Uninsured liability isn't the primary issue as these firms typically are self-insured. Reinsurance for the broader risk would be nice but that isn't the problem either. Re-read my AP article at #14. The real problem is that if the LLC itself is charged with certain crimes,
the overall firm can lose its SEC certification for audits. Thus the whole audit end of the business, can't perform certified audits....their core business can't perform.
SEC can grant a waiver if it was an isolated partner office that alone did the wrong doing as they have for all the big five from time to time....but the SEC is waffling,,,,,they want to have the penalty and still have the deep pockets....
So two government agencies, Justice and SEC will equivocate and Andersens employees, I think many more than Enron as I recall, will suffer.
your notion that AA could lose SEC certification to conduct AUDITS could EASILY be what the MAJOR drawback is to ANY merger with the remaining top 4....
Uninsured liability most certainly is the primary issue for potential acquirers, which is why AA exec's have been making the rounds of insurance companies -- "self-insurance" isn't worth anything when the firm doesn't have the assets to cover its current liabilities, never mind the ones that haven't surfaced yet.
As for SEC certification, that could be an obstacle to AA continuing as an independent firm, but in the event that an acquisition by another firm was arranged, you can be sure that the deal would include a pre-arranged guarantee from the SEC that the merged entity would be covered by the acquirer's certification.