Now I am interested in who the CPA is. Wonder if he is taking new clients? What other interests does he represent? If I was in this situation I would want to talk directly to the CPA to try and understand the situation a lot more.
No CPA is going to discuss anything at all about a client with any 3rd party unless legally compelled.
In this case, I'm pretty sure the elected auditor would count as part of the "client" unless there was some seriously shady business going on.
Probably more that they can control the scope of any audit the CPA firm manages. The power to scope inquiry is often underestimated.