We highly value your trust and confidence in us and want to assure you that your personal information is kept completely confidential by us. We adhere to the highest level of professional ethical responsibility and obligations to protect the confidentiality of your information. While this policy is specifically directed to individuals who inquire about or to whom we provide services for personal or family purposes, we adhere to similar confidentiality standards for our business clients.
This Privacy Policy summarizes what information we collect about you, the limited times when we may share it with others, and how we protect your privacy.
In order to meet your needs, we collect various type of personal information about you from the following sources:
Such information may include investment allocations and performance, investment objectives, parties to transactions, account balances, and payment history. Also included is information we receive from you or send to you at your request if you contact us online. We will retain the information you provide us. We may retain the content of your email messages, your email address, and our subsequent response to you.
We retain records relating to professional services that we provide so that we are better able to assist you with your professional needs and, in some cases, may share personal information with our affiliates to assist in our contact with you and to aid in providing solutions and opportunities to you. We do not share personal information with unaffiliated third parties without your express consent, except as permitted by law and as described below.
The law permits disclosure in certain circumstances, such as if we must share information to protect against fraud or to protect against credit risk, in response to a court subpoena, and sharing with others who may be assisting us in compliance with professional standards or who assist us in providing services to you.
We may also share any or all of the information we collect, as described above (except for consumer reporting agency information) with nonaffiliated third parties that perform other support on our behalf, such as outside data processing.
For your protection, our agreements with these entities require that they also keep your personal information in the strictest of confidence, just as we do to comply with professional guidelines. In order to guard your non-public personal information, we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with our professional standards.
Keeping your information confidential and secure is of utmost importance to us. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to guard your personal information. In doing so, we restrict access to your personal information to those employees who need that information to provide services to you and perhaps to the aforementioned support service companies. Those companies are, in turn, legally and contractually bound to maintain the privacy of any information shared with them. Our employees are bound by internal confidentiality policies and are subject to disciplinary action for any policy violations. Should your status become inactive or should our relationship end, we will continue to protect the confidentiality and security of your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy.
S & L Petroleum recognizes that the firm’s engagement and administrative files are critical assets. As such, the firm has established this formal written policy for record retention and destruction in accordance with applicable state and federal laws. Compliance with this policy is mandatory for all employees.
Engagement files are defined as all records related to the engagement, including workpapers and other documents that form the basis of services rendered by the firm, such as all documentation reflecting the procedures applied, evidence obtained, and conclusions reached in the engagement. In order to adequately address the needs of the firm and meet the current regulatory requirements established by the profession and the regulatory agencies, this policy will address separately the document retention requirements for engagement files by the categories indicated below.
S & L Petroleum will retain sufficient records (whether hardcopy or electronic) to reflect services performed by and information provided to the firm for four years after it completes such services. Records, for the purposes of this sub-section, mean final workpapers and any other documents, including correspondence and copies of client records that are necessary for a reasonable person to understand the services performed by and substantive information provided to S & L Petroleum for the engagement.
It is the firm’s policy that all administrative files (including, but not limited, to billing and collecting activities, accounts payable, loans, leases fixed assets, and personnel files) will be maintained for no less than the current legal or regulatory requirements for such items (no less than four years for accounting records) or longer if they serve a useful purpose as determined by S & L Petroleum.
All of the documents and records relating to clients are the property and proprietary interest of S & L Petroleum to the extent it is consistent with applicable laws. All original documents are the property of the client and should be returned to the client upon request. The firm’s documents and records relating to its clients are confidential and may not be disclosed without express written permission from the client or unless required by law. All employees of the firm must ensure that privacy will be maintained for client information. In consideration of the firm’s size, the nature and scope of the professional services we render to our clients, and the sensitivity of the information we collect, the firm has determined that compliance with this policy appears to satisfy the current regulatory requirements under the Federal Trade Commission safeguards Rule.
Our professional ethical obligations and responsibilities demand the highest regard and duty toward the confidentiality of your personal information and security of your privacy. We will protect your personal information, use it appropriately, and accomplish our engagements with you in such manner as to always maintain your trust and confidence. Please call our office if you have any questions.