Section Accy 1.301 - Confidential client information(1) No person licensed to practice as a certified public accountant shall disclose any confidential information obtained in the course of a professional engagement except with the consent of the client or through the due process of law.(2) This rule shall not be construed: (a) To relieve such a person of the obligations under ss. Accy 1.202 and 1.203.(b) To affect in any way compliance with a validly issued subpoena or summons enforceable by order of a court,(c) To prohibit review of such a person's professional practices as a part of voluntary quality review under authorization of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or the Wisconsin Society of Certified Public Accountants, or(d) To preclude a certified public accountant from responding to an inquiry made by the Professional Ethics Division of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, by the duly constituted investigative or disciplinary body of a state society of certified public accountants, or under any state statutes or the standards of the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.(3) Members of the ethics division and trial board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and professional practice reviewers under American Institute of Certified Public Accountants authorization, or their state society counterparts, shall not disclose any confidential client information which comes to their attention from such persons in disciplinary proceedings or otherwise in carrying out their official responsibilities. However, this prohibition shall not restrict the exchange of information with an aforementioned duly constituted investigative or disciplinary body.(4) The prohibition in sub. (1) against disclosure of confidential information obtained in the course of a professional engagement does not apply to disclosure of such information when required to properly discharge the certified public accountant's responsibility according to the profession's standards. The prohibition would not apply, for example, to disclosure, as required by AU-C section 560 of Statement on Auditing Standards, regarding the subsequent discovery of facts existing at the date of the auditor's report which would have affected the auditor's report had the auditor been aware of such facts. Wis. Admin. Code Accounting Examining Board § Accy 1.301
Cr. Register, June, 1974, No. 222, eff. 7-1-74; cr. (4), Register, December, 1974, No. 228, eff. 1-1-75; corrections made under s. 13.93(2m) (b) 5, Stats., Register, March, 1993, No. 447; CR 03-071: am. (1), (2) (a), (c), (d) and (3), cons. and renum. (4) (intro.) and (a) to be (4) and am. Register May 2004 No. 581, eff. 6-1-04.Amended by, 2015 Wis. Act 217: am. (2) (d), (4) Register May 2016 No. 725, eff. 6/1/2016