Clarke Partners Tax and Accounting Incorporated is committed to providing transparency to its clients with respect to its practices in handling your personal information. This Privacy Policy will help you better understand how we protect, collect, use and disclose your personal information and your right to access and correct your information. Clarke Partners is governed by the Canada PIPEDA and Ontario FIPPA.
In this Privacy Policy, references to “Clarke Partners”, “CP”, “us”, “we”, “our” or similar terms means Clarke Partners Tax and Accounting Incorporated.
What Information We Collect and Why
We ask our clients to provide us with all information relevant to the engagement, including personal information about our clients and, at times, about other individuals with whom our clients transact. Such data is fundamental to the preparation of tax returns, financial reports, and many of the other services we provide.
We may obtain your express consent in writing, through electronic means, or verbally. Your consent may also be implied by an action that you have taken. You can always refuse or withdraw your consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information. Doing so may, in some cases, mean that we will be unable to provide you with the service that you have requested. We always endeavor to collect personal information directly from the person to whom the information pertains, where practical, and then if necessary, will collect personal information from other sources. Should we need to collect information about individuals other than our clients, this will be done in accordance with the provisions of PIPEDA and FIPPA. We will make a reasonable effort to ensure that the personal information we collect, use, and distribute is accurate and complete.
By engaging Clarke Partners to provide services, we consider an individual to have given our us consent for the collection, use, and distribution of that individual’s personal information. Once this consent has been obtained, we will continue to collect, use, and disclose personal information for the purpose of providing the agreed-upon services without obtaining further written or verbal consent to do so.
Disclosure of Personal Information
Clarke Partners will maintain the strictest confidence with respect to any client’s or former client’s information. Accordingly, confidential client information will not, without client consent, be disclosed to any individuals at CP beyond those who are engaged in providing services to the client. Further, confidential client information will not, without client consent, be disclosed to any third party, except as where required by law.
Security of Information
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect.
We restrict internal physical and electronic access to personal information to only those at CP who need to access it in order to serve you. Paper files are secured in a locked cabinet when not in use. Digital files are stored on site on various password protected, encrypted electronic drives. Unauthorized access to our computer records is prevented through IT infrastructure, while internal network access is restricted to those authorized, who possess unique usernames and passwords. Online communication with clients is secured through an encrypted online portal and/or password protected documents.
We retain personal information for as long as required for the efficient delivery of service to our clients, and to comply with the record-keeping requirements of the various governmental authorities. When no longer required, all papers will be shredded and digital files deleted.
Information Access
It is important that the personal information we have is accurate, complete and up to date. You are encouraged to inform us when there are any changes to your information, or you discover an inaccuracy.
You may also, at any time, contact our Privacy Officer to request access to your personal information, verify its accuracy and, if required, correct it. Clarke Partners will provide you with access to your personal information except where we are prohibited by law from doing so or are permitted by law to restrict your access and have legitimate reasons for doing so.
The contact information for our Privacy Officer is as follows: privacy@clarkepartners.ca
In addition, as noted above, you can refuse to provide personal information to us and you may also at any time, on reasonable notice to us, in person or via telephone or e-mail,
withdraw your consent to the collection, use or disclosure of any of your personal information, unless it is required to provide you with the services
you have requested or to provide you with necessary information relating to your accounts with us or as required by law.
Clarke Partners is accountable for our compliance with this Privacy Policy and applicable privacy legislation. We regularly monitor our security measures and procedures to ensure that they are effective and properly administered. Our Privacy Officer is accountable for overseeing compliance with this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, our practices, or have a complaint or concern, please contact our Privacy Officer. Clarke Partners will promptly investigate all complaints and if found justified, will take appropriate measures including amending its policies and practices.
January 2023
