Abstract

Auditors’ duty of confidentiality is one of the professional secrecies which have been directly regulated both in generally applicable regulations, that is in the Act of 7 May 2009 on auditors, their self-government, entities authorized to audit financial statements and public supervision, as well as corporate rules – Code of Professional Ethics.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the objective scope of secrecy and its duration. The article also refers to entities protected under this secrecy, including the rights to dispose of the object of protection. The article also identifies entities authorized to have access to privileged information, the scope of the duty of confidentiality, and the obligations of entities authorized to have access to privileged information. The article also defines the criteria of access to privileged information, who controls its secrecy, and who may lift the duty to keep it secret. Moreover, the techniques of processing privileged information, both on paper and in the electronic form, have been discussed. The author has also attempted to answer the question whether privileged information may be made available electronically. The article raises the issue of sanctions for unauthorized disclosure of privileged information, relations with other secrecies, as well as problems related to the overlapping of protective systems.