Privacy Policy

Water and Shark is a worldwide association of independent accounting & consulting firms.Water And Shark does not and cannot offer any legal, accounting, tax, audit or other professional services or advice. Those services or advice may be offered by individual independent member firms of Water and Shark in their local jurisdictions. Each member of Water and Shark is a separate, distinct and independent entity. The relationship between Water and Shark and its independent members is not and shall not be construed as partners, associated companies, principal and agent, joint venture, or employer and employee. No member firm of Water and Shark is entitled to bind Water and Shark in any way.


Disclaimer

The contents of this website, as they refer to Water and Shark, are for general information purposes only and do not constitute advice. Water and Shark believes the contents to be true and accurate as at the date of writing but can give no assurances or warranty regarding the accuracy, currency, or applicability of any of the contents in relation to specific situations and particular circumstances.
This website is not intended to be a source for advice on legal, accounting or tax issues or otherwise and as such, the contents should not be relied upon by users of the website. Users should not act upon this information without seeking appropriate professional advice.
This website is not guaranteed to be free from any so-called computer viruses and it is strongly recommended that users check for such viruses before downloading any information from it to their computer equipment.
Water and Shark may make changes to the material on the website at any time without notice. The material on the website may be out of date, and Water and Shark makes no commitment to update such material.
The material on the website is provided “as is”, without any conditions, warranties or other terms of any kind. Accordingly, to the maximum extent permitted by law, Water and Shark provides users with the website on the basis that Water and Shark excludes all representations, warranties, conditions and other terms (including, without limitation, the conditions implied by law of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and the use of reasonable care and skill) which, but for this legal notice, might have effect in relation to the website.
In addition, none of the content of this website will form any part of any contract between Water and Shark and the user or constitutes an offer by Water and Shark.

Liability

Water and Shark, any other party (whether or not involved in creating, producing, maintaining or delivering the website), and its officers, directors, partners, employees, shareholders or agents, exclude all liability and responsibility for any amount or kind of loss or damage that may result to a user or a third party (including without limitation, any direct, indirect, punitive or consequential loss or damages, or any loss of income, profits, goodwill, data, contracts, use of money, or loss or damages arising from or connected in any way to business interruption, and whether in tort (including without limitation negligence), contract or otherwise) in connection with the website in any way or in connection with the use, inability to use or the results of use of the website, any websites linked to the website or the material on such websites, including but not limited to loss or damage due to viruses that may infect the user’s computer equipment, software, data or other property on account of the user’s access to, use of, or browsing the website or their downloading of any material from the website or any websites linked to the website.
If a user’s use of material on the website results in the need for servicing, repair or correction of equipment, software or data, the user assumes all costs thereof.

Water and Shark Privacy Policy Statement

Overview

Water and Shark is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of its clients, members vendors, partners and employees. We value the trust of the public and those we deal with, and recognize that maintaining this trust requires transparency and accountability in how we treat personal information that is shared with us. This Privacy Policy Statement (“Policy”) has been adopted to guide how we collect, use and disclose the personal information acquired during conducting our business and fulfilling our professional responsibilities.
Water and Shark is dedicated to protecting the confidentiality and privacy of information entrusted to us. We comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018. Please read this Privacy Policy to learn about your rights, what information we collect, how we use and protect it.
This Policy applies only to the Water and Shark web site. Please be aware that the Water and Shark web site may contain links to other sites, including sites maintained by Water and Shark member firms that are governed by other privacy statements that may differ somewhat and/or contain information as required under local law. We encourage users to review the privacy policy of each web site visited before disclosing any personal information.

We follow these policies when collecting, maintaining and using personal information:

WATER AND SHARK is dedicated to protecting the confidentiality and privacy of information entrusted to us. We comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018. Please read this Privacy Policy to learn about your rights, what information we collect, how we use and protect it.

Collection and use of personal information

We obtain personal information about you only if you choose to provide it, such as contact information to register for certain services and/or events. In some cases, you may have previously provided your personal information to Water and Shark (if, for example, you are a former employee). If you choose to register for Water and Shark information through a third party single sign-in service (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, or Twitter), we may collect any information or content needed for the registration that you permit the social media provider to share with us, such as your name and email address. Other information we collect may depend on the privacy settings you establish with your social media provider, so please review the privacy statement or policy of the applicable service.
By registering and/or submitting personal information to Water and Shark, you are also agreeing to the use of this information in accordance with this Policy.
Your personal information is not used for other purposes, unless we obtain your permission, or unless otherwise required or permitted by law or professional standards.

Sensitive Personal Information

Water and Shark generally collects only the personal information required to fulfil your request. If additional information is required, you will be notified of this at the point of collection. Water and Shark only collects "sensitive" personal information (i.e. personal information regarding a person's race, ethnicity, political beliefs, trade union membership, religious or similar beliefs, physical or mental health, sexual life or criminal record) if you voluntarily provide it to us, and only where it is required for a specific purpose, and is permitted to be collected by law or professional standards.

Consent

Your consent is required for the collection and proposed use of personal information when information is collected. Consent can be either explicit or implied and can be provided directly to us by you or your authorized representative (such as your firm’s Managing Partner/Partner-In-Charge or Contact Partner). We require your explicit consent in writing or electronically for the use of your personal information.

Sharing and transfer of Personal Information

In some instances, Water and Shark may share your personal information with outside companies, publications, service providers or vendors. This may include the transfer of this information across geographical borders to other Water and Shark member firms or third parties working with us or on our behalf to help fulfill your requests. Water and Shark may also store personal information in other legal jurisdictions. By providing personal information online to us, you are consenting to the transfer and/or storage of your personal information in this manner. Water and Shark does not sell personal information to any third parties, nor will Water and Shark transfer your personal information to any third parties for their own direct marketing use.

Choices

You are not required to submit any personal information to Water and Shark online, but certain personal information may be required for you to receive additional information about our services and events. Water and Shark may also ask for your permission for certain uses of your personal information, and you can agree to or decline those uses. If you opt-in for particular services or to receive communications from us, you will be able to unsubscribe at any time by following the instructions included in each communication. Where you unsubscribe from a service or communication, we will try to remove your information promptly, but may require additional information to process your request.

Compliance with laws and regulations

Water and Shark may be required to disclose personal information in response to requests of government or law enforcement agencies or where disclosure is required by applicable laws, court orders, or government regulations. These disclosures may also be needed for data privacy or security audits and/or to investigate or respond to a complaint or security threat.

Accuracy

Personal information will be maintained as completely, accurately and up-to-date as possible. You are encouraged to review, correct and update personal information. Under most circumstances you have the right to reasonable access to your personal information to correct any inaccuracies.

Retention of personal information

Personal information will not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it has been collected, except with your consent or as required by law. We do not share personal information with unaffiliated third parties, except where necessary for legitimate professional and business needs, to carry out your requests, and/or as required and permitted by law or professional standards. We also make reasonable efforts only to retain personal information so long as it is necessary to comply with your request or you ask that the information be deleted.

Children

Water and Shark understands the importance of protecting children's privacy, especially in an online environment. Our sites are not intentionally designed for, or directed at, anyone under the age of 18, and our policy is never to knowingly collect or maintain children’s information except where required as part of an engagement to provide professional services.

Cookies

To ensure that the Water and Shark website is well managed and to facilitate improved navigation within it, cookies (small text files stored in a user’s browser) or web beacons (electronic images that allow Web sites to count visitors who have accessed a particular page and to access certain cookies) are used on the Water and Shark website to collect aggregate data. Cookies and web beacons may be used to track information and identify categories of visitors by items such as IP address, domain, browser type and pages visited. This information is used to analyze the number of visitors to different areas of the Water and Shark website to make sure that it is serving as a useful, effective information source.
These cookies and web beacons are not used to collect any personally identifiable information such as your name or email address. Further, most browsers permit individuals to decline cookies. However, under specific circumstances, visitors may be denied access to some parts of the Water and Shark website if their browsers are set to decline cookies

Changes

Water and Shark reserves the right to modify or amend this privacy statement at any time and for any reason. Nothing contained herein creates or is intended to create a contract or agreement between the Water and Shark entities and any user visiting the Water and Shark website or providing identifying information of any kind.