What do you think about making all AA partners disbursement over the time period liable for the effects of non-standard and negligent (or corrupt) figures in one of their member's audit? If not in this case, in the future? After all, if an AA partner is given credibility from his LLP association, shouldn't he should share in that liability (up to the amount of his income?)
I think that the example of of AA going down will be more effective in improving accounting standards than would new laws. I don't consider myself an anti-government extremist. If the market is failing to discipline companies which engage in bad practices or sell bad products and services, one might consider government intervention. But here is a case where the market is working.
I do understand that there may be some folks here who feel that some legal action should be taken against those who caused them to lose money. Some wish that Enron's phoney business practices had been caught a few years earlier, so that Enron would have fallen before they had purchased the stock, only hurting others. However, it's unrealistic to expect that a new law could decrease overall market risk.