Posted on 03/13/2002 2:28:03 PM PST by 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!!!!
Yep...this is far from over...S&P PE at 62:1...give me a break...thats a cap weighted index....
What are the sheep saying....rally...recession over...recovery.....blah blah blah...
Step right up while the Pro's short into ya...LOL
Have you ever heard of "company culture" and "institutional memory?" The other offices may not be just like Houston. But it could be reasonably expected that making liberal interpretations of standards, shredding documents, etc. are okay--it is the AA way.
An acquiring firm gets the accounts (profitable), the employees, the lawsuits and liabilities. As it is now, when engagement contracts with clients come up for renewal, some AA clients are dumping them. If Ernst & Young were to acquire AA, EY's existing clients might look at them differently. That is why they are a problem--lawsuits, iability and image.
Out of curiosity: what constitutes "scarce resources" in this scenario?
Shady bean-counters are a dime a dozen!
The WS Journal said AA was once the gold standard in auditing. The whole purpose of a CPA (public accountant) is to make sure that public companies are properly financed. Greed changed that into giving a stamp of approval on shady dealings. This is yet another outgrowth of the Clinton-greed years. No, it's not all Clinton's fault this time, but he set the standards at rock bottom.
That's Ernst & Young.
You missed an excellent chance to add: , KNOWWADDAMEAN?
The answer: Authentic collectables have a cool holographic sticker on them, signifying that Arthur Andersen certifies that Don Mattingly or whoever really signed the ball.
Oops. That's an error on the advertiser.
Only about half of Andersen's business is audit business as I recall. Many of the firm's divisions work in different fields like Consulting, Collection, Tax Policy Analysis etc.
I am simply amazed that many posters here think there is any difference between big accounting firms. Some how A. Andersen is a big bad Dirty Finacial Firm and punishment and blame are going to make them feel better about the world.
All of the big corporations such as Enron have their creative accounting schemes and it is only good management, not auditors, that keep it in check. Auditors are only able to look for purely cooked-books like the Pharmor Pharmacy chain a decade ago when the head guy was stealing the money of his own firm to buy WFL teams etc.
Andersen is just a media and congress-critter fall guy.
/sarcasm off
ENRON is a blip on the radar...a micro blip...but if you look at ENRON...you will see the whole scam that the securities industry is...
They are all crooks...Anderson...Enron...Market Makers...UnderWriters....the whole thing is set up to fleece the public...
I am amazed that the "focus" on Enron and Anderson hasn't moved to the real culprit of this scheme...the industry itself and its sub-culture.
Why do you think they issued upgrades when the market was tanking? Where do you think the smart (inside) money was? IT WAS SHORT FOR CHRIST SAKE! Why do you think they kept issueing upgrades? SO THEY COULD SHORT INTO THE SHEEP!!!...
Enron was nothing more than a corporate daytrader playing with leveraged and risky positions...AA helped them....nothing more....
KEEP YOUR EYE ON INDUSTRY! Enron and AA are indicative of a far greater problem...The rest of the boys in the club are plenty pissed off for the spotlight that ENE and AA brought...they will deflect and obfuscate....WATCH THE INDUSTRY
The head of one of the other Big 5 is reported to have stated the obvious: "I just want their accounts and their talent (paraphrasing from memory). Those are readily available without purchasing the firm. The accounts are fleeing faster than anyone can keep track, the "talent" which worked on those accounts will be promptly laid off, the firm which picks up each client will try to pick up the "talent" which is already familiar with the client, and most of said "talent", being unemployed, will jump at the offer. AA is likely to become a corporate shell consisting of nothing but a huge pile of known and potential liabilities, and it will die slowly and quietly in the file cabinets of various bankruptcy courts.
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