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CA Final · Financial Reporting · Professional and Ethical Duty of a Chartered Accountant

CA Meera Joshi, a practising chartered accountant, finishes a statutory audit engagement for Vihaan Textiles Ltd and the relationship ends. Six months later, a competitor of Vihaan offers her a fee for details of Vihaan's costing structure that she learnt during the audit. As per the ICAI Code of Ethics (13th edition) on confidentiality, what is the correct position?

She must not disclose or use the information. The Code says a chartered accountant shall not use or disclose confidential information acquired during a professional relationship even after the relationship ends, and public availability or the fee offered does not remove the duty.

  1. AShe may disclose it, because the engagement has ended and the duty lapses
  2. BShe may disclose it if the information has since become publicly available, whether properly or improperly
  3. CShe may disclose it if she charges only a reasonable fee
  4. DShe must not use or disclose it after the relationship has endedCorrect

Explanation

The Code states that a chartered accountant shall not use or disclose confidential information acquired in a professional relationship after that relationship has ended. The duty also continues even if the information has become publicly available, so the second option is wrong. The fee level has no bearing on the duty.

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