A client of mine was using an outsource bookkeeper for the past two years, this outsource bookkeeper brought back their documents such as Invoices, Bills and Payment Voucher to their own office to do the data entry into QuickBooks Pro 2003 version.
Now, the business has grown to a size that they require real time information. They need the Book to be keep in-house so that they can check the information such as Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Bank balances in real-time. Besides, they need this information to prepare their budget and to make business plan.
They recruited a new Account Assistant to record day-to-day transactions such as invoices, bills and payments. They still need the outsource accountant to be back monthly or quarterly basis to do the review of their accounts.
The easier way to start up the company file is to get the backup copy from their outsource bookkeeper, restore and migrate it to the current version of QuickBooks; then, they can continue doing the data entry immediately without wasting time to re-enter the past transactions or opening balances. So both the management and the outsource bookkeeper can work on one single data file.
When my client requested a backup copy of their QuickBooks company file from their outsource bookkeeper, the outsource bookkeeper refuse to release the information to my client. They told my client that the data file was their ‘property’ and could not be release and they can only provide the opening figure for the balance sheet (without breakdown).
Is it right that the company data was a ‘property’ of the outsource bookkeeper and not the business owner?
In legal point of view, I am not sure about it. I am not a lawyer; I could not answer this question.
However, in business point of view, If I am the outsource bookkeeper, I will release the data to my client.




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