DEATH of Aurther ANDERSEN

CNN | March 13th | LOU DOBBS

[Roger_W_Isom]

LOU DOBBS is reporing that ERNEST YOUNG one of the TOP FIVE ACCOUNTING FIRMS HAS REFUSED TO ACQUIRE AA!!!!! This is NOT good NEWS!!!! if YOUNG refuses to accept AA offer to sell itself to YOUNG that means only one thing FOLKS!!!!

AA is in FAR more seious shape then we realize and we could be looking at the other accountting firms REFUSING TO ACQUIRE AA as early as Mid April!!!!

[PGalt]

Death penalty to economic terrorists.

[b4its2late]

Somebody will take them. The carrot has to be the right size. And they'll most likely get rid of quite a few employees. AA's fall will be hard because they are so large. It sucks, but the few that took advantage brought the rest of the house down with them.

[No Income Tax]

I'd be willing to bet that many of their offices are like the Houston, Texas office. I also believe they are no different than the other big five accounting firms (I am a CPA and have audited big five firms myself and my wife worked for Ernst & Young).

[cactmh]

I'm really sorry that you lost your job, though I also feel it is unfortunate that Andersen employees who had nothing at all to do with this mess are going to lose their jobs. Luckily most will be rehired as the other firms pick up their clients.

[cactmh]

E&Y is most certainly not #1 in the world...maybe in employees, but not in fees collected. PWC is definately #1 by a large margin...

[cactmh]

All Big Five accounting firms have had their share of problems. A lot of these problems appear as the economy slows...If someone is going to buy Anersen, they'll probably just buy their Tax Practice which has a good reputation...

[cactmh]

I've also heard they work their employees very hard.

[elfman2]

"but not in fees collected. PWC is definately #1 by a large margin... "

I don't recall that information being publicly available.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

They are all crooks...Anderson...Enron...Market Makers...UnderWriters....the whole thing is set up to fleece the public...

Unfortunately, I think you're correct. Tragic consequences possible.

[Robert357]

You're refusing to indulge in the grandfather fallacy, the belief that current uses of scarce resources must be superior to what will follow if those resources are released.

Bump for future reference. Thank you a very nice insight into resistance to change.

[Robert357]

Thanks for post 14 that explained things and the core problem that AA faces.

[irish_links]

Let's keep this all in perspective. E&Y doesn't want to acquire Andersen.....now. It is easy to see why. AA is threatened with a criminal indictment by the Justice Department. What firm in its right mind would want to take on that burden? After AA has settled with Justice, the situation will be very much different. E&Y or someone else will be very interested in acquiring the talent, contracts and savvy that exist at AA. Some jobs will be lost in the process, but the total certainly won't be 90,000. Andersen partners will have their equity pretty much wiped out, but they will continue their practices more or less as they always have. Take a deep breath guys and relax.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Yep, it sure is. In fact, I think FR is just about the niftiest thing after capitalism (which is, of course, just the natural expression of liberty).

I've particularly appreciated FR wisdom on military matters over the past 6 months. Military stuff is a subject I have absolutely no first hand knowledge of, and only on FR do news items about a something-or-other crashing come with detailed commentary by people who've flown, serviced, and sometimes even helped design the something-or-other. Very nifty.

[LS]

No, I'm not missing them. The accounting work will still have to be done, but by the same people, at different firms that have more integrity. What, you think that 85,000 trained accountants are going to suddently pop out of schools? I don't think so. These people will be in high demand.

[Tauzero]

Daschle is right! Corporate fraud should be punished!

And the market, of course, is doing just that. :)

[Middle Man]

"I told the mangy little female canine what I thought of her behavior - publicly, in front of three partners - and reduced her to tears"

That perfectly encapsulates the behavior of mainstream feminists: go on the attack when old folks and small children are your target, but collapse into a quivering mass of emotional jello when your bluff is called. Or shriek "Harassment!". Sooo typical.

[SBprone]

I think audit staff, that is auditors with about two to eight years experience will be very much in demand by the firms that pick up Andersens clients. The partners and principals could be another story. If I was running one of the other big firms I would want to hire those audit seniors and managers but I would give the partner assignments to my existing partners and then promote a whole slew of my existing managers to reward them for their hard work and to keep their expertise on their current clients. These guys are doing the real tough work anyway and that would free up the current partners to take on the flood of new engagements.

The potential for dynamic growth and internal promotions in these other firms is so great that I'm getting excited just thinking about it, and I don't even work in the Big Five anymore.

[cactmh]

Uhm, actually it is widely known and reported.

[cactmh]

One of the celebrated CEO's of the age is nicknamed "Chainsaw Al". And he isn't unique.

Care to remember who his auditors were at Sunbeam?