DEATH of Aurther ANDERSEN

CNN | March 13th | LOU DOBBS

[elfman2]

"Not quite sure I understand what you're saying. You mean PW and C&L? What's your point?"

It's that the ordering of those companies in 1997/98 was probably as I described it. PW seems to have made some amazing gains since they were all was referred to as the "Big 6".

I had kind of a weird hybrid technician/psychological major in school, and I had to sell it to recruiters. PW didn't even give me an interview. I publicly challenged the AA recruiter's claim that America had become less productive despite technology during his pre interview pizza party, so my actual interview lasted about 5 minutes. Lol! The E&Y recruiter just went through her 2nd Change Management class, and I'd just taken some similar courses so we connected.

I was so enthusiastic about E&Y when one of the recruiters mentioned the word "integrity" 3 times during his presentation. I swear, I didn't hear the word "integrity" mentioned 3 times by all the E&Y people put together during the next 5 years.

I have mixed opinions of them. I walked away from almost half the projects thinking that we'd done something good. But about half were just a mess with a pretty packaging to make them look like a success. At E&Y, skills required for managing relationships and politics were respected and developed far more than technician skills. I understand the necessity for a balance, but a large minority of the staff simply BS'ed their way through the technical side, and focused on their machiavellian skills to move forward.

I'd be interested to know how AA's possible demise is effecting these people. My guess is that they'll just be more focused on CYA, rather than rewarding "integrity".

[cactmh]

We've talked via FReepmail before. I'm sorry I didn't recongize your name. Most likely the B.S.ers will find a job somewhere else using their B.S. skills.

[elfman2]

"We've talked via FReepmail before. I'm sorry I didn't recongize your name. Most likely the B.S.ers will find a job somewhere else using their B.S. ski"

Hey Craig, sorry I didn't notice your sig as well. My experience may be toward the extreme being that it was consulting rather than auditing and healthcare rather than manufacturing, aerospace, banking etc... And being that it was in the mid 90s when few understood the incoming waves of managed care or distributed computing, B.S'ers had a lot more latitude.

Nevertheless, I think that it was ingrained into the Big 5 consulting culture across all industries to some degree. It take a great effort to eliminate it when so much can be achieved from a well-constructed misrepresentation in an environment where everyone rotates every 6 - 18 months. I think that our odds are about as good at ridding politics of the BS'ers. Stay well…

[johnboy]

there was a fascinating discussion here about a year or so ago between two freepers about which armory sgt. york's gun came from. what really amazed me, though, was that both participants appeared to be talking (typing) 'off the tops of their heads' (so to speak).