PRIVACY POLICY

CMR Wong Chartered Professional Accountant (the “Firm”) has a responsibility to protect personal information regarding its clients and employees. The Firm believes protecting your privacy is important and has developed a privacy policy designed to meet the needs of its clients and employees and conform to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”). This policy covers the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by the Firm.

The Rules of Professional Conduct and related Council Interpretations of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario require that partners and staff maintain the confidentiality of client and former client information, as well as the confidentiality of Firm information, except in rare and very specific circumstances.

The Rules of Professional Conduct of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario also require that partners and staff not use confidential information for personal advantage, for the advantage of a third party or to the disadvantage of a client, former client or the Firm, unless consent has been obtained from the client, former client or the Firm.

Personal Information

Personal information includes any factual or subjective information, recorded or not, about an identifiable individual.

This includes information in any form, such as:

1.    Age, name, social insurance number, income;
2.    Surveys, evaluations, comments, disciplinary actions: and
3.    Employee files, credit records, loan records, medical information, existence of a dispute with a client, intentions (for example to acquire goods or services, or change jobs).

Personal information does not include the name, title, business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization.

Accountability

The Firm is accountable for all personal information in its possession, including any personal information disclosed to third parties for processing or other administrative functions. The Firm does engage the services of third parties to provide products and services such as email storage, document storage, payroll processing, and credit and debit card processing.  The Firm has done its research to find the services of third parties that are reputable and has high standards on protecting personal information.  Any third party’s use must adhere to this privacy policy or be allowed by the legislation.

The Firm is accountable for this privacy policy and enforcement. The Firm has or will train all staff on privacy issues.

Identifying Purposes

The Firm shall identify the purpose for which personal information is collected before collecting it.  The Firm collects personal information only for the following reasons:

1.    To assist in the preparation of your financial statements.
2.    To prepare your taxation and other returns as required by government and for other regulatory purposes.
3.    To advise you on personal tax planning, business and succession planning, valuation and other business and personal advisory services.
4.    To understand your needs and recommend products and services accordingly.
5.    To meet legal and regulatory requirements.

Log Files

As is true of a number of websites, the Firm uses a third-party tracking service called Google Analytics that uses cookies to track non-personally identifiable information about visitors to our site in the aggregate. Information tracked includes the search engine used by a visitor, keyword input by a visitor, and search campaign associated with a visitor. The information is captured for marketing and customer segmentation purposes.

The Firm uses this information, which does not identify individual users’, to analyze trends, to administer the site, to track users’ movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We do not link this automatically-collected data to personally identifiable information.

Cookies

Cookies are files that your web browser places on your computer’s hard drive and are used to tell us whether you have visited our website previously. We issue a session cookie only to record encrypted authentication information for the duration of a specific session and to make it easier for you to navigate our site. The session cookie includes the username of the user and is not linked to personally identifiable information.

Consent

The Firm shall obtain consent (from clients by means of an engagement letter and from staff through an employment agreement) for all personal information collected, used or disclosed by the Firm unless such collection or use is inappropriate, or permitted by law. With respect to personal information provided for the preparation of your taxation and other returns, the Firm will ask for your consent prior to transmitting such information to the appropriate governmental or regulatory authorities.

You have the right to refuse or to withdraw your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information at any time. In some cases, your refusal or withdrawal may prohibit or adversely affect the completion of the professional engagement. The Firm will advise you if those circumstances arise.

Limiting Collection

Personal information collected shall be limited to information that is necessary for the purposes identified by The Firm and be collected by fair and lawful means.

Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention

Personal information collected by the Firm shall not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required or permitted by law. Personal information shall be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes. The Firm’s commitment to protecting your personal information extends beyond the organization. Under no circumstances will the Firm sell client information to anyone, nor will the Firm share client information with organizations that might solicit you regarding their products or services. Any and all information provided will be used solely within the realm of our direct and mutual business requirements.

Accuracy

Personal information shall be as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it is to be used. The Firm will use its best efforts to keep your information up-to-date.

The Firm is committed to maintaining accurate information and we urge you to notify us promptly of any changes in your personal information such as: name, residential address, e-mail address, telephone number and fax number.

Safeguards

The Firm shall safeguard your information against unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. The Firm will use appropriate technology and maintain high security standards to ensure the protection of your information. While the Firm employs up to date technology to protect your personal information when it is transmitted electronically, you should be aware that no electronic transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Openness

The Firm shall make information available, to its clients and employees, about the policies and practices that apply to the management of their information.

Individual Access

Upon request, an individual shall be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of their information, and shall be given access to it. An individual will be given reasonable access to their information and may correct any personal information if its accuracy and completeness is challenged and found to be deficient.

Challenging Compliance

An individual shall be able to challenge compliance with the above privacy principles. The Firm shall investigate all complaints in a timely manner.

Complaints regarding the firm’s compliance with its Privacy Policy should be submitted in writing to the firm’s Privacy Officer. The firm’s Privacy Officer will ensure that the compliant is investigated and will report the results, in most cases, within 30 days.

Privacy Officer: Ricky Wong, CPA
CMR Wong Chartered Professional Accountant
Unit 12, 1200 Speers Road, Oakville, ON L6L 2X4