Privacy Notice

Haines & Co. Chartered Accountants (Haines) is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy rights.  We comply with the European General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR (EU 2016/679) and always apply best practices and standards to our handling of your data.

In this notice we will explain how we look after your personal data, detail your privacy rights and explain the choices you have about how we user your information.

Updates to this notice will be posted on this page.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA

“Personal data” is any information which can be used to uniquely identify you, either directly from that information, or in conjunction with other information Haines may hold.  Haines collects personal data about you from the following sources:

  • When you use our accountancy services –  we will ask you for information that we need to carry out your instructions, and to meet our obligations under the law.  This information includes contact details, billing information, tax and financial data and other information
  • When you contact us via our website – we will ask you to prove your name and your email address.
  • When you browse our website – we collect information about your visit and how you interact with our website.
  • appropriate to the services we provide.
  • When you apply for a job with us – we will ask for information that is relevant to your application, such as CVs, information for reference and background checks and contact details etc.

PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT FROM THIRD PARTIES

The majority of data we collect about you will be that which you have provided to us yourself.  However, in some circumstances we may also receive other personal data from:

  • Clients whom we provide certain services for – such as clients we handle payroll for
  • Regulatory bodies
  • Reference agencies
  • Other companies providing services to us

Some of these third-party sources may include publicly available information

INFORMATION WE COLLECT AUTOMATICALLY

When you visit our website we automatically collect, store and use information that is sent from our computer to our web server.  This information includes:

  • The IP address of your computer – to allow us to transmit our website to you
  • The date and time of your visit and how long you browsed our website for
  • The URL of the website you came from (commonly known as the referrer)
  • The pages you visited
  • Information about your device and browser (such as operating system, browser type and version etc.)

We use cookies to collect and store information when you visit our website.  A cookie is a small text file stored in your computer containing text data. We use cookies for certain functions to improve the usability of the website.  However, enabling cookies in your web browser is necessary if you wish your selections to be remembered for future visits on the same computer.

Click here for more information about Haines use of cookies, and how you can manage them.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Haines will only use your personal data in fair, lawful and transparent ways.  That means where we have reasonable business requirement to do so or you would expect us to, where we have a lawful reason for the use, and where we have explained to you what that use is.

Please see the table below for all the ways Haines uses your personal data, the legal basis for that use, and where the legal basis is our legitimate business interest, a description of that interest:

What Haines uses your personal data for Our legal basis for that use Our legitimate business interest
To manage our business relationship with you or your business

To deliver accountancy services

To manage the client account

 Contract fulfilment
To run our business in a proper and correct manner, complying with the applicable laws and regulations, managing our clients generally, and fulfilling our business strategy Contract fulfilment

Legal obligation upon us
Recruitment of employees Legitimate business interest The successful hiring of staff
Marketing and communication activities Your consent

 

Haines does not use any system to make automatic decisions which produce legal effects on you.

SHARING AND TRANSFERRING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Haines will only share your personal data with other organisations in the following circumstances

  • When necessary with the appropriate authorities, law enforcement or other regulatory agencies
  • When you have agreed (consented) to the data sharing
  • Other accountancy firms should you move away from Haines

HOW WE PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Haines uses appropriate technical and organisational means to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and to protect it against any accidental loss, damage or destruction.

These measures include the use of encryption and passwords when transmitting your personal data electronically.

KEEPING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Haines will not keep your data for longer than is necessary, or where we have a legal obligation to do so.  We may keep your personal data for up to 7 years in order to respond to any questions or complaints and to maintain records according to the regulations we must comply with.

YOUR RIGHTS CONCERNING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

You have certain rights regarding how we use and keep your data.  These rights are:

  • To be provided with a copy of the data held, along with how that data was collected, the purpose of processing and the categories of recipients of that data (Right of Access)
  • To request Haines to correct incomplete or inaccurate data held about you or, where this is not possible, allow you to supplement the data (Right of Rectification)
  • To have, in certain circumstances, your personal data deleted without undue delay (Right of Erasure – more commonly known as the “Right to be forgotten”)
  • In some circumstances to request Haines ‘restrict’ the processing of your personal data such that processing may only be subject to tight restrictions (Right to Restriction)
  • To require Haines to “transport” certain personal data to another replacement Data Controller.  This is data that you have provided to Haines and which are processed based on your consent or in the performance of a contract and which is processed by automated means (Right to Portability)
  • To object to any processing based on any legitimate or public interest carried out by Haines, including any profiling based on that data (Right to Object)

You can exercise the above rights by contacting us via our website.

REPORTING A CONCERN, OR COMPLAINING ABOUT OUR USE OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Haines respects your rights, and wants you to feel comfortable about how we use your personal data.  If you have a concern, or want to complain about how we use your personal data, please contact us either via our website, or by calling us.  We will try to work with you to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to make a complaint, if you feel Haines use of your personal data is unwarranted or illegal, by contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office, which you can do via their website.