Privacy Policy

The Association of International Accountants (AIA) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We handle your personal data with integrity and confidentiality, ensuring appropriate security measures are in place.

We are required to collect information about individuals to carry out our functions as a recognised professional accountancy and membership body and to act in accordance with relevant legislation and regulatory requirements.

This policy together sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is the Association of International Accountants of Staithes 3, The Watermark, Metro Riverside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE11 9SN, United Kingdom.

Data Protection Principles

AIA is required to adhere to the six principles of data protection, which means that information must be collected and used fairly, stored safely and not be disclosed to any other person unlawfully.

The six principles are:

personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner
personal data shall be collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in any manner incompatible with those purposes. Further processing for archiving, historical research or statistical purposes is permissible
personal data shall be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purpose for which it is processed
personal data shall be accurate and where necessary kept up to date
personal data processed for any purpose shall not be kept longer than is necessary for that purpose
personal data shall be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures

Information we may Collect from You

We may collect and process the following data about you:

Information that you provide by filling in forms on our site www.aiaworldwide.com. This includes information provided at the time of subscribing to our membership, posting material while using our services or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information if you report a problem with our site or services.
If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
Details of transactions you carry out through our site and of the fulfilment of your orders.
Details of your visits to our site including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data and other communication data.

IP Addresses

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration. This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a bespoke experience when you browse our website and allows us to improve our site.

Membership Data

In general, membership records are kept only for as long as is necessary to:

fulfil and discharge the contractual obligations established between AIA and the member, including the completion of any disciplinary action
provide information on the academic career and achievements of the member to employers, licensing/regulatory bodies and other organisations, as well as to the member as part of their lifelong learning record; and
record the activities of the member as an individual and as a consumer of membership support and fulfil the obligations of the AIA to its regulators and other stakeholders

AIA keeps personal information for as long as individuals remain members of the AIA. After individuals cease being a member, data may be kept for up to 10 years for one of the following reasons:

to respond to any questions or complaints
to show that we treated you fairly
to maintain records according to regulatory requirements and rules that apply to us

AIA may keep data for longer than 10 years if it cannot be deleted for legal, regulatory or technical reasons.

Where we Store your Personal Data

The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Such staff maybe engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Any payment transactions will be encrypted. Where we have given you a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

How we use the Information

We use information held about you in the following ways:

To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes.
To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered between you and us.
To notify you about changes to our service. If you do not want us to use your data in this way, please follow the instructions outlined on the manage your e-communications form.

Disclosure of your Information

We may disclose your personal information to any member of our association as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

If we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
If the Association of International Accountants assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its members will be one of the transferred assets.
If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data to comply with any legal obligation, or to enforce or apply our terms and conditions and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Association of International Accountants, our members, or others.

This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Your Rights

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us at Staithes 3, The Watermark, Metro Riverside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE11 9SN, United Kingdom or by email at newsdesk@aiaworldwide.com.

Our site contains links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Access to Information

You have the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance by written or verbal request to the Association of International Accountants. Any access request will be dealt with in accordance with the GDPR policy (Section 7: Individual Rights). Changes to our Privacy Policy Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by a clear notice on our site.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to:

The Data Protection Officer
Association of International Accountants
Staithes 3
The Watermark
Metro Riverside
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE11 9SN
United Kingdom