If a listed client partner rotates, what must be avoided?

When a partner responsible for a listed client rotates, it is critical to maintain professional integrity and independence while avoiding frequent or significant communication with the client. This is essential to prevent any potential conflicts of interest or undue influence that could arise from ongoing interactions. By limiting communication, the retiring partner ensures that there is a clear boundary maintained between the outgoing and incoming engagement teams, which helps preserve the objectivity of the audit process.

Frequent or significant communication could lead to situations where the former partner might inadvertently affect the new partner's judgment or decision-making process, thereby compromising the independence of the audit. This principle is in line with regulations and ethical guidelines outlined by standards such as the International Standards on Auditing (ISA), which emphasize the importance of auditor independence throughout the engagement.

The other options such as accepting new clients, communication with the client, or interaction with the engagement team, could occur under appropriate protocols or guidelines and depending on the specifics of the situation. The key focus here is on managing the communication between the outgoing partner and the listed client to uphold the integrity of the audit.