Your firm serves as the auditor and consultant for Blue Sky Ltd and its four directors $$ Ben Chan owns $50\%$ of the company, his wife Mary Hung owns $25\%,$ John Wong owns $10\%$ and Rose Wong, John$$s sister, owns $15\%.$ Ben Chan is the chief executive officer and John Wong is the finance director. Rose Wong, recently left the executive board after a disagreement with the Ben Chan, has now started her own competing company, Red Sky Ltd$.$

Rose Wong is currently discussing with her former colleagues about the amount of payment to be received based on the company$$s profits and the sale of her $15\%$ share in Blue Sky Ltd to one or more of them.

Rose Wong has reached out to you to find out how much Ben Chan is current being paid, as he will not tell her himself. She also wants your firm to continue advising her personally and serving as the auditor and consultant for Red Sky Ltd$.$

Required:

a$.$ Explain the importance of confidentiality in the relationship between an auditor and a client.

b$.$ Identify and discuss the factors you need to consider when deciding if your audit firm can fulfil Rose Wong$$s request.