(a) Licensees shall not divulge, nor shall they in any manner be required to divulge, any information that is communicated to them or obtained by them by the reason of the confidential nature of their employment. The information shall be deemed confidential; provided, however, that nothing in this subsection (a) shall be construed as prohibiting the disclosure of information required to be disclosed by the standards of the public accounting profession in reporting on the examination of financial statements or as prohibiting disclosures in investigations or proceedings under this chapter, in ethical investigations conducted by private professional organizations or in the course of peer reviews, or to other persons active in the organization performing services for that client on a need to know basis or to persons in the entity who need this information for the sole purpose of assuring quality control. Disclosure of confidential information pursuant to this subsection (a) shall not constitute a waiver of the confidential nature of the information for any other purpose.(b) Information derived as a result of such professional employment is deemed to be confidential, except that nothing in this chapter shall be construed as modifying, changing or affecting the criminal or bankruptcy laws of this state or of the United States.
