Hello Books is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information with care. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and your rights regarding that information.
We voluntarily comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). While small businesses with an annual turnover under $3 million are generally exempt from the Privacy Act, we have chosen to adopt these standards because we believe our clients deserve that level of respect and transparency.
1. What Personal Information We Collect
We only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary to provide our bookkeeping services or respond to your enquiries. This may include:
Contact and Enquiry Information
- Your name, email address, and phone number submitted through our contact or quote request forms.
- Your business name, ABN, and business address.
- The nature of the bookkeeping services you are enquiring about.
Bookkeeping and Financial Records
- Bank transaction data accessed through your Xero account (view and categorisation access only).
- Invoices, receipts, and financial documents you share with us for bookkeeping purposes.
- Reports we generate on your behalf (Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, reconciliation summaries).
Website and Technical Data
- IP address and browser information, collected automatically for security and website functionality purposes.
- Cookie data — see Section 6 (Cookies) below.
What We Do Not Collect
We do not collect sensitive information such as health records, government identifiers, or bank login credentials. We access your financial data exclusively through Xero’s secure, permission-based platform — we never ask for your banking passwords. We do not require you to create a user account to contact us or request a discovery call.
2. Why We Collect Your Information
We collect personal information for the following purposes:
- To respond to your enquiry and schedule a discovery call.
- To deliver the bookkeeping services you have engaged us for, including weekly reconciliation, transaction categorisation, and monthly reporting.
- To set up, manage, and maintain your Xero account on your behalf.
- To contact you about your service, including follow-up, monthly summaries, or maintenance reminders (with your consent).
- To maintain records required for legal and tax compliance (e.g. Australian Taxation Office requirements for business records).
- To improve our website and service delivery based on aggregated, non-identifiable usage data.
We will not use your personal information for any purpose unrelated to the above without first obtaining your consent.
3. Direct Marketing
We may send you service-related communications, bookkeeping reminders, or occasional updates by email. We will only do this if:
- You have expressly consented to receive communications from us, or
- You are an existing client and the communication relates directly to services similar to those you have already engaged us for (inferred consent, as permitted under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth)).
You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by:
- Clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any email we send, or
- Contacting us directly at hello@hellobooks.com.au.
We will action all opt-out requests promptly and at no cost to you.
4. Who We Share Your Information With
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We may disclose your information only in the following limited circumstances:
- To Xero, as the cloud-based accounting platform through which we deliver our services. Your data within Xero is governed by Xero’s own privacy policy and security standards.
- To third-party service providers who assist us in operating our business (for example, our website hosting provider, email platform, or scheduling software). These providers are required to handle your data securely and only for the purposes we instruct.
- To your accountant or tax agent, with your explicit consent, when we hand over clean books and reports at tax time or as needed.
- Where required or authorised by law, including to comply with a court order, government request, or legal obligation.
5. Overseas Disclosure
Some of the third-party tools and platforms we use (such as Xero, website hosting, and email services) may store or process data on servers located outside Australia, including in the United States, New Zealand, or the European Union.
Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure those overseas recipients handle your information in a manner consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles. By using our website and submitting your information, you consent to your personal information being processed in these overseas locations where necessary.
6. Cookies
Our website uses cookies — small text files stored on your browser — to improve your experience. We use the following types of cookies:
- Essential cookies: Required for the website to function correctly (e.g. form submission handling, navigation).
- Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors use the site (e.g. which pages are visited most). This data is aggregated and does not identify you personally.
- Preference cookies: Remember your display or language preferences between visits.
You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect the functionality of some parts of our website.
7. How Long We Retain Your Information
We retain personal information only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected:
- Enquiry and discovery call data (where no service is booked): Retained for up to 12 months, then securely deleted or de-identified.
- Client bookkeeping records and invoicing data: Retained for 7 years in accordance with Australian Taxation Office requirements.
- Marketing consent records: Retained for the duration of the business relationship and for a period of 2 years following your last interaction or opt-out.
When information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify it.
8. How We Protect Your Information
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. Our security measures include:
- All bookkeeping work is conducted exclusively within Xero’s secure, encrypted cloud platform.
- Secure HTTPS encryption on our website.
- Password-protected systems and platforms for storing client records.
- Limiting access to personal information to authorised personnel only (in practice, this means Natalia, the sole operator of Hello Books).
- Using reputable, security-compliant third-party service providers.
While we take these precautions, no method of data transmission or storage is completely secure. If you have concerns about the security of your information, please contact us directly.
9. Your Rights
Under the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:
- Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Correction: Ask us to correct any personal information that is inaccurate, out of date, or incomplete.
- Deletion: Request that we delete your personal information, subject to any legal obligations we have to retain it (e.g. tax records retained for 7 years).
- Complaint: Lodge a complaint with us if you believe we have mishandled your personal information.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in Section 10 below. We will respond to all requests within a reasonable time and at no cost to you.
10. Contact Us & How to Make a Complaint
If you have a question, concern, or complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first and we will do our best to resolve it promptly:
Email: nataliat@hellobooks.com.au
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal obligations. The current version will always be published on our website at www.hellobooks.com.au/privacy-policy, with the “Last Updated” date shown at the top of this page.
We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of our website or services after a change is posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.