David B.
Robinson, CPA’s Privacy Policy Statement
This statement describes David B. Robinson,
CPA’s privacy policy and the practices that
will be followed to respect the privacy of individuals who deal with David B. Robinson, CPA. Your privacy is important to us, and
maintaining your trust and confidence is one of our highest priorities. We
respect your right to keep your personal information confidential and
understand your desire to avoid unwanted marketing solicitations and invasions
of your privacy. Federal and State laws
requires us (along with other companies, including banks, brokerage houses, and
other financial institutions) to disclose our Privacy Policy to you which is
contained in the balance of this document.
We have prepared this policy to explain what types of information we
collect, how we use it, under what circumstances we may share it, and other
important information. This policy covers all the entities and activities
controlled by David B. Robinson, CPA (hereinafter referred to as “DBR”).
Under no circumstance do we provide personal information to non-DBR entities
for the purpose of independent telemarketing or direct mail marketing of any
product or service of these companies.
In fact, we do not disclose any information except in the limited
situations described in this document.
This notice takes effect December 25, 2004 and will remain in effect until we
replace or revise it. If we change our
privacy policy and practices, we will prepare written notice as well as post it
on our website. We reserve the right to
change our privacy practices and the terms of this notice at any time, provided
such changes are permitted by applicable law.
You may request a copy of our privacy policy notice at any time. For more information about our privacy
practices, or for additional copies of this notice, please contact us using the
information listed at the end of this notice.
If you received this notice at our Internet website or by electronic
mail, you are entitled to receive this notice in written form if you contact us
using the information listed at the end of this notice.
The type of information collected by David B.
Robinson, CPA (DBR) regarding individuals and businesses generally
includes the following: names, addresses
(including email addresses), telephone and facsimile numbers, date of birth,
occupation, details about an individual’s family (including spouse and
children’s names, birthdays and genders) and financial details and
concerns. Through our collection of this
information, information about gender, education, medical history, social
preferences and membership in professional, political and/or social
associations/interests may come to be known by us and this is discussed in
additional detail in the following paragraph.
The information held by DBR may come from a
number of sources including interviews and phone calls with you, publicly
available sources, letters and/or e-mails to/from you, tax returns, organizers,
tax return source documents, financial history questionnaires and receipts,
books of record and, for example, cancelled checks, receipts and bank
statements. We collect
personal information about you, but only when that information is provided by
you or is obtained by us with your authorization or through direct interaction
with you. We use all information that we gather to prepare your income tax
returns and may also use it to provide various tax, consulting and financial
planning services to you at your request.
Some information DBR holds may be
“Sensitive Information”
Because the data necessary to prepare tax returns and to provide
various tax, consulting and financial planning services is obviously very
personal and highly confidential, sensitive information will obviously come to
our attention and knowledge. “Sensitive
Information” is information or an opinion about an individual’s race or ethnic
origin, gender, education, medical history, social and political opinions,
membership in political associations, religious beliefs and affiliations,
philosophical beliefs, memberships in professional or trade associations or
trade unions, sexual preferences or practices and/or criminal records. DBR will only receive sensitive information with the
individual’s consent through direct discussion or document examination. DBR will not
overtly collect personal information unless the information is necessary for
one or more of its functions or activities. DBR will
collect the personal information only by lawful and fair means and not in an
unreasonably intrusive way. Whenever DBR collects
personal information about an individual, DBR will
take reasonable steps to ensure that the individual is aware of the identity of
DBR, the fact that he or she is able to gain access
to the information and the purpose for which the information is collected. DBR cannot, however, be held responsible for
inadvertently learning sensitive information through discussions that are
initiated by you or documents presented to us by you but will, of course, treat
such information in the same manner as all other information that we know about
you.
The Purposes for which DBR uses this
Information
The purposes for which DBR uses personal
information collected includes the following:
to open and administer client accounts, to provide financial services to
clients, to administer and supervise employees and independent contractors of
our firm, for marketing and sales initiatives such as DBR
publications, brochures, newsletters and business and personal networking
events, to promote events in the community with which DBR is associated, for
billing and collection activities and related data processing and to consider
potential employee’s applications for employment by the Firm.
We do not disclose personal information about our clients or former
clients to anyone. However, to the extent permitted by law and any applicable
state Codes of Professional Conduct, certain nonpublic information about you
may be disclosed in the following specific situations:
1.
To comply with a validly
issued and enforceable subpoena, warrant or summons.
2. In the course of
a review of our firm's practices under the authorization of a state or national
licensing board, or as necessary to properly respond to an inquiry or complaint
from such a licensing board or organization.
3. As a part of any
actual or threatened legal proceedings or alternative dispute resolution proceedings
either initiated by or against us, provided we disclose only the information
necessary to file, pursue, or defend against the lawsuit or action but to
take reasonable precautions to ensure that the information disclosed does
not become a matter of public record.
5. In conjunction with the normal due diligence process of any
merger, provided that we take appropriate precautions (for example, through a
written confidentiality agreement) so the prospective merger partner does not
disclose information obtained in the course of the process.
6. To report information related to victims of abuse, neglect or
domestic violence
7. To assist law enforcement or public health officials avert a
serious threat to the health or safety of you or any other person.
8. Information may be disclosed to lawfully established executors or
administrators to enable them to carry out their lawful duties.
As a general rule, DBR will not use or
disclose personal information about an individual other than for its primary
purpose of collection, unless the individual has consented to the use or
disclosure. DBR will use the information it gathers
for our own direct marketing purposes only where it is impractical for DBR to seek the individual’s consent before that particular
use. DBR will
not charge an individual for giving consideration to a request not to receive
direct marketing communications if the individual makes a request not to
receive direct marketing communications.
DBR will take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal
information it collects, uses or discloses is
accurate, complete and up-to-date. DBR will take reasonable steps to protect the personal
information it holds from misuse and loss and from unauthorized access,
modification or disclosure. DBR will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently
de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed.
Openness, Access and Correction
DBR employees and professional independent contractors are
permitted to access the information they need to perform their jobs. We
maintain strict internal policies against unauthorized disclosure or use of
client information. Information held by any DBR related entity is available to
other members of the DBR family of entities for authorized purposes. DBR has set out in
this document its policies on management of personal information and will make
this document available to anyone who asks for it. On request by a person or entity, DBR will take reasonable steps to let the requestor know,
generally, what sort of personal information we hold, for what purposes, and
how we collect, hold, use and disclose that information. As a general rule, DBR
will, on request by an individual or business, provide them with access to
their personal or business information, however DBR may choose not to provide individuals or businesses
with access to such information. This would include cases where providing
access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals or
businesses, the request for access is frivolous or vexatious, the information
relates to anticipated or existing legal proceedings and would not be discoverable
in those proceedings, providing access would reveal the intentions of DBR in relation to negotiations with the individual in such
a way as to prejudice those negotiations, providing access would be unlawful,
providing access would be likely to prejudice an investigation of possible
unlawful activity or providing access would be likely to prejudice activities
which are carried out by DBR on behalf of an
enforcement body. DBR will impose a charge to cover
the cost of verifying and complying with all requests for information,
including compliance with a validly issued and enforceable subpoena or summons and for
locating, retrieving, reviewing, couriering and copying any material
requested. The charge will be levied on
the client whose records we are asked to produce but we will reasonably
cooperate in assisting the client in recovering such costs from the requesting
party if that party is not the client but, ultimately the responsibility for
information production will always remain with our client and such charges are
always expected to be paid promptly.
DBR will not adopt a government agency identifier (such as a
tax file number or driver’s license number) as its identifier of an individual.
Wherever it is lawful and practical, DBR will allow
individuals the option of not identifying themselves when entering into
transactions or discussions with us.
DBR will only transfer personal information about an
individual to a third party who is in a foreign country in specified
circumstances. This would include where the individual consents to the transfer
or where DBR has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the information
that it has transferred will not be held, used or disclosed by the recipient of
the information inconsistently with our privacy policy.
Confidentiality and Security of Non-Public Information
Except as otherwise described in this notice, we restrict access
to nonpublic personal information about you to employees and professional
independent contractors of our firm and other parties who must use that
information to provide our services to you. Their right to further disclose and
use the information is limited by the policies of our firm, applicable law, our
Code of Professional Conduct, and nondisclosure agreements where appropriate.
We also maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards in compliance
with applicable laws and regulations to guard your personal information from
unauthorized access, alteration, or premature destruction.
How can an Individual Complain about Possible Breaches of Privacy by DBR?
A complaint by an individual regarding an alleged breach of
privacy by DBR should be forwarded in writing by
certified mail to the following address:
Privacy Complaints Officer, David B. Robinson, CPA, Post
Office