy before you provide personal information so you can understand how your personal information will be handled by external entities.
  1. RETENTION OF RECORDS
We will store accounting records that we hold on your behalf for a period of 7 years after the applicable balance date.  At the end of that period, unless you advise us requesting they be forwarded to you, the records will be destroyed using a secure document destruction method.  We otherwise will not keep personal information for longer than is necessary for the purpose of which it was collected or unless required by law.
  1. CHANGES TO PRIVACY POLICY
Any changes to our privacy policy will be updated on our website.  We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently.  
  1. USE OF ‘COOKIES’
Some Humphries Associates web pages use ‘cookies’, which are small files that may be placed on your hard disk for record-keeping purposes.  A cookie allows us to remember who you are.  Cookies can make your subsequent visits to the web page simpler and more seamless.  You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether  or not to accept it. (However, by not accepting cookies, some web pages may not display properly or you may not be permitted to access certain information.)  Our website also uses Google Analytics to help us better understand how visitors are engaging with our website.  The Google website contains further information about analytics and a copy of Google’s privacy policy.
  1. COMPLAINTS
If you have any concerns, questions or comments about our privacy practices and the way in which we collect, store and use your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer:  Michael Humphries at mi*****@hu*************.nz. 
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