Privacy

Last Updated: October 21, 2019
 

1. Who We Are

The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) is the training, governing and regulatory body for over 37,000 CPA members and 5,500 CPA students and candidates. CPABC carries out its primary mission to protect the public by enforcing the highest professional and ethical standards and contributing to the advancement of public policy.

CPABC takes the privacy of individuals it deals with in carrying out this mission seriously. This Privacy Statement explains how we collect, use, disclose and retain the personal information we obtain from and about the individuals with whom we interact, including our members, students, employees, contractors, volunteers and members of the public. By using our websites, contacting CPABC or providing your personal information to us, you consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information as described in this Privacy Statement.

In this Privacy Statement, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to CPABC.

2. Governing Legislation

CPABC is a public body subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, British Columbia (FOIPPA). CPABC also has confidentiality obligations under the Chartered Professional Accountants Act, British Columbia (the CPA Act) and other applicable legislation.

3. Personal Information

FOIPPA defines personal information as recorded information about an identifiable individual other than contact information. Contact information is information that enables an individual at a place of business to be contacted, including the name, position name or title, business telephone number, business address, business email or business fax number of the individual.

At CPABC, we consider your personal information to be information that is about you, such as your residential address, educational history or payment history, as well as information that identifies you on its own or when combined with information available through other sources.

4. Accountability

CPABC has a designated Privacy team, consisting of the Registrar, who is the “head” of CPABC for the purposes of FOIPPA, the Privacy Officer and the Privacy Program Manager. This Privacy team:

  • Oversees CPABC’s compliance with FOIPPA and this Privacy Statement;
  • Ensures that appropriate policies and processes are in place to prevent unauthorized collection, access, use, disclosure or storage of personal information by CPABC;
  • Provides training and advice to CPABC employees, contractors and volunteers relating to access to information and privacy matters;
  • Responds to access to information requests; and
  • Responds to and investigates reported privacy complaints, incidents and breaches.

All CPABC employees, contractors and volunteers are required to comply with CPABC’s policies and practices when handling personal information in CPABC’s custody or control or on CPABC’s behalf.

5. What Personal Information We Collect About You and How We Use It

The personal information CPABC collects about you will depend on the nature of our interaction with you, the program or activity in which we are engaged at the time we collect the information and the purpose for which we are collecting your personal information.

CPABC will collect only the personal information we need to fulfill the purpose for which the information is collected, operate our programs and activities and perform our duties under the Chartered Professional Accountants Act (CPA Act), CPABC Bylaws and Bylaw Regulations, CPABC Code of Professional Conduct and any other applicable laws or regulations, including to:

  • Regulate the profession in accordance with the CPA Act, CPABC Bylaws and Bylaw Regulations, and the CPABC Code of Professional Conduct (this includes the administration, investigation and adjudication of questions or complaints received by CPABC);
  • Provide services to members, students and others;
  • Develop new or enhance existing programs and activities;
  • Bestow honours and awards, including the election of fellows of CPABC;
  • Manage CPA education programs;
  • Promote and recruit future members into the profession;
  • Manage member and student relationships with CPA Canada, the CPA Western School of Business, the CPA Education Foundation and the CPABC Benevolent Fund;
  • Administer member dues, including to determine eligibility for dues reduction;
  • Conduct research, analysis and surveys to develop new, or evaluate and make improvements to existing programs, services and products and assist in the development of public policy;
  • Customize the content and delivery of our newsletters, marketing and advertising;
  • Manage CPABC’s relationship with its employees, contractors, volunteers and stakeholders;
  • Satisfy our legal and regulatory obligations; and
  • Respond to your questions or feedback.

CPABC will collect your personal information when you:

  • Create and use a “MyCPA” profile;
  • Use CPABC Online Services;
  • Apply for admission to or enroll in CPA education programs;
  • Apply for or obtain membership, a practice license, firm registration or a corporation permit;
  • Are involved in a practice review, complaint or investigation conducted under the CPA Act;
  • Apply for a position with CPABC or provide us with your resume;
  • Volunteer, offer to volunteer or otherwise get involved with CPABC, a CPABC committee, chapter, advisory group or the CPA mentorship program;
  • Participate in our member forums, panels or roundtables;
  • Register and/or submit a payment for, or attend a CPABC professional development course, seminar, executive or certificate program, conference, information session, member forum, or networking or chapter event;
  • Volunteer to or submit content for a CPABC publication;
  • Respond to our surveys and polls;
  • Participate on the CPABC careers site; and
  • Contact CPABC with a question, feedback or complaint.

6. Our Collection Practices

CPABC will collect your personal information directly from you, unless another method of collection is authorized by you or applicable laws or regulation. For example, FOIPPA authorizes CPABC to collect your personal information from another source if the collection of the information is necessary to determine your suitability for an honour or award.

Except for in limited circumstances, such as if personal information is being collected for a professional conduct matter, CPABC will inform you about the purposes for which the information is being collected at the time we collect the information. For more information on why your personal information may be collected, please see section 5 of this Privacy Statement.

7. How We Use Your Personal Information

CPABC will use your personal information to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected or obtained, or a use consistent with that purpose, as described in section 5 of this Privacy Statement. We will seek your consent before we use your personal information for other purposes, except where the use is authorized or required by applicable law.

8. Disclosure of Your Personal Information

CPABC will disclose your personal information to its employees, contractors, volunteers or other parties:

  • with your consent;
  • for the purposes for which the information was collected;
  • if the disclosure of the personal information is required by law, such as if we receive a subpoena, warrant or court or arbitral order for the information; or
  • if the disclosure of the information is authorized or required by legislation applicable to CPABC, such as FOIPPA, the CPA Act, or another law.

When we disclose your personal information, we limit what we disclose to the information the employee, contractor, volunteer or other party needs to know in order to perform their job duties, the services they are providing to CPABC under an agreement or to fulfill the purpose for which the information is disclosed to them.

9. Retention and Storage in Canada

If CPABC uses your personal information to make a decision that directly affects you, CPABC will retain that personal information for at least one year after we use it, so that you have an opportunity to access that personal information. CPABC will retain your personal information for a longer period of time if the purpose for which your personal information was collected necessitates a longer retention period or if a longer retention period is required by law, regulation or policy.

We will store and disclose your personal information inside Canada, unless the law permits, or you consent to, the storage and disclosure of it outside of Canada.

10. Safeguards

CPABC has reasonable technical, physical and procedural safeguards in place to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure and storage. All CPABC employees, contractors and volunteers must comply with these safeguards.

As appropriate, CPABC will incorporate contractual terms or require the completion of non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements to further protect the personal information contractors and volunteers handle on CPABC’s behalf in accordance with CPABC’s standards.

11. Accuracy

We will make every reasonable effort to maintain the accuracy of the personal information that you provide to us.

If you believe that there is an error or omission in your personal information that is in CPABC’s custody or control, you may be able to update this information by signing in to your account on CPABC’s Online Services.

If you are not able to make changes yourself, please write to CPABC Member Records at memberrecords@bccpa.ca.

12. CPABC Communications

If you wish to unsubscribe from one of CPABC’s electronic communications, please update your subscription preferences through CPABC’s Online Services. You may also click on the unsubscribe link embedded in our marketing and promotional emails, or contact CPABC at casl@bccpa.ca or 604-872-7222. Upon receiving your instructions, we will process your subscription request within 10 days of receipt.

Please be advised that regardless of your subscription preferences, we will continue to send you certain communications, such as regulatory communications, communications regarding your purchases and other communications to satisfy legal obligations. CPABC uses the email address you provide to us to send you these communications electronically.

13. Accessing Information

CPABC routinely publishes information related to its business and activities on its website and in its publications, including CPABC’s member directory, firm directory, discipline summaries and public notices.

Under FOIPPA, you also have a right to request access to your personal information that is in CPABC’s custody or control. Some of this information may be available through CPABC’s Online Services.

If the information you wish to access is not available through our website or publications, please send a written request to CPABC’s Privacy Officer at the address stated in section 14 of this Privacy Statement. CPABC is subject to FOIPPA and will respond to these requests in accordance with FOIPPA, including:

  • Providing a written response to your request within 30 business days of receiving your request, unless an extension of time is necessary;
  • Responding openly, accurately and completely;
  • Providing you with an explanation why, if any information was withheld from our response; and
  • Providing you with the contact information for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, as you may ask for a review of our response to your request.

14. Complaints and Concerns about Compliance

If you believe that CPABC has collected, accessed, used, disclosed or stored your personal information in a manner that is not compliant with FOIPPA or this Privacy Statement, please contact CPABC’s Privacy Officer at privacy@bccpa.ca or by writing to:

Privacy Officer
Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia
Suite 800, 555 W. Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC  V6B 4N6

CPABC will review your privacy complaint, determine whether or not your personal information was handled in a manner not authorized under FOIPPA, make any recommendations necessary to improve CPABC’s policies and practices for handling personal information and provide you with a written response to your privacy complaint.

If you are not satisfied with how CPABC handles your privacy complaint, you may seek a further review by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia. Please be advised that if you choose to file your privacy complaint with them prior to providing us with an opportunity to review your privacy complaint, they may redirect your privacy complaint to us for review.

You may also contact CPABC’s Privacy Officer if you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Statement.

15. Website Privacy

CPABC’s websites automatically collect information from you when you visit our websites, such as your Internet Protocol address, the date and time of your visit, your web browser and operating system, the device you use, the pages or services you accessed or links you clicked on and the referring and exit website pages. CPABC uses this information to improve its products and services, advertising, customer communications, user experience and determine eligibility for certain programs. CPABC may also use this information to verify that your use of our websites complies with our Terms of Use.

15.1 Cookies and other Technologies

CPABC’s websites, online services, email messages and advertisements may use cookies and other similar technologies, such as web beacons, pixel or gif tags and action tags, to collect information that assists CPABC to improve its products, services, advertising, customer communications and user experience. 

For example, CPABC may use information collected through cookies and similar technologies to recognize the users of CPABC’s website, track use of the websites, offer personalized web page content and information, display and manage our advertising on our site or other websites and otherwise facilitate and improve your website experience. You may choose to decline or disable cookies if your web browser permits, but doing so may affect your ability to access or use certain features of CPABC’s websites.

In addition, CPABC may use web beacons, pixel or gif tags, action tags and tracking links to confirm that email messages have been delivered and opened and which links have been clicked on.

The information described in this section is captured using third parties and tools such as Google Analytics and Facebook. For more information on how Google collects and uses this data, please see www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. If you wish to opt out of Google Analytics, you can install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. For more information on how to opt-out of the collection and use of information for ad targeting, please see https://preferences-mgr.truste.com/.

15.2 Links to Other Websites or Online Services

CPABC’s websites and online services may contain links to other websites or online services. When you use those links you are contacting another website or service. CPABC has no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those other websites or services or their collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information and you should refer to the privacy policies and terms of use that apply to those other websites or online services.

15.3. Location-Based Services

CPABC may provide location-based services, including marketing and promotions specific to your location. To do so, CPABC collects (directly or from other service providers) and uses information regarding the geographic location of your devices. You can turn off location tracking in your device through your device’s settings.

15.4. GST Zero-Rating

CPABC uses geo-location software to determine eligibility for GST zero-rating on membership dues in accordance with GST/HST Info Sheet GI-034. If you are a non-resident of Canada and you do not consent to the use of the software, please do not pay your membership dues online. Instead, contact finance@bccpa.ca. If you declare that you reside in Canada, this will not affect you.   

15.5. Social Networking

When you post information to a CPABC forum, chatroom, or other social networking service (such as CPABC’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) the information you post is visible to other persons and can be read, collected, used and disclosed by these other persons, including to send unsolicited messages. CPABC assumes no responsibility or liability for the use, disclosure or retention of the personal information that you disclose in those situations. Please be careful when disclosing your personal information in those situations. 

16. Updates to our Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement was last updated on October 21, 2019. The most current version of our Privacy Statement will be published on this page. Any changes to our Privacy Statement will be posted to this page along with the date the latest version was posted.