December 2005                return to newsletter contents page

Statement of Confidentiality

Most owners of closely held firms rightly feel that their financial, operating and sales data are highly confidential. Profit Planning Group is extremely sensitive to this issue, and has developed secure methods of handling and protecting data submitted by firms for industry performance surveys. As the largest provider of profitability studies in the world, our procedures mandate that we maintain confidentiality of all client data.

Major features of this confidentiality program include:

• The processing of such data is restricted to Profit Planning Group staff members. You send your questionnaire directly to Profit Planning Group and they return your individual report directly to you. No other association member or staff person will ever have access to your financial data.

• Your firm's information will be identified in our data files only by a company identification number. A single master list that cross-references the company names and their ID numbers is maintained separately from the data files, and access to this database is restricted to key employees.

• Participant data is aggregated in a way that prevents identification of any individual company in the industry results.

The Profit Planning Group was founded in 1979 with one objective in mind ¾ to help firms like yours make more money. Since then, we have grown into a group of professionals dedicated to providing you with the tools and managerial skills necessary to improve your financial performance.

Profit Planning Group abides by a strict code of business ethics. We respect the sensitive nature of your data and, therefore, offer this written assurance:

“I want to personally guarantee that no individual firm’s operational or financial data will ever be seen or revealed to any person outside the immediate and necessary staff of Profit Planning Group.”

                                                                                                Dr. Albert D. Bates

                                                                                                President,

                                                                                                Profit Planning Group

In summary, confidentiality of client information is at the core of Profit Planning Group’s business. Thousands of companies of all sizes, from less than a million to well over a billion dollars in sales, send their survey forms to Profit Planning Group each year. Every precaution has been taken to protect the complete confidentiality of all information, and because this responsibility is taken very seriously Profit Planning Group has earned their trust.