An accounting practice replacing hardware is disposing of tax file numbers, bank details, financial statements and identity documents for every client on its books. Those sit in local caches, downloads folders and scanned source documents long after the ledger itself moved to the cloud.
Kinsoft provides secure e-waste removal and certified data destruction for accounting, bookkeeping and financial planning practices across Sydney.
What a practice is actually disposing of
Workstations with years of source documents. Scanned receipts, bank statements and identity verification material accumulate locally even when the practice software is hosted.
Scanners and multifunction devices. These retain an internal drive holding copies of everything scanned, which in this sector means TFN declarations and identity documents.
Old servers and backup drives. Practices that ran a server before moving to cloud ledgers almost always still have it, with complete client archives on it.
Devices holding client portal credentials. Saved logins to ATO services and client portals are a separate risk to the documents themselves.
Why the records matter
Tax file numbers carry specific handling obligations, and improper disposal of client financial information is the kind of breach that ends a practice’s reputation locally. A certificate of erasure records make, model, serial, standard and verification per device — useful for your own records, and increasingly asked for by professional indemnity insurers.
Timing around the season
Hardware refreshes in accounting practices sensibly happen after lodgement season, not during it. We schedule collections to suit, and can stage them so no one is without a machine mid-return.
Secure data destruction
Drives are wiped to DoD 5220.22-M by default, with NIST 800-88 and the Australian ISM available. SSDs use firmware-level Secure Erase. Full detail on our e-waste removal and data destruction page.
Arrange a collection
Call 02 9064 2663 or contact us online. We collect from practices across Sydney.
Our practice software is in the cloud. Is there still data on the machines?
Almost certainly. Downloaded statements, scanned source documents, cached files and saved credentials all live locally regardless of where the ledger is hosted.
What about our scanner?
Multifunction scanners keep an internal drive with copies of what has passed through them, which for an accounting practice means identity documents and TFN declarations. It needs wiping before the device leaves.
When is the best time to do this?
After lodgement season. We can stage a collection so nobody is without a machine, but doing it mid-season is avoidable disruption.