Technical factsheet: rights of access to accounting records when those records are held by a third party

Documents belonging to clients must be given to clients (or their agents if authorised to do so) promptly on request, or on ceasing to act for the client, except in those cases where members are able to exercise a right of lien. For documents belonging to members, the decision whether to allow clients (or their agents) to inspect them rests with the members. Clients have no rights to demand access. Where clients ask members to disclose documents to a third party and those documents belong to clients, members must disclose the documents unless they are exercising a right of lien. Where documents belong to members they are not obliged to comply with the request.