Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 80 Part 1.djvu/828

 792

Penalty for

Severability of provisions.

Fees.

PUBLIC LAW 89-578-SEPT. 16, 1966

[80 STAT.

of certificate of certified public accountant to a person whose certificate or endorsement of certificate shall have been revoked, or may permit the registration of a partnership or of a practicing certified public accountant whose registration has been revoked. SEC. 16. Nothing contained in this Act shall prohibit any natural person not a certified public accountant from serving as an employee of or an assistant to a certified public accountant or a partnership of certified public accountants. Nothing contained in this Act shall prohibit a certified public accountant or a partnership of certified public accountants of another State from temporarily performing specific accounting engagements in the District of Columbia on professional business incident to regular practice outside the District of Columbia: Provided, That such temporary practice is conducted in conformity with the rules of professional conduct promulgated by the Commissioners. SEC. 17. Any person who violates any provision of section 3 of this Act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be subject to a fine of not more than $500 or to imprisonment for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment. Whenever the Commissioners have reason to believe that any person is liable to punishment under this section, they may refer the facts to the Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia, who may cause the proper proceedings to be brought, if, in his judgment, such as warranted. Prosecutions for violations of any provision of section 3 of this Act shall be conducted in the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions in the name of the District of Columbia by the Corporation Counsel or any of his assistants. SEC. 18. The use, display, or uttering by a person of a letterhead, listing, card, sign, advertisement, directory classification, or other printed, engraved, or written instrument or device, bearing a person's name in conjunction with the words "certified public accountant" or "certified public accountants" or any abbreviation thereof, shall be prima facie evidence in any action brought under section 17 of this Act that the person whose name is so displayed caused or procured the display or uttering of such letterhead, listing, card, sign, advertisement, directory classification, or other printed, engraved, or written instrument or device, and that such person is holding himself out to be a certified public accountant or partnership of certified public accountants. SEC. 19. All statements, records, schedules, working papers, and memorandums made by a certified public accountant or by a partnership of certified public accountants incident to or in the course of professional service to clients, except reports submitted to clients, shall be and remain the property of such certified public accountant or partnership in the absence of an express agreement between such persons and the client to the contrary. No such statement, record, schedule, working paper, or memorandum shall be sold, transferred, or bequeathed, without the consent of the client or his personal representative or assignee, to anyone other than one or more surviving partners or new partners of such persons. gj;Q^ 20. If any provisiou of this Act or the application thereof ^^ ^^^ persoii or to any circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this Act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are declared to be severable. gj;(3 21. The Commissioners are authorized and empowered, after public hearing, to establish, abolish, increase, or decrease, from time to time, fees and charges necessary to defray the approximate cost of administering the provisions of this Act. All funds derived from fees

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