Legal
How Joel Friend & Associates collects, uses, stores, and protects information from website visitors and clients.
Draft for counsel review. This policy was drafted from how the firm and this website actually operate. It has not been reviewed by an attorney. Before launch it needs review against Florida Statute §501.171 (breach notification), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act safeguards as they apply to CPA firms, IRC §7216 (disclosure of taxpayer information), and any state privacy statutes reaching the firm’s client base.
We collect information in three ways. You give it to us directly when you complete a form on this site, email us, or send documents in the course of an engagement — typically your name, email address, phone number, company name, and whatever you choose to write in the message field. Your browser gives us technical information automatically: IP address, device and browser type, the page that referred you, and the pages you view, collected through standard web analytics.
The third category is different in kind. In the course of a client engagement we receive financial and tax information — Social Security or EIN numbers, income and expense records, bank and brokerage statements, payroll data. That information is governed by the professional confidentiality standards described below, not by ordinary website practice.
Website information is used to respond to your inquiry, to send material you asked for, and to see which pages people actually read so we can write better ones. Client information is used to perform the services described in your engagement letter, to meet our own legal and regulatory obligations — including IRS filing requirements and professional standards — and to communicate with you about your account, your deadlines, and your filings.
We do not sell information to anyone. We do not share it with third parties for their own marketing, and we do not run advertising off this site.
We share client information only where it is necessary to do the work or where we are legally required to. That covers service providers who process information on our behalf under written confidentiality obligations — tax preparation software, the client portal, email and secure file transfer, and IT support — and third parties you have authorised us in writing to speak with, such as your attorney, banker, or lender.
We disclose information without your consent only in response to a subpoena, court order, or lawful demand from a government authority, or where disclosure is otherwise required by law or professional standards. Where we are permitted to tell you that such a demand has been made, we will.
Confidentiality of client tax information is separately governed by IRC §7216 and by the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. Where those standards are stricter than this policy, those standards control.
Client records and tax documentation are retained for at least seven years after the engagement ends, consistent with IRS and Florida record-retention expectations and with our professional obligations. Some records are held longer — where a statute of limitations remains open, or where an examination or dispute is reasonably anticipated.
Website analytics data is retained on a rolling basis by our analytics provider and is not linked to client records. Messages submitted through forms on this site are retained in our email system under the same practice as ordinary correspondence.
Client information in transit moves through encrypted channels — TLS on this website and on the client portal, and encrypted file transfer for documents. Information at rest is held on access-controlled systems limited to staff whose work requires it. Staff are subject to written confidentiality obligations as a condition of employment, and access is removed when someone leaves the firm.
Please do not send Social Security numbers, account numbers, or tax documents as ordinary email attachments. Use the client portal; that is what it is for.
No system is perfectly secure and we will not claim otherwise. If we become aware of a breach affecting your information, we will notify you as required by Florida Statute §501.171 and any other applicable law.
You may ask what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct anything inaccurate, request a copy, or ask us to delete it. Send the request to [email protected] and we will respond within 30 days.
Deletion is not always available. Where a record forms part of a client file we are professionally or legally required to keep, we will say so and tell you the retention period rather than delete it. Requests to stop receiving email from us are honoured immediately and require no explanation. Residents of states with comprehensive privacy statutes may have additional rights; we apply the practices above regardless of where you live.
This site uses cookies necessary for it to function, and cookies set by our analytics provider to count visits and see which pages are read. We do not run advertising pixels or cross-site tracking.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site will still work, though some preferences will not persist between visits. Where your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, we honour it.
Questions about this policy can be sent to [email protected] or by mail to Joel Friend & Associates, 2863 Executive Park Dr Ste 105, Weston, FL 33331.
