Privacy Policy.

Privacy Commitment

At Bartons we recognise your privacy is important to you – it is also important to us.

The Bartons Group of companies consists of:

  • Bartons Group Holdings (SA) Pty Ltd, ABN 43 668 743 735
    • BFS Group (SA) Pty Ltd, ABN 82 664 177 913, Australian Financial Services Licence No: 546006
    • Bartons Accountants & Wealth Advisors Pty Ltd, ABN 55 632 753 836,
    • Bartons Financial Services Pty Ltd, ABN 34 632 726 580, is a Corporate Authorised Representative of BFS Group (SA) Pty Ltd
    • Bartons Lending Services Pty Ltd, ABN 84 602 827 690, Australian Credit Licence No. 474466, and
    • Bartons Lending Pty Ltd, ABN 13 632 646 738, is a corporate authorised representative of Bartons Lending Services Pty Ltd.
Reference to “Bartons” in this policy include all the above companies.

Bartons is covered by and complies with the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APP) of the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, which amends the Privacy Act 1988. The following policy is a summary of our obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles.

1. Consideration of Personal Information Privacy

Open and transparent management of personal information:

Bartons recognises the importance of protecting personal information, which it may be required to collect from individuals who become associated with its businesses. For the purpose of this policy, “information” is described as:

“Personal Information” means information relating to an individual, including an opinion, which may be provided to Bartons as part of its business requirements either in material form or not, and whether true or not. Such information may personally identify an individual or make the person’s identity reasonably apparent.

“Sensitive information” means information or an opinion about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs, and philosophical beliefs, membership of a profession or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual practices, criminal record or health information.

Bartons takes its obligations under the Privacy Act seriously, and as such, will take all reasonable steps in order to comply with the Act and protect the privacy of personal and sensitive information that it holds and to manage personal information in an open and transparent way. 

Anonymity and pseudonymity

The right to anonymity and pseudonymity does not apply where we are required to authorise by or under an Australian law, or a court/tribunal order, to deal with individuals who have identified themselves or where it is impracticable for us to deal with individuals who have not identified themselves or who have used a pseudonym.

2. Collection and Use of Information

Collection of solicited personal information:

Bartons offers Chartered Accounting, Business Advisory, Wealth Management, Risk Protection and Lending solutions to clients of the business. We are bound by legislative and regulatory requirements which require us to obtain and hold detailed information that personally identifies you, and/or contains information or an opinion about you. In addition, our ability to provide you with the services outlined is dependent on us obtaining certain personal information about you, including:

  1. Details of your financial needs and objectives
  2. Details of your current financial circumstances (personal and/or business), including your assets and liabilities (both actual and potential), income, expenditure, insurance cover and superannuation
  3. Details of your investment preferences and aversion or tolerance to risk
  4. Information about your employment history, employment circumstances, family commitments and social security eligibility and
  5. Any other relevant information that you give to us for the purpose of providing you with business and/or financial recommendation

We are required pursuant to the Corporations Act 2001, the Code of Professional Conduct of Chartered Accountants Australia, Rules of Professional Conduct of the Financial Planning Association of Australia and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, to collect sufficient information to ensure appropriate advice can be given in respect of recommendations made to our clients. Failure to provide us with the required information as outlined above, the appropriateness or adequacy of advice given to you may expose you to higher risks in respect of the recommendations made.

Bartons may collect and hold information, such as, but not limited to, names of employees and proprietors of organisations, addresses, telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, email addresses, titles and professional affiliations. These details are collected for the purpose of providing business advisory and taxation services to clients. Bartons will not disclose this information to any other organisation without prior approval from the Bartons associate.

We do not use personal identifiers assigned by the Government, such as drivers licence numbers, when managing your client file within our systems.

In the event that sensitive information is collected by Bartons, it will not be used for any purpose without the express permission of the individuals.

 

Dealing with unsolicited personal information

If we receive personal information and did not solicit the information, we will, within a reasonable period after receiving the information, determine whether or not we could have collected the information under the Australian Privacy Principle as if we had solicited the information. If we could not have collected the information we will as soon as practicable but only if it is lawful and reasonable to do so, destroy the information or ensure that the information is de-identified.

 

Notification of the collection of personal information

You will be notified of the collection of personal information where it has not been provided by you and we will collect data only for the purposes for undertaking agreed business with us. You may access the information collected by you in accordance with the APP privacy policy.

We may disclose personal information to select outsourcing companies that provide us with administrative services that are located outside Australia in some circumstances. These recipients may be located in the following country(ies):

  • Philippines

We will not send personal information to recipients outside of Australia unless:

  • we have taken reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient does not breach the Act and the APPs,
  • the recipient is subject to an information privacy scheme similar to the Privacy Act; or
  • the individual has consented to the disclosure.

If you consent to your personal information being disclosed to an overseas recipient, and the recipient breaches the APPs, we will not be accountable for that breach under the Privacy Act, and you will not be able to seek redress under the Privacy Act.

 

3. Usage and Dealing with Personal Information

Use or disclosure:

If Bartons holds personal information about you that was collected for a particular purpose (the primary purpose), we will not use or disclose the information for another purpose (a secondary purpose) unless;

  • You have consented to the use or disclosure of the information; or
  • You would reasonably expect Bartons to use or disclose the information for the secondary purpose and the secondary purpose:
    • Is directly related to the primary purpose or
    • Is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal or
    • A permitted general situation exists in relation to the use or disclosure of the information by Bartons or
    • A permitted health situation exists or
    • Bartons reasonably believes that the use or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary for one or more enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body.

At Bartons we may need to use and disclose your personal information to superannuation fund trustees, insurance providers, product providers, banks/financial institutions, legal advisers, agents, contractors, service providers we engage to carry out activities on our behalf, auditors, lawyers, debt collectors, advisers, related entities and others for the purpose of giving effect to your financial advice, products, our services and the recommendations made by us. These entities may be based in another location or overseas. By providing your personal information to Bartons you consent to such disclosure where it is necessary to give effect to your financial advice and the recommendations made by us.

Your personal information may be disclosed to external contractors or temporary staff that may be hired to handle workloads during peak periods. It is a condition of our agreement with each of our external contractors that they adopt and adhere to this Privacy Policy.  Your information will be maintained in accordance with this policy, by any contractor to whom it is disclosed.  Should you have any concerns we invite you to contact us.

In the event that we propose to sell our business, we may disclose your personal information to potential purchasers for the purpose of them conducting due diligence investigations. Any such disclosure will be made in confidence and it will be a condition of that disclosure that no personal information will be used or disclosed by them. In the event that a sale of our business is affected, we may transfer your personal information to the purchaser of the business. As a client you will be advised of any such transfer.

Direct Marketing:

Bartons will not disclose sensitive information for the purpose of direct marketing unless you have given consent to do so. Bartons may use the personal information we collect from you for the purpose of direct marketing without your consent if:

  • you would reasonably expect Bartons to use or disclose the information for that purpose
  • Bartons provides a simple means for you to opt out of direct marketing communications from the organisation or
  • If you had not made such a request to the organisation

Cross-Border disclosure of personal information

Prior to disclosing personal information about you to an overseas recipient, we will take such steps as are reasonable to ensure the overseas recipient does not breach the APP (other than APP1) in relation to information.

We will not undertake any direct marketing to you if you have instructed us no to.

4. Integrity of Personal Information

Quality of personal information

Bartons will take reasonable steps in the circumstances to ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, up-to-date and complete. In addition we will ensure that the personal information used or disclosed is, having regard to the purpose of the use or disclosures, accurate, up-to-date, complete and relevant.

Storage and security of personal information

At all times we will seek to ensure that your information collected and held by us is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. At all times your personal information is treated as confidential and any sensitive information is treated as highly confidential. Much of the information we hold about you will be stored electronically in secure locations which are located in and owned by either Bartons Group of companies or our external service providers. Some information we hold about you will be stored in paper files. We use a range of physical and electronic security measures to protect the security of the personal information we hold.

Some of Bartons security measures include:

  • Computer based information is protected through the use of access passwords on each computer
  • Data is backed up daily and stored in a fireproof safe in a precast concrete storeroom
  • Firewalls to prevent the hacking of our database
  • Clauses in employment contracts requiring confidentiality
  • Appropriate security access to Bartons premises and
  • Security bins for the disposal of written information and
  • Shredder for destruction of confidential information
  • access to information systems is controlled through identity and access management;
  • employees are bound by internal information security policies and are required to keep information secure; all employees are required to complete training about information security; and
  • we regularly monitor and review our compliance with internal policies and industry best practice

In the event you are no longer a client of Bartons, any personal information which we hold about you will be maintained in a secure storage facility for a period of seven years in order to comply with legislative and professional requirements. Information will be destroyed after this time. Documents will be destroyed in a secure manner by secure shredding or other form of destruction that may be performed by a contractor external to Bartons.

5. Access to and Correction of Personal Information

Access to and correction of personal information

All personal information collected by Bartons will be retained as part of a database, which will be securely monitored and maintained by Bartons. The data will not be made available to a third party, unless it is legally required and verified, without the authority of the individual who provided the personal information.

Bartons will make available for inspection all personal information, based on the information supplied by the individual, which it holds in relation to an individual, provided reasonable notice is given. Reasonable notice is defined as 30 days from the date of request. In the event that any part of the personal information that the individual inspects is determined to be incorrect and requires alteration then Bartons will make such alteration in compliance with the corrected advice provided by the individual.

The exception of access of information is pursuant to the ‘exception to access – organisation’ clause in the (APP) of the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, which amends the Privacy Act 1988.

Bartons will take all reasonable steps to protect the security of the personal information that it holds. This includes appropriate measures to protect electronic materials and materials stored and generated in hard copy.

Where information held by Bartons is no longer required to be held, and the retention is not required by law, Bartons will destroy such personal information by a secure means.

6. Compliance

We may make changes to the way we handle personal information from time to time for any reason. If we do, we will update this Privacy Policy and the most recent version will always be available at https://www.bartons.com.au/privacy-policy/

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to make a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, you can lodge a complaint with us by:

  • mail – Attn: Responsible Manager, Bartons Group, PO Box 2062, Morphettville SA 5043
  • email – Attn: Responsible Manager, hello@bartons.com.au

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can also refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by:

7. Sources of Information

Where possible, Bartons will collect the information directly from individuals and clients. In some instances, Bartons may collect personal information from press reports or published mediums; in this case, it will endeavour to verify such details with the person concerned.

Bartons can collect information via our website such as our ‘online enquiry form’ and may introduce other ways to provide information to us such as a secure document upload facility. Information provided to us in this manner will comply with this privacy policy.

Bartons acknowledges that there is no obligation for an individual to provide it with personal information. However, if an individual chooses not to provide Bartons with personal details, it may not be able to provide the individual with a full range of services or reduce the ability of servicing the individual’s organisation direct.

Should you require further information in relation to privacy, please visit www.privacy.gov.au

8. Intellectual Property

Bartons team members are constrained by the Bartons Intellectual Property policy and relevant terms and conditions of their employment contract.