Disclaimer and Privacy Policy 

The information on the Wilkinson & Company LLP web site is provided with the understanding that the authors and publishers are not herein engaged in rendering legal, accounting, tax, or other professional advice and services. As such, it should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional accounting, tax, legal or other competent advisers. While we have made every attempt to ensure that the information contained in this web site has been obtained from reliable sources, Wilkinson & Company LLP is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or the results obtained from the use of this information.

We pledge to protect the confidentiality of your personal information, as this is always the most important part of the way we do business. To ensure that we continue to protect your privacy, we have developed the following Privacy Code. This Code sets out how and why we collect and use your personal information. It also explains where, when and why, and under what circumstances we may need or be required to disclose personal information.

"Personal information" means information that identifies you as a specific individual. It does not include the sort of general information that could easily be found out ie. on the internet, or in a business directory/business card or a telephone book.

Effective January 1, 2004, the Government of Canada implemented the last phase of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). This federal statute applies to our firm as well as to most other industry sectors, hospitals, not for profits, etc.

This legislation establishes rules and principles for the use and disclosure of personal information based on the ten privacy principles developed by the Canadian Standards Association. These principles recognize that we live in an era when commercial information is exchanged and circulated by electronic means. The legislation balances the individual's right to privacy in their personal information with the reasonable need of organizations to collect, use or disclose personal information.

Under the new legislation, an organization may collect, use or disclose personal information only for limited purposes that a reasonable person would consider to be appropriate in the circumstances.

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act requires us to provide the same safeguards for your privacy that we have always provided on a voluntary basis. Our Privacy Code sets out these principles in simple terms. It explains how we ensure that your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information is protected.

Wilkinson & Company LLP’s Privacy Code and our Pledge of Business Conduct & Practice is based on ten principles of privacy accountability as outlined by (PIPEDA).

Principle #1: Accountability

We have designated a privacy officer who is responsible for our company's compliance with the ten privacy principles by the Canadian Standards Association.

To ensure the confidentiality of your personal information, we have established policies and procedures to ensure that as a minimum, we comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. We believe we exceed the guidelines of PIPEDA.

We are responsible for maintaining and protecting your personal information while it is under our control. This includes any personal information that may need to be disclosed to third parties for processing or other administrative functions.

Our staff and partners are trained, they are reminded regularly of our privacy policy and confidentiality and each signs documents to this effect.

As a party interested in our policy, you have a right to expect us to be accountable for any personal information collected. If you have any questions or inquiries about how your personal information is stored, or when it may need to be disclosed to others, our privacy officer is there to assist and explain our policies to you.

Principle #2: Identifying Purposes

As accountants, auditors, or consultants, when we collect information about you, we will explain how we intend to use it. Typically we collect personal information only for the following purposes:

1. to provide normal ongoing client service to our wide variety of clients;
2. to help us understand our clients’ needs, thereby allowing us to react to these needs in a timely manner;
3. to develop, new and improved services to assist our clients with management and tax needs;
4. to enable us to satisfy any filing requirements on time; and
5. to provide us with the information that we need to meet our client’s needs in the most expeditious way.

Unless we are required by law, Wilkinson & Company LLP will not use or disclose any personal information that has been collected for any purpose unknown to you without first documenting the new purpose and obtaining your consent.

If you have any questions about these purposes, our privacy officer will be pleased to explain them to you.

Principle #3: Consent for the Collection

Wilkinson & Company LLP will undertake all reasonable efforts to make sure that individuals from whom personal information is obtained are aware how their personal information will be used. We will obtain their consent if we need to use this information for any purpose not described above and before collecting additional information from third parties such as banks, insurers or any other party. In certain circumstances personal information may need to be collected, used or disclosed without the knowledge and consent of the individual. For example, legal, medical, or security reasons may make it impossible or impractical to seek consent.

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act recognizes that when information is being collected for someone seriously ill, mentally incapacitated or some other exceptional circumstance, seeking the consent of the individual may delay the urgent purpose of collecting the information.

In obtaining consent, we will always use reasonable efforts to ensure individuals are advised of the identified purposes for which any personal information collected will be used or disclosed.

Our accounting clients will be re-confirming their permission allowing Wilkinson & Company LLP to collect, use and disclose their personal information in accordance with the principles detailed in this privacy code/pledge each time they sign their annual representation letter and in each engagement letter

Principle #4: Limiting Collection

We will always limit the collection of personal information to that which is necessary for the identified purposes. Typically, this is information that is required to enable us to perform our duties outlined in the engagement letter. We may need to collect personal information from other sources as indicated above, but you will be made aware of this collection procedure.

We will always collect personal information by fair and lawful means, we will not deceive or mislead individuals about the reason for collecting personal information and we will limit our collection of information to what is required.

Principle #5: Limiting the Use, Disclosure and Retention
of Personal Information

Personal information will not be used or disclosed for purposes other than for which it was collected, except with your consent or as permitted or required by law. Your personal information will be retained only as long as it is necessary to fulfill those purposes.

Wilkinson & Company LLP will not disclose personal information to anyone, including bankers, lawyers, tax authorities etc. without your consent. Once consent is obtained, we will deal only with the information required in the circumstances.

Wilkinson & Company LLP does not provide or sell any personal information to any outside company for use in marketing or solicitation. Only employees with a business "need to know", or those whose duties require it, are granted access to personal information. We keep personal information only as long as it remains necessary or relevant for the identified purposes or as required by law. Personal information that is no longer necessary or relevant for the identified purposes or required to be retained by law is destroyed or erased.

Principle #6: Accuracy

Wilkinson & Company LLP makes every effort to ensure that personal information collected is as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to provide the required service.

If you have any questions about the accuracy and completeness of the personal information that we have collected or retained, please do not hesitate to contact our privacy officer. If you need to update some aspect of your personal information, please contact your partner representative directly.

Principle #7: Safeguards

Wilkinson & Company LLP takes steps to protect personal information with security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. We protect your personal information regardless of the format in which it is held.

Specifically, we have stringent security measures in place to protect personal information against such risks as loss or theft, computer hackers, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, modification or destruction. These measures include passwords, locked cabinets, restricted access, alarm systems and security clearance.

All our employees with access to personal information are required as a condition of their employment to respect the confidentiality of personal information and to sign specific agreements, confirming the confidentiality. We hold regular security and confidentiality meetings to reinforce these policies.

Principle #8: Openness

Wilkinson & Company LLP pursues a policy of openness about the procedures it uses to manage personal information. We will make specific information about our policies and practices relating to the management of their personal information available to you upon request.

We ensure openness by providing you with the following information:

1. the name, the title and address of the privacy officer accountable for our compliance with privacy policies and practices;
2. the name and address of the individual to whom inquiries or complaints can be forwarded;
3. on gaining access to your personal information held by our company;
4. on lodging a complaint to our organization; and
5. a description of the type of personal information held by Wilkinson & Company LLP, including a general account of its use.

Wilkinson & Company LLP makes information available to allow you to exercise informed choices regarding the use of their personal information.

Principle #9: Individual’s Access

Wilkinson & Company LLP will inform you of the existence, use, and disclosure of your personal information upon request and provide access to that information. You are able to challenge or correct the accuracy and completeness of your personal information and have it amended.

When a request is made in writing, we will inform you in no more than 30 days, of the existence, use, and disclosure of your personal information and you will be given access to that information. In order to safeguard your personal information, we may require you to provide sufficient identification information to permit us to authorize access to your file. This information will normally be provided at no cost.

In certain exceptional situations, we may not be able to provide you with access to all of the personal information we hold. Exceptions may include information that is prohibitively costly to provide, information that contains references to other individuals, information that cannot be disclosed for legal, security or commercial proprietary reasons, information that is subject to solicitor-client or litigation privilege. If this is the case, Wilkinson & Company LLP will provide the reasons for denying access upon request.

You can obtain information or seek access to your individual files by contacting our designated privacy officer at the address described below.

Principle #10: Challenging Compliance

A client always has the right to challenge Wilkinson & Company LLP’s compliance with the above principles by contacting the privacy officer accountable for our compliance with the policy.

Wilkinson & Company LLP maintains strict procedures for addressing and responding to all inquiries or complaints about its handling of personal information. We openly provide information about our privacy practices as well as availability of complaint procedures, if necessary.

Our privacy officer will investigate all complaints concerning compliance with the privacy policy. If a complaint is found to be justified, we will take appropriate measures to resolve the complaint, including amending our policies and procedures, if appropriate.

A complaint can also be referred to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and/or the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

In exceptional circumstances, the privacy officer accountable for compliance with our privacy policy may seek external legal advice before providing a final response to individual complaints.

Web site:

If you as a visitor choose to submit information to this Web site, you agree to the use of such information in accordance with our privacy policy. Please note, this site contains links to other sites, which may not be governed by this privacy policy. This site does not use cookies for any of its components.

As a visitor, you do not have to submit any personal information in order to use this Web site. This site collects only personally identifiable information that is specifically and voluntarily provided by visitors. This information is used for limited purposes. For example, when you submit information to request future communications about Wilkinson areas of interest, such as our newsletter, we may use the information you submit to create a personal profile to customize our response to further requests or enquiries. We will ensure that our marketing activities comply with applicable law.

To ensure that our Web site is well managed, we or our service provider may track information on our systems and identify categories of visitors by items such as domain and browser type. This information is reported to our webmaster who may use the information to analyse the number of visitors to different areas of the site to make sure that our Web site is serving as a useful and effective information source.

For Further Information

For more information, please contact our privacy officer directly through our website (PrivacyOfficer@wilkinson.net), by calling our toll-free number listed on the website, or by writing to any of our offices.