Privacy & Confidentiality

We collect the information we need to provide accounting and tax services to you. This may include your name, business name, email address, phone number, mailing address, and financial records required for the engagement, such as bank and credit card statements, invoices, receipts, payroll records, prior tax returns, and CRA correspondence. Where personal tax services are provided, the information required may also include social insurance numbers and tax slips.

If you contact us through the forms on this website, we receive the information you choose to provide through those forms. If you browse the website, limited technical information may also be collected through the website and its supporting services to operate, secure, and understand the use of the site.

Your information is used to provide the services you engage us for, which may include preparing and filing returns, maintaining accounting records, processing payroll, and communicating with you about the work. Where you authorize us to act as your representative, information may also be used to communicate with the Canada Revenue Agency on your behalf.

We do not sell or rent your personal information. Information may be disclosed to third parties when you authorize us to do so, when disclosure is reasonably necessary to provide the services you have requested, or when disclosure is required or permitted by law.

We treat information provided in connection with an accounting or tax engagement as confidential. This includes information you provide directly as well as information obtained while carrying out the work.

We do not disclose your affairs to people outside the practice without your authorization unless disclosure is required or permitted by law. This can include family members, business partners, lenders, or other third parties who have not been authorized to receive your information.

Communications with an accountant do not generally have the same solicitor-client privilege that may apply to communications with a lawyer. If legal advice or legally privileged advice is required in connection with a tax or other matter, independent legal counsel may be appropriate.

We take reasonable measures to protect client information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, loss, or misuse. Ordinary email may not be an appropriate method for transmitting highly sensitive information such as social insurance numbers, banking information, passwords, or sensitive tax documents. Contact us before sending sensitive documents if you are unsure which method to use.

Records are retained for the period required by applicable legal, tax, and business requirements. CRA's general requirement is to keep required records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. Certain records may need to be kept for a longer period or indefinitely, depending on their nature and circumstances. Records are securely disposed of when they are no longer required to be retained.

No method of storing or transmitting information is completely secure. If a privacy breach occurs, A4SB will assess the incident and take the steps required under applicable privacy legislation, including notifying the appropriate privacy regulator and affected individuals where required.

The chat assistant on this website is automated software, not a person. It answers general questions about A4SB's services and points you to pages on this site. It does not provide accounting, tax, financial, or legal advice, and nothing it says should be relied on as advice.

To generate replies, the messages you type in the chat are sent to Anthropic, a third-party AI service provider based in the United States, and are processed outside Canada. Please do not enter financial details, social insurance numbers, account numbers, or other sensitive information in the chat.

If you choose to leave your details through the chat, A4SB collects only your name, email address, phone number (optional), and a short description of your inquiry. These details and a transcript of the conversation are sent to A4SB by email so that we can follow up. The website does not store chat conversations in a database. Conversations where you do not leave your details are not sent to A4SB.

This website may use cookies and similar technologies that are necessary for the website to function correctly. If analytics or other optional technologies are enabled, they may also be used to understand how visitors use the website and to help improve its content and performance.

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Restricting certain cookies may affect some website features, but it should not prevent access to the main informational content of the site.

Subject to applicable privacy law, you may have rights relating to access to and correction of your personal information and, in some circumstances, withdrawal of consent. Some information may still need to be retained or used where required or permitted by law.

If you have a question about this policy, want to ask about personal information held by A4SB, or want to raise a concern about how your information has been handled, please contact us using the information below.