DISCLAIMERS AND POLICIES

PRIVACY POLICY

At EMH Accounting and Advisory, we are firmly committed to protecting the privacy of our customers and those who sample EMH Accounting and Advisory's services. EMH Accounting and Advisory is the sole owner of the information collected on this site. We will not share, sell, or otherwise distribute the financial or personal information of our customers, or those who otherwise provide personal information to sample our products and services, to any other persons or organizations in any way other than what is disclosed in this document.

This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for https://www.emhaccounting.global/. If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact us by email - info@emhaccounting.global. In accordance with COPPA, EMH Accounting and Advisory does not, at any time, knowingly collect information from, or market our products or services to children under the age of 13.

All financial and personal information collected by EMH Accounting and Advisory is held in the strictest confidentiality. Any information, such as email, billing and shipping addresses, and other contact information – submitted via a purchase form, registration form, download form, newsletter subscription, or online application service – remains the sole property of EMH Accounting and Advisory. This information is used to help us process such items as service provision, payment and to send registration information to our customers.

Furthermore, any third party personally identifiable information, submitted on your behalf by an outside party (e.g. in the case of the "email-a-friend" feature, or a gift purchase) is treated with the same care as primary information.

If at any time, EMH Accounting and Advisory wishes to use your personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify you via email. It is entirely at your discretion whether or not we may use your information in this different manner. In addition, if EMH Accounting and Advisory makes any material changes in our privacy practices that do not affect user information already stored in our database, we will post a prominent notice on our website, notifying users of the change. In some cases when we post the notice we will also email those users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

There are also instances when EMH Accounting and Advisory will use a "cookie" in order to track website usage. These cookies do not collect personal information and are usually terminated once customers leave the site. These cookies record the time of your visit, the date, the "referring" page that brought you to our site, and the IP address that your ISP has assigned to your computer at the time of your visit. This anonymous information is used to assist us in refining our websites to create a better user experience.

The information gathered for the EMH Accounting and Advisory User Forums is completely voluntary. A user needs only enter a name and email address. Whether or not this information is displayed on the website is up to the user. This simply provides a means with which to interact with other Forum Users. This information is not required by EMH Accounting and Advisory. Any information posted to a non-secure User Forum is considered in the public domain.

When using online "chat" programs to speak with EMH Accounting and Advisory support associates, your correspondence is not broadcast in any way. This is a one-on-one interaction. Your screen name is any you choose and are not logged or recorded.

In some areas of the website, EMH Accounting and Advisory may choose to link to another website. We cannot be held responsible for any of the content on these external sites. We are also not responsible for the privacy policies in place on those sites. We encourage any user to read and understand the privacy policy of any third-party website before making extensive use of that website’s content and functionality.

To further protect the privacy of our customers, access to information by our employees is restricted within the company. Only select employees with an absolute need to use that information – in order to better serve customers – are able to view any personal details submitted.

From time to time, EMH Accounting and Advisory will request more specific information about our customers. This is done in the form of surveys and is completely voluntary. The information gathered in these surveys helps us determine who our customer base is and what their needs are. By compiling this data, we can work to improve customer experiences with the company.

Personal information provided by customers, or those who sample EMH Accounting and Advisory products or services, is sometimes used to contact individuals regarding new information about our services. Anyone contacted by us with services/product information can request to be removed from further updates at any time.

Overall, we at EMH Accounting and Advisory strive to treat our customers as each one of us would like to be treated. We value our privacy and we value yours too. It is our goal to make your experience with EMH Accounting and Advisory a safe and positive one.

Email disclaimer:

• "This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing, or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.”

• “WARNING: Computer viruses can be transmitted via e-mail. The recipient should check this e-mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The Supplier accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this e-mail. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secured or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender, therefore, does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission."

• “No employee or agent is authorized to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of The Supplier with another party by e-mail without express written confirmation by a Director/Member/Owner of The Supplier. Any agreements concluded with The Supplier by using electronic correspondence shall only come into effect once The Supplier has indicated such contract formation in follow-up communication.”

• “The Supplier accepts no liability for the content of this e-mail, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided unless that information is subsequently confirmed in writing."

• “Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Supplier. Employees of The Supplier are expressly required not to make defamatory statements and not to infringe or authorize any infringement of copyright or any other legal right by e-mail communications. Any such communication is contrary to company policy and outside the scope of the employment of the individual concerned. The Supplier will not accept any liability in respect of such communication, and the employee responsible will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising. No e-mail correspondence sent to The Supplier shall be deemed to have been received until The Supplier has responded thereto. An auto-reply shall not constitute such a response.”

• “This communication and its contents may be monitored for security and policy aberrations and correspondence that may bring The Supplier in disrepute.”

• “The Supplier retains the copyright to all e-mail messages sent from its communications systems.”

POPIA NOTICE

Introduction:

EMH Accounting and Advisory processes personal information and other confidential information of individuals and juristic persons to deliver accounting services to our clients. The nature of the personal information which we process depends on the accounting service we render in each matter, as well as the legislative requirements to be adhered to by us.

We are obliged to process personal information in accordance with the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act, no. 4 of 2013 (‘the POPI Act’). This notice constitutes our policy statement to declare our firm’s commitment to comply with the POPI Act when processing personal information and special personal information, as defined in paragraphs 8.5 and 8.9 below.

This notice forms part of our agreement with you and is available on our website www.emhaccounting.global and, upon request, from our office.

Purpose of processing personal information:

We process personal information primarily to deliver accounting services to our clients. We also process personal information –

• for personalized marketing purposes, if you are a client of our firm or if you elected to receive marketing material from us. Please note that you have a choice not to have your personal information used for marketing purposes.

• to send newsletters to our clients and others who have elected to receive newsletters from us. Please note that clients have a choice not to receive newsletters from us.

• to conduct client satisfaction research.

• for audit and record-keeping purposes.

• to deal with requests and inquiries about personal information held by us and to update this information, when advised by you.

• should you apply for employment at our firm, to process your application.

• for the detection and prevention of fraud, crime, money laundering, or other malpractices.

• in connection with accounting process proceedings.

• in connection with and to comply with accounting and regulatory requirements (eg the requirements of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act no. 38 of 2001) or when it is otherwise required by law.

When you contact us by email, other means of electronic communication, telephone, post, or telefax, we collect, store, use, and keep record of certain personal information that you disclose to us. This includes details such as your name, address, telefax number, mobile phone number, and email communication data. By providing us with your personal information, you authorize us and associated entities or third parties (where applicable) to process such information as set out herein.

We do not intentionally collect or use personal information of children (persons under the age of 18 years), unless with the express consent of a parent or guardian, or if the law otherwise allows or requires us to process such personal information.

We do not process special personal information about you unless –

• it is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend a right or obligation in law (eg we have to process information relating to your health as part of our screening processes when you access our premises, in order to comply with Covid-19 regulations and protocols).

• we have obtained your consent to do so (eg should you apply for employment at our firm, we require your permission to do a criminal record check to process information that relates to your criminal record, if any).

We are committed to processing personal information and special personal information –

• fairly and lawfully, for specific lawful purposes.

• in accordance with any agreement, we may have with you and in accordance with the accounting standards applicable to such information or information categories.

• which is accurate and kept up to date.

• which is adequate, relevant, and not excessive or misleading.

Sharing or transfer of personal information:

We undertake to use your Personal Information only for the purpose for which the information is essential and not to share or further process your personal information without your consent.

Please note that in certain circumstances - 

• we must share personal information with third parties as part of the accounting services we render to our clients. Subject to South African legislation, we must inform you when we do so and will share only what is needed for those purposes. We aim to have agreements in place with our service providers to ensure that the personal information that we remain responsible for, is safeguarded by our service providers. Anyone to whom we pass on your personal information will be required by us to treat your information with the same level of protection as we are obliged to do.

• we have to obtain personal information about clients and other persons or entities from third parties as part of the accounting services which we render. We will inform you when we have to obtain personal information about you from a third party.

• we release accounts and other personal information to third parties when we believe that such release is appropriate to comply with the law; to enforce our client agreements and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our firm and our clients. We will inform you when we decide to do so and will share only what is needed for those purposes.

• South African legislation allows for the disclosure of personal information to law enforcement or other agencies without your consent. In circumstances where we are required to disclose information because we are legally obliged to do so, we will first consider the legitimate interests of all concerned.

We may need to transfer your personal information to another country for processing or storage of data or when it is otherwise required by virtue of the nature of the accounting services rendered to you. This will be done only in limited circumstances and in strict adherence of the requirements of the POPI Act and other relevant legislation.

Retention of personal information:

We will retain your personal information for as long you permit us to do so and/or in accordance with the provisions of any applicable legislation.

Please note that we are obliged in law to retain documents containing personal information for at least seven years from the date of the last entry recorded in each particular book or other documents of record or file.

Safeguarding of personal information:

We are required to take reasonable measures to adequately protect all the personal information we hold and to avoid unauthorized access and use of such personal information. To comply with this requirement, we maintain reasonable industry-standard physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards in respect of the personal information we collect, store, disclose and destruct.

Our written communication with clients and third parties occurs mostly via the internet. For this reason, we have implemented generally accepted and up-to-date electronic communication safety measures. However, the internet is not entirely secure and therefore we cannot unconditionally guarantee the security of any information you provide to us via email, social media, or other communication platforms. Should you be particularly concerned about the safety of specific personal information you intend to send to us, you should liaise with your contact person at the firm regarding the appropriate communication platform to be used.

In the unlikely event that an information security breach in respect of your personal information should occur, we will inform you thereof. We will also investigate the security breach and will take all reasonable measures to limit any possible damage which may arise from such breach.

Access to and amendment of personal information held by us:

Our information officer is Mr. Martin Heunis, the chairperson of our firm. Our deputy information officer is Mrs. Erica Heunis. Please phone Mrs. Heunis on +27 72 758 0882, or write to her at info@emhaccounting.global if you -

• have any queries about this notice.

• need further information about our privacy practices.

• wish to request a copy of the personal information we hold in respect of yourself and the purpose for holding it. We will take all reasonable steps to confirm your identity before providing details of your personal information to you. There may be a reasonable charge for providing any information so requested.

• wish to amend, correct, or destroy your personal information held by us. Please contact us to update your personal information whenever your details change.

If we do not respond to a request from yourself pertaining to your personal information to your satisfaction, you may lodge a complaint at the office of the Information Regulator at the following addresses -

• Website: https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/index.html

• Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001

• Postal address: P.O Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017

• Complaint email address: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za

• General inquiry email address: inforeg@justice.gov.za.

Changes to this notice:

We may amend our personal information practices and review this notice from time to time. Amendments will be communicated as necessary and will appear on our website.

Definitions of terms used in this notice:

In this notice, the following terms and expressions will have the meaning as assigned to them by the POPI Act -

Confidential information means any personal information, as defined in the POPI Act, and any other information or data of any nature, tangible, or intangible, oral or in writing and in any format or medium, which by its nature or content is, or ought reasonably to be identifiable as confidential and/or is provided or disclosed in confidence to our firm.

The data subject is an individual or juristic person to whom the personal information relates.

Electronic communication means any text, voice, sound, or image message sent over an electronic communications network that is stored in the network or in the recipient’s terminal equipment until it is collected by the recipient.

An information security breach is any incident -

• in which sensitive and/or protected and/or private and/or confidential information has been lost, disclosed, stolen, copied, transmitted, viewed, altered, destructed, or otherwise used or processed in an unauthorized manner; or

• that results in the unauthorized access of information, applications, services, networks, and/or devices by bypassing our firm’s security mechanisms.

Personal information is information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person, including, but not limited to –

• information relating to the race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, national, ethnic, or social origin, color, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental health, well-being, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language, and the birth of the person;

• information relating to the education or the medical, financial, criminal, or employment history of the person;

• any identifying number, symbol, e-mail address, physical address, telephone number, location information, online identifier, or other particular assignments to the person;

• the biometric information of the person;

• the personal opinions, views, or preferences of the person;

• correspondence sent by the person that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature or further correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence;

• the views or opinions of another individual about the person; and

• the name of the person if it appears with other personal information relating to the person or if the disclosure of the name itself would reveal information about the person.

Processing means any operation or activity or any set of operations of the responsible party, whether by automatic means, concerning personal information, including —

• the collection, receipt, recording, organization, collation, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, alteration, consultation, or use of personal information;

• dissemination of personal information by means of transmission, distribution, or making available in any other form; and

• merging, linking, as well as restriction, degradation, erasure, or destruction of personal information.

Record means any recorded information regardless of form or medium, including any of the following -

• writing on any material;

• information produced, recorded, or stored by means of any tape recorder, computer equipment, whether hardware or software or both, or other devices, and any material subsequently derived from information so produced, recorded, or stored;

• label, marking or other writing that identifies or describes anything of which it forms part, or to which it is attached by any means;

• book, map, plan, graph, or drawing; and

• photograph, film, negative, tape, or other devices in which one or more visual images are embodied to be capable, with or without the aid of some other equipment, of being reproduced.

• in the possession or under our firm’s control, whether it was created by us; and regardless of when it came into existence.

Responsible party means EMH Accounting and Advisory.

Special personal information is information that relates to religious or philosophical beliefs, race or ethnic origin, trade union membership, political persuasion, health or sex life, or biometric information of a data subject. It also includes criminal behavior relating to alleged commissions of offenses or any proceeding dealing with alleged offenses.