Vermont Statutes Title 26 Sec. 81
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 26 Sec. 81
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Firm: means a sole proprietorship, a corporation, a partnership, association, or any other entity that practices public accountancy. See
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Public accountant: means a certified public accountant or a registered public accountant until July 1, 2003, after which the title of registered public accountant will still exist for those licensed as registered public accountants or having received conditional credit toward licensure as a registered public accountant by that date, but will no longer be a title granted by the Board. See
§ 81. Ownership of accountant’s working papers
(a) All statements, records, schedules, working papers, and memoranda made by a public accountant incident to or in the course of professional services to clients, except reports submitted by a public accountant to a client, are the property of the accountant. However, an express agreement between the accountant and the client to the contrary shall take precedence over this subsection.
(b) No statement, record, schedule, working paper, or memorandum shall be sold, transferred, or bequeathed, without the consent of the client or his or her personal representative or assignee, to anyone other than one or more surviving partners or new partners of the accountant or to his or her corporation or any combined or merged partnership or successor in interest to the partnership.
(c) Original copies of client documents in the possession of the licensee are the property of the client, and must be returned to the client upon request.
(d) An accountant or accountancy firm shall have in place a plan for responsible disposition of client records in case of unexpected incapacity or firm dissolution. (Added 1981, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1991, No. 167 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 2001, No. 129 (Adj. Sess.), § 18, eff. June 13, 2002; 2019, No. 30, § 9.)