At Breckenhill, we are committed
to protecting your privacy and
safeguarding your personal,
business and financial
information. We support a
general policy of openness about
how we collect, use, disclose
and protect your personal
information. The purpose of this
Privacy Policy is to inform you
of Breckenhill's practices
relating to our collection, use,
disclosure and protection of
your personal information. By
purchasing our professional
services and products, you
consent to our collection, use,
disclosure and protection of
your personal information in
accordance with specific terms
and conditions. The specific
terms and conditions are listed
below.
This Privacy Policy is designed to meet the
compliance standards established by Canada's Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
PIPEDA is based on the Ten Principles established by the
Canadian Standards Association's Model Code for the Protection
of Personal Information, which principles were recognized as a
Canadian standard in 1996, and address the ways in which
organizations should collect, use and disclose personal
information. We also note that in addition to these standards,
we continue to be subject to the confidentiality rules,
concerning client information, of the Institutes of Chartered
Accountants.
Our Privacy Policy explains how you can contact
us if you have a question about, want to make a change to, or
delete, any personal information that Breckenhill may retain
about you. For purposes of describing the firm and its legal
entities in this policy, Breckenhill refers to Breckenhill Inc.
Definition of personal information
"Personal information" means any information
about an identifiable individual, other than that individual's
name, title, business address or telephone number (often called,
"business card" or "phone book" information). Personal
information includes age, gender, marital status, health status,
financial status, home address, etc. Such information includes
information specifically related to you, our client, or personal
information of others, such as your employees, clients, or
customers, that we may encounter in the course of providing our
professional services to you.
What personal information do we collect?
The information we collect, which may include
personal information, may involve at least some of the
following:
Contact information (such as name, nicknames,
titles, business names, business addresses, email work
addresses, work or cell telephone numbers); and Financial status
and billing information (such as credit card numbers/expiration
dates and credit history).
How do we use your personal information?
We use your personal information to:
- Provide you with timely and reliable
professional assurance, tax or advisory
services;
- Do all the things necessary to administer
those services;
- Research, develop, manage, protect and
improve those services;
- Develop and maintain our relationship with
you and communicate with you;
- Advise you about new firm products and
services that may be of interest to you; and
- Invoice and collect payment for professional
services and products provided by us to you.
When do we disclose your personal information?
At Breckenhill, we are accountable for your
personal information. We will not sell, license, trade or rent
your personal information to, or with, others. In terms of our
accountability to you:
- We are responsible for the protection of the
personal information you disclose to
Breckenhill;
- We have appointed a Chief Privacy Officer,
Mr. William Wilson, Managing Partner,
Breckenhill Inc., to be accountable for our
compliance with our Privacy Policy;
- With your consent, we may share your
personal information with third parties engaged
to assist us in providing the products and
services to you. These service providers will
sign Breckenhill Confidentiality Agreements and
will be prohibited from using your personal
information for any purpose other than to
provide a specified service to you as a client
of Breckenhill. They will be required to protect
the personal information disclosed by
Breckenhill as we ourselves would do, and to
comply with the general privacy principles
described in this Privacy Policy;
- We reserve the right to disclose personal
information to a third party if a law,
regulation, regulatory body, search warrant,
subpoena or court order legally requires or
authorizes us to do so; and
- We also reserve the right to disclose and/or
transfer personal information to a third party
in the event of an actual merger or acquisition
of Breckenhill so that you may continue to
receive the same professional services from the
new entity or third party. In this unlikely
case, the use of your personal information by
the new entity would be limited to the
purpose(s) for which we originally used the
information.
Your knowledge and consent
Breckenhill collects personal information about
you only when you voluntarily provide it. Typically, we will
seek your consent for the use or disclosure of your personal
information when we collect it. In certain circumstances, your
consent may be sought after the information has been collected
but before we use it (for example, when we want to use
information for a purpose not previously identified).
The form of consent that we seek, including
whether it is express or implied, will largely depend on the
sensitivity of the personal information and the reasonable
expectations you might have in the circumstances.
You may withdraw your consent at any time,
subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable
notice. Should you wish to do so, please contact our Chief
Privacy Officer, William Wilson, in writing, at our Breckenhill
Canada Privacy Office. The firm will inform you of the
implications of your withdrawing your consent.
We will not, as a condition of the supply of
our professional services or products, require you to consent to
the collection, use, disclosure or protection of information
beyond that which is required to fulfill the specified and
legitimate purposes for which the information is being
collected.
Use or disclosure of personal information
for marketing
Breckenhill will never disclose your personal
information to a third party marketing firm. However, within the
boundaries of our regulatory environment, from time to time
Breckenhill may make use of your personal information, with
great discretion, to communicate and market our services and
products to you. You can choose not to receive any invitations
or direct mail from us by indicating your preference as outlined
below under Contact Us.
Cookies
When you visit our Web site
(www.breckenhill.com) please note that cookies may be used on
some pages of our site. "Cookies" are small text files placed on
your hard drive that assists us in providing a more customized
Web site experience. For example, a cookie can be used to store
registration information in an area of the Web site so that a
user does not need to re-enter it on subsequent visits to that
area. It is Breckenhill's Internet Privacy Policy to use cookies
to make navigation of our Web sites easier for our visitors and
to facilitate efficient registration procedures.
If you are concerned about cookies, most
browsers permit individuals to decline cookies. In most cases, a
visitor may refuse a cookie and still fully navigate our Web
sites.
In order to properly manage our Web site, we
may anonymously log information on our operational systems, and
identify categories of visitors by items such as domains and
browser types. These statistics are reported in the aggregate to
our webmasters. This is to ensure that our Web site presents the
best web experience for visitors and is an effective information
resource.
Links to third-party websites
There are several places throughout
www.breckenhill.com that may link to other Web sites that do not
operate under Breckenhill's Internet Privacy Policy. When you
link to other Web sites, Breckenhill's Web and privacy policies
no longer apply. We encourage you to review each site's Privacy
Policy before you disclose any personally identifiable
information.
How we protect your personal information
Breckenhill will take all commercially
reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information in our
possession, collected from you, is protected against loss and
unauthorized access. This protection applies to information
stored in both electronic and hard copy form. Access to your
personal information will be restricted to selected employees or
representatives. In addition, Breckenhill will employ generally
accepted information security techniques, such as firewalls,
access control procedures and cryptography, to protect personal
information against loss and unauthorized access.
Retention of your personal information
Breckenhill will retain your personal
information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s)
for which it was collected and to comply with applicable laws
and regulations. Your consent to such purposes(s) will remain
valid after termination of our relationship with you.
Exceptions, qualifications and changes to
this policy
Although not listed in detail in this Privacy
Policy, the firm will rely on any exceptions or qualifications
that are set out in the applicable legislation as permitted by
law.
Breckenhill reserves the right to modify this
Privacy Policy at anytime without notice. The Privacy Policy
posted at anytime or from time to time via the Breckenhill
Canada Web site (www.breckenhill.com) shall be deemed to be the
Privacy Policy then in effect.
Correcting or updating your information
You can help us maintain the accuracy of your
personal information by notifying us of any changes to your
information. To correct or update your personal information, you
may contact Breckenhill by email as indicated on the left.