The Neighbor Who Wants Your Working File
You complete a grazing-lease valuation for a ranch owner who is negotiating renewal with a tenant. The tenant, who is also a longtime acquaintance and a member of the same cattlemen's association, calls you after the report is delivered and asks you to send him your field notes, the comparable sales spreadsheet, and 'your thinking on the range condition adjustment.' He says the owner has already shown him the summary and he just wants to understand the analysis. The engagement letter specifies the report is prepared for the owner and does not authorize release of working papers.
1. What is the appropriate response to the tenant's request?
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Decline to release the working file and direct the request to the client. The engagement letter defines the client and limits distribution; the consultant does not have authority to expand the audience. The relationship with the tenant, however cordial, does not create a client relationship or a right of access. A professional response acknowledges the request, explains that the working papers belong to the engagement and release requires the client's authorization, and offers to discuss the published report's methodology at a general level if the client consents. Do not editorialize about the negotiation or speculate on the owner's position.
2. The tenant asks you to 'just tell me off the record' whether the range condition adjustment favors the owner. How do you handle it?
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Refuse the off-the-record request. There is no off-the-record channel in a consulting engagement - anything said will be attributed to you and will affect the negotiation. Explain that you cannot discuss the substance with a non-client party, and that if he wants an independent view he should retain his own consultant. Document the call in the engagement file: date, who called, what was requested, and your response. Documentation protects both the consultant and the client if the conversation is later characterized differently. The ethical obligation runs to the client who retained you, and the social relationship does not override it.