I take confidentiality seriously, so I’m always surprised when a Client expresses concern about privacy. Here’s our policy:
- We don’t disclose your private information to anyone or any agency without your explicit permission. If we’re consulting for you, with say a banker, Workman’s Compensation auditor, financial planner etc., we get your permission and limit that consult to the matters at hand.
- No one outside our Firm will even know you’re a client unless you explicitly authorize it.
- The only exception would be a subpoena forcing us to turn over documents.
- Clients generally send us documents through Drop Box, Google Drive, USPO, FedEx, password protected PDFs and fax. We accept documents by e-mail, but discourage that because of possible identity theft issues.
- We send documents and tax forms to Clients via Drop Box, Google Drive, Fax and Echo Sign (a password protected PDF delivery service).
- We take reasonable precautions to limit accidental disclosure. For example my cell phone requires a personalized swipe to use it.
Confidentiality is so important to CPAs that our National and State Societies discuss it with us during our annual Ethics training requirements.