Privacy Policy

Your privacy is very important to me. I am committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information you provide to me and to protecting all personal information in my possession or control. This policy explains how personal information is collected in used in the process of providing services to my clients and how my practice complies with the requirements of federal and provincial privacy legislation.

What personal information is collected

In order to prepare tax returns, financial statements and other tax and accounting work, I may collect the following information: name, address, telephone number, social insurance number and other ID numbers, marital status, age.

I collect only that personal information required to perform professional services and operate my business, and such information is collected by fair and lawful means.

Accountability

I am accountable for all personal information in my possession or control. This includes any personal information that I received directly from clients who are individuals, or indirectly, through clients that are organizations (e.g., corporations, government entities, not-for-profit organizations). I have established and put into effect policies and procedures aimed at properly protecting personal information; educated employees, if any, regarding my privacy policy and their role and responsibilities in keeping personal information private.

If you have any questions about my privacy policies and practices, I can be reached by email at viviane@vivayalacpa.com, by phone at 613-731-1527 and by letter 156 Fanshaw Avenue, Ottawa, ON, K1H 6C9.

Purpose

I identify the purposes for which I collect personal information from my clients before it is collected. Such purposes include:

– preparation of tax returns

– preparation of financial information

– preparation of other government forms

– advisory services

The personal information I collect from clients is used and disclosed only to provide the professional services that the client has requested.

Consent

I obtain consent before collecting, using or disclosing your personal information. When you provide me with personal information to complete tax returns, financial statements and other services, you are consenting to the collection and use of that information for the purposes of providing those services.

Disclosure and Retention of Information

I use or disclose personal information only for purposes for which it has consent, or as required by law.  I retain personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill those purposes.

As required by professional standards, rules of professional conduct and regulation, I document the work I perform performs in records, commonly called working paper files. Such files may include personal information obtained from a client.

Working paper files and other files containing, for example, copies of personal tax returns are retained for the time period required by law and regulation.

The personal information collected from a client during the course of a professional service engagement may be 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 regulation, or contract have the right of access to the practice’s files for inspection purposes.

I regularly and systematically destroy, erase, or make anonymous personal information no longer required to fulfill the identified collection purposes, and no longer required by laws and regulations.

Accuracy

I endeavour to keep accurate, complete, and up-to-date, personal information in my possession or control, to the extent required to meet the purposes for which it was collected.

Individual clients are encouraged to contact me to update their personal information.

Safeguards

I protect the privacy of personal information in my possession or control by using security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

Physical security (e.g., restricted access, locked filing cabinets) is maintained over personal information stored in hard copy form. Employees, if any, are authorized to access personal information based on client assignment and quality control responsibilities.

Authentication is used to prevent unauthorized access to personal information stored electronically. Encryption is used to prevent unauthorized access to personal information received or sent over the Internet.

For files and other materials containing personal information entrusted to a third party service provider (e.g., a provider of paper based or electronic file storage), I obtain appropriate assurance to affirm that the level of protection of personal information by the third party is equivalent to that of the practice.

Requests

I respond on a timely basis to requests from clients about their personal information which I possess or control.

Individual clients of my practice have the right to contact me to obtain access to their personal information. Similarly, authorized officers or employees of organizations that are clients of the practice have the right to contact me to obtain access to personal information provided by that client. In certain situations, however, I may not be able to give clients access to all their personal information. I will explain the reasons why access must be denied and any recourse the client may have, except where prohibited by law.

Questions

I will investigate and respond to clients’ complaints and questions relating to privacy. Please email me at viviane@vivayalacpa.com if you have any questions or complaints.