Opinion ID: 1166571
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Accountant-Client Privilege.

Text: The trial court also granted the appellee's motion to suppress all evidence obtained from Hook, the accountant who audited Balto Industries' records. The court ruled that the information given by the appellee to Hook was privileged. Again, we disagree. The accountant-client privilege is established by statute in Colorado in the following language: A certified public accountant shall not be examined without the consent of his client as to any communication made by the client to him in person or through the media of books of account and financial records, or his advice, reports, or working papers given or made thereon in the course of professional employment; nor shall a secretary, stenographer, clerk or assistant of a certified public accountant be examined without the consent of the client concerned concerning any fact, the knowledge of which he has acquired in such capacity. (Section 13-90-107(1)(f), C.R.S.1973.) The question is whether the appellee occupied the status of Hook's client so as to enable him to invoke the privilege. We hold that he did not. Hook was employed in the civil proceedings, pursuant to a stipulation by the parties, to audit Balto Industries' corporate books. The purpose of the audit was to provide an independent determination of the corporation's value, and thus facilitate settlement of the lawsuit. Hook was appointed, not by the appellee, but by order of the district court, and he was to be paid by Balto Industries. Thus, Hook's activities were neither ordered, controlled, nor paid for by the appellee. These facts clearly show that the appellee was not Hook's client for these purposes, and therefore the appellee could not invoke the accountant-client privilege in this case. See Hopkins v. People, 89 Colo. 296, 1 P.2d 937 (1931). Accordingly, the orders of the trial court must be reversed, and the cause remanded to the district court with directions to vacate the order dismissing the information and to reinstate the information.