I work in an accounting office. For years, it has been our practice to ask clients for a copy of their latest .cab file when we do their yearend. This is an ordinary .cab file, made using the usual backup procedure. We are not asking for an 'accountant version' of the data. We import their accounting data into our software and prepare the yearend. If there are adjusting entries, the client keys them into their live data.
In the past month or so, a few clients have told us "I cannot give you a copy of a .cab file because giving you a copy of a .cab file will make my live data not work any more" Sometimes, the reasoning is 'that would invalidate my licence'. Most of our clients have continued to send us .cab files and there haven't been any problems.
I can't think of any way that sending us a copy of a .cab file would do anything at all, harmful or otherwise, to the client's live data. Am I missing something? Is there a situation I need to be aware of where we could accidentally be lousing things up for the client?