Section Ac 404.03 - Retention of Client Records(a) A CPA shall return client records in his or her possession to the client upon request by the client or the client's designated agent for their return. The records shall be returned immediately upon demand unless a delay is necessary in order to retrieve a closed file or to extract the CPA's work papers described in (d) - (f) below. If the records cannot be returned immediately upon demand, the CPA shall immediately notify the client of the date by which the records will be returned. Nothing in this section shall require a CPA to pay delivery costs when the records are returned to the client.(b) If the client is any form of a partnership, records shall be returned upon request by any of its general partners, its managing partner or his or her designated agent. If the client is a corporation, records shall be returned upon request by its president. If the client is a limited liability company, records shall be returned upon request by the managing member. Joint records shall be returned upon request by any party.(c) A CPA shall not retain a client's records in order to force payment of any kind.(d) Work papers shall be the CPA's property and need not be surrendered to the client. If work papers contain data which should properly be reflected in the client's books and records but have not been duplicated therein copies of any such work papers shall be provided to the client.(e) Work papers considered part of the client's records shall include but not be limited to: (1) Worksheets in lieu of original entries, such as listings and distributions of cash receipts or cash disbursements on columnar work paper;(2) Worksheets in lieu of general ledger or subsidiary ledgers, such as accounts receivable, job cost and equipment ledgers, or similar types of depreciation records;(3) All adjusting and closing journal entries and supporting details not fully set forth in the journal entry; and(4) Consolidating or combining journal entries worksheets and supporting detail used in arriving at final figures incorporated in an end product such as financial statements or tax returns.(f) Work papers developed by the CPA incident to the performance of an engagement which do not result in changes to the client's records, or are not in themselves part of the records ordinarily maintained by such clients, shall be solely the CPA's work papers and shall not be the property of the client.(g) A CPA shall ensure that the work product and the work papers created in the performance of an engagement for a client are retained for a minimum of 5 years after creation unless the CPA is required by law to retain such records for a longer period.N.H. Admin. Code § Ac 404.03
#6904, eff 12-4-98, EXPIRED: 12-4-06
New. #8810, INTERIM, eff 1-25-07, EXPIRED: 7-25-07
New. #9051, eff 12-27-07
Amended by Volume XXXV Number 01, Filed January 8, 2015, Proposed by #10746, Effective 1/1/2015, Expires1/1/2025.