Privacy Policy

The confidentiality of your affairs is fundamental to the trust you place in us. Since our founding, we have held to a simple principle: we neither confirm nor deny who our clients are.

For the purposes of this policy, the following entities are referred to collectively as EGU:

• EGU Accounting and Taxation (ABN 68 933 870 812)
• EGU Financial Services (ABN 19 626 684 366)
• EGU Wealth Management (ABN 34 339 231 736)

This policy explains how EGU manages personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). It may be amended at any time. The current version is the version published on this website.

All requests for access or correction, privacy complaints and queries relating to this policy should be directed to the Privacy Officer, at hello@egu.au, on 1300 102 542, or by post to GPO Box 1598, Brisbane QLD 4001.

EGU manages personal information in an open and transparent way in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. We collect personal information in the course of providing our services — directly from you, and from third parties where necessary. We will tell you what information we hold, how we collect it and the purposes for which we use and disclose it.

Personal information is stored securely in hard copy or electronically, using our own systems and third-party services including cloud storage.

EGU uses software, including artificial intelligence tools, to assist our team with tasks such as drafting correspondence, summarising information and organising records. These tools support our work; they do not make decisions about you. All advice and services are prepared, reviewed and approved by a qualified member of our team.

A copy of this policy is available on our website and upon request to the Privacy Officer at no charge.

If you believe EGU has breached the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact the Privacy Officer in writing. We will respond within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

Where practicable, you may deal with us without identifying yourself or by using a pseudonym. However, if you wish to receive advice or services from EGU, it will generally be necessary for you to provide personal information. If you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to provide some or all of the services you seek.

EGU collects personal information in order to provide our services and to meet our legal and regulatory obligations. This may include:

• Name, contact details, date of birth and gender
• Bank account details and documentation used for identification
• Employment details, family commitments and social security eligibility
• Current financial circumstances — assets, liabilities, income, expenditure, investments, insurance and superannuation
• Business records, financial statements and tax affairs
• Financial needs and objectives, and — where we provide financial advice — risk tolerance
• Tax file number and other sensitive information where required
• Other personal or sensitive information necessary to provide our services

We collect this information directly from you wherever practicable. We will only collect information that is reasonably necessary to provide our services and meet our legal obligations. Where information is considered sensitive, we will seek your consent unless the law provides otherwise.

We may also record telephone calls with you or third parties for the purposes of maintaining records of advice and instructions, and for compliance, training and dispute resolution purposes.

When you visit our website, we collect non-identifiable statistical data about the visit — such as pages viewed and navigation patterns. We use Google Analytics for this purpose, which relies on cookies and may process the data outside Australia. You may decline these cookies through the notice shown on your first visit, or disable cookies in your browser settings. This information is used for statistical purposes and to improve our website. Personal information is only collected from our website when you provide it voluntarily.

If we receive personal information about you that we did not request, we will contact you and destroy or de-identify that information as soon as practicable, unless it is unlawful or unreasonable to do so.

Where we collect personal information from a third party — such as a superannuation fund or the Australian Taxation Office — we will inform you. We will be clear about the purpose of the collection, who the information may be disclosed to, whether collection is required by law and the consequences of not providing it.

Some services are carried out by third-party providers, who may be located domestically or internationally.

We will not use or disclose your personal information for any purpose other than the primary purpose for which it was collected, unless you would reasonably expect us to do so or you have consented.

Disclosure may be necessary in the following circumstances:

• To the Australian Taxation Office and other government agencies, in preparing and lodging returns and in dealing with them on your behalf
• To superannuation fund trustees, insurance providers and product issuers to give effect to our advice
• Where required by law or for compliance with mandatory professional standards
• To assist a law enforcement agency where reasonably necessary
• To external service providers for audit, legal advice, administration or compliance purposes
• To reporting entities for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing compliance
• As otherwise permitted under the Australian Privacy Principles

We may use your personal information to provide you with direct marketing material, such as our monthly Insights. If you do not wish to receive such material, you may unsubscribe using the link in any of our emails, or advise us by any of the contact methods listed below. We do not sell personal information.

Our principal systems store personal information in Australia. Some third-party services we use — such as website analytics and artificial intelligence tools — may process personal information in other countries, including the United States, where necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected. We require such parties to apply the same standard of security we apply ourselves. Where personal information is disclosed to an overseas recipient without your consent, we will take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles or equivalent applicable law.

EGU will not adopt, use or disclose government identifiers — such as tax file numbers — as a primary means of identifying you, unless required by Australian law or a court or tribunal order.

We take reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we hold is accurate, up to date and complete.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. All personal information is treated as confidential. Sensitive information is treated as highly confidential. We will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information that is no longer required. If a data breach is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

You may request access to your personal information at any time. We will respond to your request within 30 days. Subject to the exceptions below, we will provide access by way of copies, inspection or an accurate summary of the information held. We will require evidence of your identity before providing access.

Access may be refused where:

• Providing access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any person
• Providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others
• The request is frivolous or vexatious
• The information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings and would not be discoverable in those proceedings
• Providing access would reveal our intentions in negotiations in a way that would prejudice those negotiations
• Providing access would be unlawful
• Denial of access is required or authorised by law or court or tribunal order
• There is reason to suspect unlawful activity or serious misconduct and providing access would prejudice appropriate action
• Providing access would prejudice operations by or on behalf of an enforcement body
• Providing access would reveal commercially sensitive evaluative information

Where access is refused, we will explain the reason and the mechanisms available to make a complaint.

If you believe personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, irrelevant or misleading, please contact the Privacy Officer in writing. We will take reasonable steps to correct the information at no charge. Where a third party relies on the information, we will notify them at your request unless it is impracticable or unlawful to do so. If we refuse a correction, we will explain why and advise the complaint mechanisms available to you.