Hold Arthur Andersen accountable

Washington Times ^ | 3/15/02

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

When should an accounting firm be held accountable? Arthur Andersen, the beleaguered firm that has been involved in some of the most spectacular accounting scandals

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

COMPARE

[meenie]

The SEC will have to get involved now, some people are going to jail.

[KurzeHaare]

'tis no matter to Dicktator Daley. He's already hired him again for some projects.

[ex-snook]

Evaluation of Internal Control is a problem here that may be a potential risk for the entire auditing profession. Historically audit programs (plans) that are used to verify client records were to be prepared after understanding the transaction system then reviewing the system of internal controls which set out the plan of company organization with emphasis on separation (division) of duties. The idea is that no one person could execute a transaction just on their own authority.

Many times the examination of internal control may be peformed by a cursory questionnaire and client answers accepted without verification. It would be most interesting to examine the audit program used by Arthur Anderson and see if the auditors really attempted to understand the accounting system and how the system of internal control (if any) operated and how tested.

All auditing firms would be well advised to look into their own methods of examining internal control at their clients. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of man." (The Shadow Knows then so will everyone else)