Overview

Withers Tsang & Co Limited (PKF Withers Tsang) is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of its clients, partners and employees. We value the trust of the public and those we deal with, and recognize that maintaining this trust requires transparency and accountability in how we treat personal information that is shared with us. This Privacy Policy Statement (“Policy”) has been adopted to guide how we collect, use, store and disclose the personal information acquired in the course of conducting our business and fulfilling our professional responsibilities. 

Please be aware that PKF Withers Tsang may contain links to other sites that are governed by other privacy statements that may differ somewhat and/or contain information as required under local law. We encourage users to review the privacy policy of each Web site visited before disclosing any personal information. 

If you have any questions regarding this Policy, please contact us. 

We adhere to the requirements of the law and our professional standards, and as we conduct our business operations we frequently gather and use personal information. We seek consent to use this information when it is collected and recognize your expectation that it will be carefully protected. Our privacy practices require that we only use personal information outside of our agreed “Terms of Engagement” after obtaining appropriate consent. 

Personal information is defined as any information that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual, including information about identity, age, income, opinions or beliefs, home location and family. However, business contact and other information about individuals that is available in the public domain, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers published in directories, are not considered personal information. Public information is not subject to privacy legislation and therefore is excluded from this policy and is not subject to the same protections as is the case with personal information.

However, we do not disclose personal information about our staff, partners and clients without consent.

Collection and Use of Personal Information

We obtain personal information about you only if you choose to provide it, such as customer due diligence information to register for certain services. In some cases, you may have previously provided your personal information to Withers Tsang. If you choose to register or login to our web site through a third party single sign-in service (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, or Twitter), we may collect any information or content needed for the registration or log-in information that you permit the social media provider to share with us, such as your name and email address. Other information we collect may depend on the privacy settings you establish with your social media provider, so please review the privacy statement or policy of the applicable service. 

By registering and/or submitting personal information to PKF Withers Tsang, you are also agreeing to the use of this information in accordance with this Policy. Your personal information is not used for other purposes, unless we obtain your permission, or unless otherwise required or permitted by law or professional standards. For example, if you register on our web site and provide information about your preferences, we will use this information to personalize your user experience. If you send us a resume to apply online for a position with PKF Withers Tsang, we may use the information that you provide to match you with available PKF Withers Tsang job opportunities.

Sensitive Personal Information

PKF Withers Tsang generally collects only the personal information required to fulfill your request. If additional information is required, you will be notified of this at the point of collection. PKF Withers Tsang only collects “sensitive” personal information if we are required to under AML laws or voluntarily by you to ensure that PKF Withers Tsang is able to provide accurate advice and only where it is required for a specific purpose, and is permitted to be collected by law or professional standards. 

Please do not provide sensitive personal information to PKF Withers Tsang, unless you consent to our use of that information for its legitimate business purposes and consent to the transfer and storage of the information to and in PKF Withers Tsang databases. If you question the necessity of providing sensitive information for any particular purpose, please contact us. 

Consent

Your consent is required for the collection and proposed use of personal information when information is collected. Consent can be either explicit or implied and can be provided directly to us by you or your authorized representative.  

Cookies

PKF Withers Tsang websites use cookies to enable web site functions and for tracking performance.

Cookies are tiny data files that some websites place on your computer or other device when you visit. They’re used by many website owners, including pkfwt.co.nz. Cookies are linked to the machine you use to visit our site and not to you as an individual.  Unless you login or provide personal data through your use of this website, no personal information is collected. 

Cookies are commonly used by websites to remember some aspect of your current or previous visit.  This could include things like the choices you’ve made or preferences you’ve chosen during your visit. Websites commonly do this in order to improve or tailor your current and future visits to that site or other related sites. 

One example may be when you visit a site that you have been to before, that site may use a cookie to check what information you’ve looked at previously to get an idea of the topics that may be of interest to you. 

The information stored in a cookie can only be read by the website that placed the cookie or other sites that it has agreed to share information with. 

Our policy is to use cookies only to improve the way we do business with you or when they’re essential to the way the site works. 

The types of activities we may use cookies for are to;

  • store details that help you to manage accounts and policies online, such as user login details
  • find out how people use our sites, such as how often they visit, which pages they go to, and which links they click on, so that we can improve our sites
  • help us to provide relevant information, such as details of products, services and other information that you may be interested in
  • store information about which media players you use so that any video content appears correctly

We do not use any cookies to store any personal data or other data that could be used to identify you as an individual.

How to turn off cookies

You can turn off cookies in your browser settings. If you do turn them off, it is important to remember that you may not be able to use all of the services on our websites.

You can find out more about turning off cookies at the independent website allaboutcookies.org

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics to track performance. For example, we may track visitor sessions and referral sources to our sites. We use this data to understand site performance to serve you better. We may also track the performance of promotional links to our site. No personal information is passed to Google Analytics. Note that Google Analytics stores its data within the United States of America and is therefore subject to US laws. Those wishing to opt out of Google Analytics data collection should use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Children

PKF Withers Tsang understands the importance of protecting children’s privacy, especially in an online environment. Our sites are not intentionally designed for, or directed at, children under the age of 13, and our policy is never to knowingly collect or maintain children’s information except where required as part of an engagement to provide professional services.

Sharing and Transfer of Personal Information

 In some instances, PKF Withers Tsang may share your personal information with outside companies, service providers or vendors. This may include the transfer of this information across geographical borders or third parties working with us or on our behalf to help fulfill your requests. PKF Withers Tsang may also store personal information in other legal jurisdictions. By providing personal information to us, you are consenting to the transfer and/or storage of your personal information in this manner. PKF Withers Tsang does not sell personal information to any third parties, nor will PKF Withers Tsang transfer your personal information to any third parties for their own direct marketing use.

Compliance with Laws and Regulations

PKF Withers Tsang may be required to disclose personal information in response to requests of government or law enforcement agencies or where disclosure is required by applicable laws, court orders, or government regulations. These disclosures may also be needed for data privacy or security audits and/or to investigate or respond to a complaint or security threat.

Accuracy

Personal information will be maintained as completely, accurately and up-to-date as possible. You are encouraged to review, correct and update personal information. Under most circumstances you have the right to reasonable access to your personal information to correct any inaccuracies. You can also make a request to update or remove information about you by contacting us and we will make all reasonable and practical efforts to comply with your request, so long as it is consistent with applicable law and professional standards.

Information Security  

PKF Withers Tsang has reasonable security policies and procedures in place to protect personal information from unauthorized loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction. Appropriate physical and electronic measures are also used to help ensure that personal information is secure. To the best of our ability, access to your personal information is limited to those who require the information to fulfil their job responsibilities. Those individuals who have access to the data are required to maintain the confidentiality of such information. However, despite our best efforts, security cannot be absolutely guaranteed against all threats.

Retention of Personal Information

Personal information will not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it has been collected, except with your consent or as required by law. We do not share personal information with unaffiliated third parties, except where necessary for legitimate professional and business needs, to carry out your requests, and/or as required and permitted by law or professional standards. We also make reasonable efforts only to retain personal information so long as it is necessary to comply with your request or as required by AML legislation.

Changes to This Policy

PKF Withers Tsang may modify this Policy from time to time to advise of changes to our current privacy policies and practices.

Policy Questions and Enforcement

PKF Withers Tsang is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. If you have questions or comments about our administration of your personally identifiable information, please contact us.