Your privacy is important to us

Advantage One is committed to providing you with the highest levels of client service. This includes protecting your privacy. From 21 December 2001, Advantage One is bound by amendments to the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988, which set out a number of principles concerning the protection of your personal information. This is outlined in our Privacy Policy and Collection Statement below.

This statement, called Advantage One Privacy Policy and Collection Statement, sets out important information about privacy protections which we extend to your personal information. It relates to personal information that you provide to us.

Advantage One will update this Privacy Statement as required. For example, as we update and improve our services, new features may require modifications to this statement. Any changes will be published so that you are always aware of the sort of information collected, how the information may be used, and under what circumstances it may be disclosed by Advantage One.

Please note that if at any time Advantage One is required by law to release information about you or your organisation, Advantage One must cooperate fully. This Privacy Policy does not apply to acts or practices of Advantage One that are directly related to employee records of current or former employees. For more detail on Advantage One's approach to privacy generally, please contact our Privacy Manager (details below).

What personal information does Advantage One collect?

Personal Information is any information or opinion from which an individual's identity may be ascertained. Advantage One only collects information that is necessary to assist us in providing our services. We do not collect personal information unless we first ask you for it.

Examples of types of information we collect include:

1. the individual's or entity's identity and contact details;
2. financial information;
3. share portfolio information;
4. creditor information; and
5. information as required by taxation law.

How does Advantage One collect information?

Advantage One collects information about you (individuals and entities) the Information in a number of different ways including:

a) Advantage One collects information from you when you engage our firm so that we may provide you with financial planning / tax consulting / business services / audit / information technology / business recovery and insolvency / human resources / occupational health and safety / corporate secretarial services;

b) Advantage One collects information from its external sources with prior consent from you. Our external sources include: Australian Security and Investments Commission (ASIC), Fund Managers, Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Advantage One ensures that external sources are permitted under the National Privacy Principles to disclose the information to Advantage One, or has received the prior consent from the individual to release the information to Advantage One.

Consent is obtained from you when we are appointed by you as your:

• tax agent;
• financial planner;
• registered office for a company;
• company liquidator; or
• Agent for other purposes (for example power of attorney). "Our appointment is confirmed in writing to you."

c) When you e-mail us:

• we will only use your e-mail address for the purpose for which you provided it;
• it will not be added to a commercially available mailing list; and
• we will not disclose it without your consent.

d) Other personal information collected by us, for example through the use of an online form, will only:

• be collected by lawful and fair means;
• be used for a lawful purpose;
• be collected with your consent;
• the purpose for collection should be clear and explicit; and
• we ensure that any information collected is collected in accordance with the National Privacy Principles.

What may happen if you do not provide Advantage One with information?

If you do not provide us with the information we request, our ability to provide our high standard of service may be compromised.

• Advantage One's advice may be inaccurate or incomplete;
• Advantage One may be unable to provide certain services to the individual concerned;
• The provision of (some of) Advantage One's services to the individual may be delayed; and/or
• In certain circumstances failure to provide some information may result in documents being submitted to the ATO, ASIC or other statutory bodies late and possibly incurring penalties.

Why does Advantage One collect the information and how is your information used by Advantage One?

Advantage One collects the Information to provide you with a specific service. We may use the Information you provide us for a number of purposes such as for:

• ATO reporting requirements;
• managing your financial portfolio;
• ASIC reporting requirements;
• provide other services you require;
• administer and manage those services, including charging, billing and collecting debts;
• inform you of ways the services provided to you could be improved;
• advising clients of functions/product launches; * research and develop our services; and
• maintain and develop our business systems and infrastructure.

Your personal information is also collected to promote and market to you other services which we consider may be of interest to you. Before we do so, we will provide you with an opportunity to give us permission to send you marketing or promotional material, via an opt-in mechanism. That is, we will send you such material only if you elect to receive it or if it is provided to you in response to your request. You may also notify us at any time that you do not wish to receive marketing or promotional material by contacting our Privacy Manager (details below).

Advantage One does not collect sensitive information such as an individual's religion; race; political opinion; membership of a political association; religious beliefs or affiliations; sexual preferences or practices; criminal records; or health information. There may be exemptions to this rule, such as where collection is required by law.

Disclosure of personal information

Advantage One will not sell, exchange, trade or otherwise supply to third parties any personal information obtained from you without your prior consent.

Advantage One, with prior consent, discloses information about you to various organisations and/or parties in order to fulfill our client services. These organisations include for example:

• Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
• Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
• Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) Quality Control
• Banking and financial institutions
• Superannuation authorities
• Fund Manager
• Government and statutory bodies
• Auditors

When your personal information is no longer used by Advantage One as set out above, we will destroy or permanently de-identify personal information. Our ability to destroy information is limited by legislative requirement to retain records for a period of time.

How will Advantage One keep your personal information secure?

Advantage One intends to protect the quality and integrity of personal information kept about you. Advantage One has implemented appropriate industry standard techniques, technological and organisational measures to protect against loss, misuse and/or alteration of the Information under our control.

These measures include:

• Server Encryption and site monitoring
• Computer Firewalls & intrusion detection
• Computer password authentication
• Offsite data backup
• Audit trail of access to client data
• Confidentiality clauses in employment agreements
• Bound by the Rules of Ethical Conduct REC4 of the ICAA
• Computer, Internet and Email Policy
• 24 Hour Building Security
• Restricted access to firm premises
• Unique client identifiers

Advantage One will review security arrangements from time to time as we deem appropriate. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any personal information transmitted via our website is stored securely. Transmissions sent to or from our website are routinely monitored for quality control and systems administration. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from our online products or services. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security.

Other web sites that may be accessed through our site may collect personally identifiable information about you.

The information practices of those third-party web sites linked to Advantage One are not covered by this privacy statement. Cookies are pieces of information that a web site can transfer to an individual's computer hard drive for record keeping. Cookies can make web sites easier to use by storing information about your preferences on a particular web site. The information remains on your computer after the Internet session finishes. Parts of the Advantage One web site may use cookies to store basic statistical data. The information collected may be used by Advantage One to help us improve the service by understanding how it is used. There is no attempt made to identify individual users in any way. On each use, a session cookie may be temporarily placed on your computer, which is used to maintain navigation information during your site visit. These session cookies are automatically deleted from your computer at the end of each Internet session. Most Internet browsers are pre-set to accept cookies. If you prefer not to receive cookies, you can adjust your Internet browser to refuse cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used.

Advice about the Internet and personal information can be found on the Privacy Commissioner's web site, http://www.privacy.gov.au/

Help us to ensure we hold accurate information

Advantage One takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, the accuracy of the information we hold depends to a large extent on the information you provide. You have a right to access your personal information (subject to the Act), subject to some exceptions allowed by law. If you would like to do so, please let us know by contacting your advisor or our Privacy Manager. You may be required to put your request in writing for security reasons. We will not charge you for responding to such a request, unless we incur costs in providing the information.

How to contact us

Any complaints regarding a possible breach of privacy, or if you have any questions or feedback in relation to privacy, contact Tony Martin our Privacy Manager.

Phone: + 61 8 8333 1944
Fax: + 61 8 8333 1911
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: http://www.advantageone.com.au