Privacy Protection Pledge

At Couch Bookkeeping, we respect your privacy. That is why we have developed the Couch Bookkeeping Privacy Protection Pledge, of which the objective is to specify Couch Bookkeeping guidelines for the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information.

The Couch Bookkeeping Privacy Protection Pledge was developed to comply with the relevant portions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada). We have drafted the Couch Bookkeeping Privacy Protection Pledge to facilitate our compliance with this legislation and to demonstrate our commitment to protecting your personal information.

We want you to understand the purpose for which we collect personal information. We also want to make certain that we have your consent to continue to collect, use and disclose your personal information for those purposes.

1. Why do we need to collect your personal information?

If you are a Couch Bookkeeping client, Couch Bookkeeping may have collected some basic information about you. We respect your privacy, which is why we collect personal information only for the following purposes:

• Bookkeeping and Financial Planning services.

2. When do we disclose personal information?

There are a variety of circumstances where we may need to disclose some personal information about our clients. Examples include:

• When speaking on your behalf (with written consent) to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA);
• When liaising with your accountant while performing bookkeeping services.

3. How do we protect your personal information?

In order to protect your personal information, Couch Bookkeeping:

1. Does not collect, use or disclose your personal information for any purpose other than those identified above, except with your further consent;
2. Protects your personal information with security safeguards (several levels of passwords and a secure in-house server);
3. Protects the confidentiality of your personal information when dealing with other organizations;
4. Strives to keep your information as accurate and up to date as is necessary for the purposes identified above; and
5. Honours any request you may make for access to your personal information.

4. How do we ensure our staff uphold our Privacy Code?

All staff are required to sign a confidentiality agreement which requires that any personal information that they may use, acquire or add to in the performance of their duties is strictly confidential and does not leave the premises at any time for any reason. Only the owner, Marijke Couch is permitted to disclose your personal information and only for the reasons given above. Failure to adhere to Couch Bookkeeping policies will result in immediate dismissal.

5. What about mass mailings and email correspondence?

Personal information in the form of addresses and email addresses are only used to correspond with the client for the purposes listed above. Mass emails, if required for the purposes of providing general information to clients only, are prepared with care and email addresses are only added under the BCC (blind carbon copy) feature of email in order to ensure that no other person is privy to an individual’s email address directly. Mass emails are used only when absolutely necessary and only to impart general information with no specifics. Recipients of these emails are invited to contact the email sender for more information that may specifically pertain to their situation.

6. What are your choices?

We would like to have your consent to continue to collect, use and disclose your personal information for the purposes identified above. However, you do have choices and can refuse or withdraw consent as follows:

1. You may refuse to provide your personal information to us.
2. You may also withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice.

However, in either case, this may limit our ability to serve you.