(a) All statements, records, schedules, working papers and memoranda made by a licensee or partner, shareholder, officer, director or employee of a licensee, incident to, or in the course of, rendering services to a client in the practice of public accountancy, except the reports submitted by the licensee to the client and except for records that are part of the client’s records, shall be and remain the property of the licensee in the absence of an express agreement to the contrary between the licensee and the client. No such statement, record, schedule, working paper or memorandum shall be sold, transferred or bequeathed, without the consent of the client or his personal representative or assignee, to anyone other than one or more surviving partners or stockholders or new partners or stockholders of the licensee, or any combined or merged firm or successor in interest to the licensee. Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting any temporary transfer of workpapers or other material necessary in the course of carrying out quality reviews.

(b) A licensee shall return a client’s original records to his client or former client upon the client’s request and reasonable notice in accordance with the regulations of the board and any accounting or other records belonging to, or obtained from or on behalf of, the client that the licensee removed from the client’s premises or received for the client’s account. The licensee may make and retain copies of such documents of the client when such documents form the basis for work done by him. A licensee shall provide such other records to a client or former client as the board may provide by regulation.

(c) A licensee shall ensure that any work product and workpaper created in the performance of an engagement for a client is retained for not less than seven years after the creation of such work product or workpaper, unless the licensee is required by law to retain such records for a longer period. Any work product or workpaper prepared by a licensee in the course of an audit of a corporation the securities of which are registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as from time to time amended, or that is required to file reports under Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as from time to time amended, shall be retained for the period described in § 33-1332.