ACCOUNTANT WORK PAPERS.

(a) In this section, "work papers" means the records kept by an accountant of the procedures followed, the tests performed, the information obtained, and the conclusions reached that are pertinent to the accountant's audit of an insurer's or health maintenance organization's financial statements. The term includes work programs, analyses, memoranda, letters of confirmation and representation, abstracts of company documents and schedules, and commentaries prepared or obtained by the accountant in the course of auditing the financial statements that support the accountant's opinion.

(b) An insurer or health maintenance organization required to file an audited financial report under this subchapter shall require the insurer's or health maintenance organization's accountant to make available for review by the department's examiners the work papers and any record of communications between the accountant and the insurer or health maintenance organization relating to the accountant's audit that were prepared in conducting the audit. The insurer or health maintenance organization shall require that the accountant retain the work papers and records of communications until the earlier of:

(1) the date the department files a report on the examination covering the audit period; or

(2) the seventh anniversary of the date of the last day of the audit period.

(c) The department may copy and retain the copies of pertinent work papers when the department's examiners conduct a review under Subsection (b). The review is considered an investigation, and work papers obtained during that investigation may be made confidential by the commissioner, unless the work papers are admitted as evidence in a hearing before a governmental agency or in a court.