Privacy policy

Balanced Financial Services (ABN 85 157 765 985) is committed to protecting your personal information and handling it in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

What we collect

The personal information we collect depends on the services you use, and may include:

• Identity and contact details — name, address, date of birth, phone, email
• Tax file numbers and Australian Business Numbers, where required to provide taxation services
• Financial information — income, assets, liabilities, bank statements, accounting records and credit history, where required to provide accounting or credit assistance
• Employment and business details
• Information about your family or associated entities where relevant to your structure
• Website usage information, including analytics data described below

Some of this is sensitive information as defined in the Privacy Act. We only collect it with your consent and where it is reasonably necessary for our services.

How we collect it

Directly from you in most cases — through forms, meetings, email and phone. We may also collect information from third parties with your authority, including the Australian Taxation Office, your previous accountant, lenders, credit reporting bodies, your employer, and publicly available registers.

Why we collect it and how we use it

• To provide accounting, taxation, bookkeeping and SMSF administration services
• To provide credit assistance, including assessing and submitting loan applications
• To provide AI implementation consulting services
• To meet our obligations under tax, credit, anti-money laundering and professional standards
• To communicate with you about your engagement
• To improve our services and, where you have consented, to send you relevant updates

Who we disclose it to

We may disclose your personal information to:

• The Australian Taxation Office and other government agencies
• Lenders, aggregators, mortgage insurers and credit reporting bodies, for credit assistance
• Our professional advisers, auditors and insurers
• Software and service providers who host or process data on our behalf
• Anyone you have authorised us to deal with
• Anyone else where required or authorised by law

Credit information

Where we provide credit assistance, we may collect and disclose credit information and credit eligibility information in accordance with Part IIIA of the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code. Details of the credit reporting bodies we deal with, and how to obtain their policies, are available on request.

Overseas disclosure

Some of the software we use to deliver our services stores or processes data on servers located outside Australia, including in the United States and the European Union. Before disclosing personal information overseas we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles it consistently with the APPs, including through contractual commitments.

Artificial intelligence tools

We use AI tools in parts of our work — for example to extract data from documents, review ledgers for exceptions, and draft correspondence. Where those tools are used on information relating to you:

• We use business-tier services with contractual commitments that inputs are not used to train models
• We do not input tax file numbers, bank account numbers, passwords or credentials
• Output is reviewed by a qualified person before it is relied on or sent to you
• Access is restricted to named accounts held by our team

Website, cookies and analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to understand how visitors use the site. Where analytics is enabled, it is configured to anonymise IP addresses. You can block cookies through your browser settings, though some parts of the site may not function as intended.

Security and retention

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We retain records for the periods required by taxation, credit and professional standards legislation, and destroy or de-identify information when it is no longer needed and we are no longer required to keep it.

Data breaches

If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

Accessing and correcting your information

You can request access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. Contact us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable period, and will explain our reasons if we are unable to give access.

Complaints

If you believe we have breached the APPs, contact us first — we will acknowledge your complaint promptly and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au. Complaints about credit assistance can also be taken to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Contact us

Balanced Financial Services
Level 10a, 6 Mount Olympus Boulevard, Wolli Creek NSW 2205
info@balancedfs.com.au
(02) 9750 4884