The CPA and His Duty to Silence.
One of the responsibilities of a certified public accountant, CPA is to keep secret the confidential disclosures made to him by his client in the course of his professional engagement. The AICPA has recognized the need for this confidential relationship in Article 1.03 of the Code of Professional Ethics, which states: A member or associate shall not violate the confidential relationship between himself and his client. To carry out his mission, the CPA must have access to all the information of a company relating to the financial statements, even though some of it might be highly confidential and potentially valuable to competitors. That complete information is made available to the CPA is a tribute to his integrity and professional stature. If a confidential bond did not exist between auditor and client, the auditor-client relationship would not last, since disclosure by the CPA of trade secrets, secret processes, lists of customers or plans of organizations and the like would create such distrust and apprehension in the relationship that the client would be hesitant to let the auditor examine any of the documents for fear of later disclosure. However, the disclosure by the auditor of confidential information learned in the course of his professional engagement in a court of law becomes a much more difficult question.
- DOI
- 10.2308/tar-4483574
- Volume
- 45 (1)
- Pages
- 69-75
- Language
- en
- Export
- BibTeX
- Sources
- openalex crossref