Privacy Policy
Updated 17 August 2026
1. Introduction
McLeod Accounting & Advisory Pty Ltd (“we”,”us”,”our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information we hold about our clients, prospective clients, employees, contractors, and other individuals we deal with in providing accounting, taxation, and advisory services. We have professional obligations regarding the privacy and confidentiality of your information.
This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and store your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) and to comply with the 'Customer Due Diligence' requirements in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) and the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2025.
As a professional accounting practice, we also comply with:
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) Code of Professional Conduct;
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulatory requirements; and
Professional standards and ethical obligations applicable to our industry and the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand.
A copy of the Australian Privacy Principles may be obtained from the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au
2. Who do we collect Personal Information about
We may collect and hold (but is not limited to) personal information about:
clients, including potential clients and past clients;
service providers or suppliers;
prospective, current and past employees and contractors;
accountants, solicitors, barristers and other individuals who provide services to our clients;
beneficiaries of trusts and estates administered by our clients;
individuals with a connection to a client that uses our service (for example, an officeholder of a corporate client), and
other third parties with whom we come into contact.
3. What personal information do we collect
Personal information has the meaning given in the Privacy Act, and includes information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information is true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, and includes AML/CTF Information.
Our ability to provide a comprehensive service is dependent on us obtaining certain personal information. We may collect and hold personal information from you and other individuals that is reasonably necessary:
to provide you with our services (which may include designated services as set out in the AML/CTF Act);
for us to carry out one or more of our functions or activities; or
to enable us to comply with our legal obligations which include our AML/CTF obligations.
The personal information we may collect for these purposes might include:
contact information such as name, address, telephone number and email address;
date of birth;
gender;
bank account and other payment details;
tax file numbers;
director ID numbers;
places and countries of birth;
employment details and employment history;
details of current financial circumstances, source of funds and source of wealth, assets and liabilities (past, actual and potential), income, expenditure, investments, insurance cover and superannuation;
documentation used for identification and verification purposes (e.g. driver’s licence, birth certificate or passport details);
where you are acting on behalf of another entity (whether as an employee, director or other representative), details of that entity and your relationship with it; and
details of directorships, shareholdings or other investments you hold.
We may also need to verify your identity and collect information such as certified documents, as a reporting entity under the AML/CTF Act, and the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules.
4. Why we collect, hold and use your information
We use personal information to provide the accounting, taxation, and advisory services you engage us for, and to meet our professional and legal obligations, including under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) and 1997 (Cth), the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth), the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth), the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), superannuation laws, and the AML/CTF Act. This includes preparing and lodging documents with the Australian Taxation Office, ASIC, and other relevant bodies, and managing billing and client communications.
Where personal information is used or disclosed, we take steps reasonable in the circumstances to ensure it is relevant to the purpose for which it is to be used or disclosed. You are under no obligation to provide your personal information to us, however, without certain information from you, we may not be able to provide its products and/or services to you.
5. How we collect your personal information
Generally, we collect your personal information directly from you, through the completion of a manual or online form, an interaction or exchange in person or by way of telephone, facsimile, email, post or through the use of our website.
There may be occasions when we collect your personal information from other sources such as from:
an entity you represent (including but not limited to your employer or a company of which you are a director), where necessary for us to provide its products and/or services to that entity through you;
the completion of an application form by another person or entity that lists you as a director, guarantor, potential guarantor or trade reference;
banks and other financial institutions;
other credit providers;
an information services provider;
a publicly maintained record or other publicly available sources of information including social media and similar websites; or
a government agency.
Generally, we will only collect your personal information from sources other than you if it is unreasonable or impracticable to collect your personal information from you.
We may also collect information about the way you use our website including through the use of ‘cookies’. Cookies are small files that assist us to identify website user preferences so that we can enhance and tailor your experience of our website. Sometimes cookies result in the collection of personal information. You may disable the use of cookies through your internet browser.
6. How do we disclose your personal information
We will not use or disclose personal information collected by us for any purpose other than the primary purpose for which it is collected, unless you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the personal information for a secondary purpose or your consent has been obtained to use the personal information for additional purposes.
Exceptions to this include where disclosure is required by:
our employees and third parties engaged to perform administrative or other business management functions, including debtor management;
our professional advisors, contractors, consultants and related bodies corporate;
the ATO, ASIC and other regulators;
superannuation fund trustees;
our insurance providers;
law or for inspection to ensure compliance with mandatory professional standards;
a law enforcement agency;
external service providers for the purposes of independent evaluations of our AML/CTF program, audit, peer reviews, legal advice, consultancy, outsourced administration, issuing statements or handling mail ;
our legal and regulatory obligations including, but not limited to, our AML/CTF Obligations (which may include lodging an SMR with AUSTRAC);
debt collectors and credit management agencies; and
any other party as permitted under the Australian Privacy Principles.
We may use and disclose your personal information for any of these purposes. We may also use and disclose your personal information for secondary purposes which are related to the primary purposes set out above, or in other circumstances authorised by the Privacy Act.
We do not sell your personal information, and we take reasonable steps to ensure any third party handles it appropriately.
7. Overseas disclosure
We may disclose personal information to overseas recipients in order to provide our products and/or services. We may also store, process or back-up your personal information on computer servers or networks which are located overseas or in the cloud, including where services are performed by service providers who are located overseas. We do not disclose any credit information to any recipient located outside of Australia.
It is not practicable to list all countries in which recipients may be located, however, we will only disclose your personal information to an overseas recipient where reasonably necessary in order to provide its products and/or services and for administrative, data storage or other business management purposes.
Overseas recipients may have different privacy and data protection standards. However, before disclosing any personal information to an overseas recipient, we will take steps reasonable in the circumstances to ensure the overseas recipient complies with the Australian Privacy Principles or is bound by a substantially similar privacy scheme unless you consent to the overseas disclosure or it is otherwise required or permitted by law. If you have any queries or objections to such disclosures, please contact our Privacy Officer.
8. Direct marketing
We may use and disclose your personal information in order to inform you of products and services that may be of interest to you. In the event you do not wish to receive such communications, you can opt out by contacting us via our contact details or through any opt out mechanism contained in a marketing communication to you. We will not use or disclose credit-related personal information for direct marketing purposes.
9. Security of your personal information
We take the security of your personal information very seriously. We take steps reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the personal information it holds is protected from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
We hold personal information in both hard copy and electronic forms in secure databases on secure premises, accessible only by authorised staff. We will keep your Personal Information only for as long as required for our business purposes and as required by law, including as required to comply with our AML/CTF Obligations.
We will destroy or de-identify personal information in circumstances where it is no longer required, unless we are otherwise required or authorised by law to retain the information.
10. How you can access and correct the personal information that we hold about you
We take reasonable steps in the circumstances to ensure personal information we hold is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading. Under the Privacy Act, you have a right to access and seek correction of your personal information that is collected and held by us.
If at any time you would like to access or correct the personal information that we hold about you, or you would like more information about our approach to privacy, please contact our Privacy Officer. We will grant access to the extent required or authorised by the Privacy Act or other law and take steps reasonable in the circumstances to correct personal information where necessary and appropriate.
To obtain access to your personal information:
you will have to provide proof of identity to ensure that personal information is provided only to the correct individuals and that the privacy of others is protected;
we request that you be specific about the information you require; and
we may charge you a reasonable administration fee, which reflects the cost to us, for providing access in accordance with your request.
If we refuse your request to access or correct your personal information, we will provide you with written reasons for the refusal and details of complaint mechanisms. We will also take steps reasonable in the circumstance to provide you with access in a manner that meets your needs and our needs.
If you are dissatisfied with our refusal to grant access to, or correct, your credit related personal information, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
11. Anonymity and pseudonymity
You are welcome to deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym for general enquires. However, we are not able to provide accounting or advisory services without verifying your identity, as required under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth) and, where applicable, the AML/CTF Act.
12. Privacy complaints
If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, contact our Privacy Officer by email at ali@mcleodaccounting.com.au or in writing to the Privacy Officer, McLeod Accounting & Advisory Pty Ltd, PO Box 4172, Shellharbour NSW 2529.
We will investigate and respond within a. reasonable time, being no later than 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may refer the complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which oversees compliance with the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth) at www.oaic.goc.au.
13. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time to take account of new laws, regulations and technology, and changes to our operations and the business environment. The current version is always available on request and on our website.