Privacy policy

CPA Australia Ltd ACN 008 392 452 (CPA Australia) is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. This privacy policy explains how CPA Australia manages the personal information that we collect, use and disclose and how to contact us if you have any further queries about our management of your personal information. This privacy policy does not cover personal information collected or held by CPA Australia about its employees.

CPA Australia is required by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) to comply with the National Privacy Principles (NPP) (subject to the other provisions of the Privacy Act). The NPPs regulate the manner in which personal information is handled throughout its life cycle, from collection to use and disclosure, storage, accessibility and disposal. CPA Australia is also required to comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) (Spam Act) and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth) (Do Not Call Register Act).

What is personal information?

Personal information is information or an opinion, in any form and whether true or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion. Examples include an individual's name, address, contact number and email address.

Special provisions apply to the collection of personal information which is sensitive information. Sensitive information includes (for example) information about a person's membership of a professional or trade association.

Collection of personal information by CPA Australia

To the extent required by the Privacy Act:

• CPA Australia will not collect personal information about you unless that information is necessary for one or more of our functions or activities
• CPA Australia will collect personal information only by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive manner

When CPA Australia collects personal information directly from you, we will take reasonable steps at or before the time of collection to ensure that you are aware of certain key matters, such as the purposes for which we are collecting the information, the organisations (or types of organisations) to which we would normally disclose information of that kind, the fact that you are able to access the information and how to contact us (for example, where personal information is collected on a form, we will generally include a written privacy statement on the form which sets out these details).

CPA Australia will collect your personal information directly from you where it is reasonable and practicable to do so. Where CPA Australia collects information about you from a third party, we will still take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the details set out above.

Use and disclosure of personal information by CPA Australia

If CPA Australia uses or discloses your personal information for a purpose (secondary purpose) other than the main reason for which it was originally collected (primary purpose), to the extent required by the Privacy Act, we will ensure that:

• the secondary purpose is related to the primary purpose of collection (and directly related in the case of sensitive information), and you would reasonably expect that CPA Australia would use or disclose your information in that way;
• you have consented to the use or disclosure of your personal information for the secondary purpose:
  • the use or disclosure is required or authorised by or under law; or 
  • the use or disclosure is otherwise permitted by the Privacy Act (for example, as a necessary part of an investigation of suspected unlawful activity)

Why does CPA Australia collect personal information?

CPA Australia collects personal information for a range of purposes, including to:

• process applications for membership and membership renewals
• manage memberships of CPA Australia
• process applications for enrolment in the CPA Program or for other products and services offered by CPA Australia
• record and maintain membership details and profile information
• provide information on services and benefits available to members
• notify members about CPA Australia events
• ensure compliance with CPA Australia's Constitution and By-Laws
• administer the CPA Program

From time to time, CPA Australia surveys its members and non-member participants in the CPA Program on a range of issues such as marketing surveys regarding products that members may be interested in or Foundation candidate surveys to determine candidates’ experience with CPA Australia’s customer service, quality of CPA Australia’s study manual and its online systems. These surveys help us to identify and analyse the ongoing needs of our members and the quality of our products and services. If you do not wish to participate in these surveys, please let us know (our contact details are provided at the end of this policy).

If you are a prospective member and you give us your consent, we may also use your personal information to provide you with information about CPA Australia and our current and future membership benefits. You can let us know at any time if you no longer wish to be contacted for this purpose. Your consent will remain current until you advise us otherwise.

How might we contact you?

We may contact you in a variety of ways, including by post, email, SMS, telephone call or facsimile.  

Spam 

We will not send you any commercial electronic messages such as SMSs or emails unless this is permitted by the Spam Act (for example, if we have your express or inferred consent to do so). Any commercial electronic message that we send will identify CPA Australia as the sender and will include our contact details. The message will also provide an unsubscribe facility. If you do not wish to receive commercial electronic messages from us, please let us know (our contact details are provided at the end of this policy).

Do Not Call Register

We will not call you on a number listed on the Do Not Call Register unless this is permitted under the Do Not Call Register Act and related instruments (for example, if we have your express or inferred consent to do so). If you do not wish us to call you on a particular number, please let us know (our contact details are provided at the end of this policy).

When does CPA Australia disclose personal information to third parties?

In performing our functions and activities, we may need to disclose personal information to third parties.  

Third parties with whom CPA Australia may share your personal information include, where appropriate:

• universities and other education providers involved with or engaged by CPA Australia for the CPA Program
• government and regulatory bodies such as the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Australian Education International – National Office for Overseas Skills Recognition and Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the purpose, for example, of assessing qualified accountants seeking their skills to be assessed for the purposes of general skills migration and determining whether these professionals are eligible to migrate to Australia for study, work and/or settlement
• in a list of names to your employer so that your employer is aware that there are CPA members working for them
• financial institutions for payment processing
• our Member Benefits+ partners
• other professional bodies, for example, disclosing the fact of your membership to overseas accounting bodies
• members of CPA Australia committees such as various discussion groups formed to discuss topics of interest to the accounting profession
• CPA Australia's contracted service providers, including:
  • information technology service providers;
  • printers and distributors of direct marketing material; and 
  • external business advisors (such as auditors and lawyers)

Data quality and security

To the extent required by the Privacy Act, CPA Australia will take reasonable steps to:

• make sure that the personal information that we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up to date
• protect the personal information that we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure
• destroy or permanently de-identify personal information that is no longer needed for any purpose that is permitted by the Privacy Act

Anonymity

CPA Australia will generally provide individuals with the option of not identifying themselves when entering into transactions when it is lawful and practicable to do so.

Use of Commonwealth government identifiers

CPA Australia will not use Commonwealth government identifiers (Identifiers) (such as Medicare numbers) as its own identifier of individuals. We will only use or disclose Identifiers in the circumstances permitted by the Privacy Act.

Transfer of personal information overseas

If CPA Australia transfers your personal information outside Australia, CPA Australia will comply with requirements of the Privacy Act that relate to trans-border data flows, for example, the CPA Australia Internship Program website is hosted on its behalf on servers located in Singapore. Personal information collected through the Internship Program website will be transferred to Singapore and stored on the Singapore servers.

Access and correction of your personal information

Please contact CPA Australia if you would like to access or correct the personal information that we hold about you. CPA Australia will generally provide you with access to your personal information (although a fee may be imposed), and will take reasonable steps to amend any personal information that is incorrect. In some circumstances, CPA Australia may not permit access to your personal information, or may refuse to correct your personal information, in which case we will provide you with reasons for this decision.

Further information 

Please contact CPA Australia if you have any queries about the personal information that CPA Australia holds about you or the way we handle that personal information. CPA Australia's contact details for privacy queries are set out below.

CPA Australia Privacy Contact

Attention: Privacy Officer, Level 20, 28 Freshwater Place, Southbank Vic 3006
Fax: +61 3 9602 1163