Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how BeanWise Business Solutions ("BeanWise", "we", "us" or "our") collects, uses, shares and protects your personal information when you visit our website, use our landing pages, complete forms, engage with our online advertising (including Google Ads), or use our accounting and advisory services.

This Policy is designed to align with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA") and other applicable data protection laws. It is important that you read this Policy together with any other privacy notices we may provide on specific occasions.

1. Who we are

BeanWise Business Solutions is a professional accounting and advisory practice based in South Africa. We provide bookkeeping, accounting, tax, payroll and related advisory services to individuals, sole proprietors, companies and non-profit entities.

2. Scope of this Policy

This Policy applies when you:

• Visit or interact with our website and associated landing pages;
• Engage with our online advertising, including Google Ads campaigns;
• Submit information via online forms, contact forms or lead forms;
• Contact us via email, telephone, WhatsApp or social media;
• Become a client, supplier or business partner of BeanWise.

3. What personal information we collect

3.1 Information you provide directly

We may collect the following information that you give us:

• Contact details (e.g. name, surname, email address, phone number);
• Business details (e.g. business name, registration number, VAT number);
• Financial and tax-related information necessary to provide our services;
• Responses you provide in forms, questionnaires or consultations;
• Any correspondence you send to us (emails, messages, documents, etc.).

3.2 Information collected automatically

When you visit our website or landing pages, certain information is collected automatically using cookies, tags, pixels and similar technologies. This may include:

• IP address and approximate location (e.g. city or region);
• Device type, browser type and operating system;
• Pages viewed, links clicked and time spent on pages;
• Referring URL (how you arrived on our site);
• Interactions with our Google Ads campaigns and other advertising platforms.

3.3 Information from third parties

We may receive personal information about you from third parties, such as:

• Google (e.g. Google Ads, Google Analytics reporting);
• Social media platforms, if you interact with our profiles or ads;
• Public records or regulators (e.g. CIPC, SARS) where necessary;
• Referrals from existing clients or professional partners.

4. How and why we use your personal information

We process your personal information for the purposes set out below and in alignment with the lawful grounds under POPIA (e.g. consent, performance of a contract, compliance with legal obligations, legitimate interests).

• To respond to enquiries, quote requests and consultation requests;
• To provide accounting, tax, payroll and advisory services to you or your business;
• To verify identity and comply with legal / regulatory requirements (e.g. FICA);
• To manage our relationship with you (billing, statements, support, updates);
• To send you service-related communications, important notices and legal updates;
• To operate, maintain, secure and improve our website, landing pages and services;
• To measure and improve the performance of our marketing campaigns;
• To create anonymised or aggregated statistics for internal analysis;
• To comply with obligations imposed by law, regulators, professional bodies or courts;
• To protect our rights, property, staff, clients and the integrity of our services.

5. Google Ads, analytics and remarketing

We use online advertising tools such as Google Ads and may use analytics tools such as Google Analytics or similar platforms to understand how our marketing performs and how visitors use our website.

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies and/or device identifiers to serve ads based on your past visits to our website or interactions with our ads.
• We may use remarketing to show you ads on other websites based on your previous interactions with our content.
• Google may use the information collected through our site in accordance with Google's own privacy and advertising policies.

You can learn how Google uses data when you use partners' sites or apps by visiting: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites .

You can manage or opt out of personalised advertising by adjusting your ad settings:

• Google Ads Settings: https://adssettings.google.com/
• Opt out of interest-based advertising from many companies: https://www.aboutads.info/choices

For more information on our use of cookies and similar technologies, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

6. Direct marketing

We may use your contact details to send you information about our services, updates, reminders, or relevant accounting and tax news, in line with POPIA and other applicable laws.

You can opt out of direct marketing at any time by:

• Clicking the "unsubscribe" link in our emails (where available); or
• Contacting us using the details in the "Contact us" section below.

7. Sharing your personal information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share it with:

• Service providers who assist us with hosting, email, IT support, data storage, analytics, marketing tools and other operational services;
• Professional advisors such as auditors, tax practitioners, attorneys or consultants where reasonably required;
• Regulators and authorities (e.g. SARS, CIPC, Information Regulator, professional bodies) where legally required;
• Business partners where we work together to deliver services to you, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection arrangements;
• Any third party to whom we may transfer our business or a part of it, subject to appropriate safeguards.

Where we share information with third-party operators (processors), we require them to protect your information and process it only in accordance with our instructions and applicable laws.

8. Cross-border transfers

Some of our service providers or data storage solutions may be located outside South Africa. When we transfer personal information to another country, we take reasonable steps to ensure that it is protected by appropriate safeguards and processed in accordance with POPIA and other applicable laws.

9. Data retention

We will not retain your personal information for longer than is reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy or to comply with legal, regulatory, tax or accounting requirements.

Retention periods are influenced by, among others, SARS record-keeping obligations, Companies Act requirements, professional body rules and potential legal claims.

10. How we protect your information

We take reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against loss, theft, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These measures include, for example, access controls, encryption or password protection, secure storage and staff confidentiality obligations.

However, no system is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of information transmitted to or from us via the internet and you do so at your own risk.

11. Your rights under POPIA and other laws

Subject to certain limitations and conditions, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: You may request confirmation of whether we hold personal information about you and obtain a copy of such information.
• Correction: You may request that we correct or update inaccurate, incomplete or outdated personal information.
• Deletion: In certain cases, you may request that we delete personal information, subject to legal and regulatory requirements.
• Objection: You may object to certain processing, including direct marketing or processing based on legitimate interests.
• Restriction: You may request that we restrict processing in certain circumstances.
• Withdrawal of consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time (this will not affect processing that has already occurred).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in the "Contact us" section below. We may require you to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.

Complaints to the Information Regulator

If you believe that we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you may lodge a complaint with the South African Information Regulator. However, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can attempt to resolve your concern.

12. Third-party links

13. Third-party processors

We use a number of third-party service providers (processors) to operate our website and deliver services. These processors only process personal information on our behalf and are contractually required to protect that information. Common processors we work with include (examples):

• Website hosting and infrastructure: e.g. Netlify, Vercel, DigitalOcean, or other hosting providers.
• Email and productivity providers: e.g. Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or other email hosts used to send and receive communications.
• Analytics and measurement: Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager (see Google's privacy policy).
• Advertising platforms: Google Ads, Meta / Facebook Ads for remarketing and ad delivery (see Google Ads and Meta's policies).
• Video embedding / CDN: YouTube (Google) for embedded videos and content delivery.
• Cloud storage & backups: e.g. AWS, Google Cloud, Azure or third-party backup providers.
• Payment processors: if used, third-party payment gateways/processors such as PayPal, Stripe, etc.
• Professional services: auditors, legal advisors and other professional advisors when required.

This list is illustrative — please contact our Information Officer if you need a full, current list of all processors and their privacy policies.

Our website and landing pages may contain links to third-party websites, plug-ins or applications. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such third-party sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies.

14. Children

Our website, landing pages and services are not intentionally directed at children under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us so that we may delete such information.

15. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our processing activities, legal requirements or business practices. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised "Last updated" date.

16. Contact us

If you have any questions, requests or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how we process your personal information, please contact: