<p>Assuming this is a multi-user system</p>

I don't know that it's inherently good or bad.  If there's no reason to centralize the data access from a business standpoint, having a client app talk directly to the database isn't a problem.  You'll want to build a decent data access layer regardless of whether it's done in the client or through a centralized data access server.
You mentioned multi-user, depending on the data and usage you may have transactional issues to deal with which might be an argument for centralizing things, but they can be handled from multiple clients as well.