Word: andersens
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Accounting firm Arthur Andersen had already been found guilty in the court of public opinion, and paid a heavy penalty. Clients deserted; employees fled. In fact the Chicago firm was barely alive, but one question remained: What would its epitaph be, the lesson for others? An answer came last Saturday, when a Houston jury found Andersen guilty of obstructing justice. It provided a moment of vindication for investors who lost more than $60 billion in the spectacular collapse of Enron, whose books had been audited by Andersen. But the verdict held a twist: at first the case seemed to hinge...
Although the jury convicted the entire firm, it focused the blame on a single person, Andersen's Chicago-based lawyer Nancy Temple, who, according to the legalese, played the "corrupt persuader" who led others astray. Knowing the Securities and Exchange Commission was starting to scrutinize Enron's books, Temple told David Duncan, who supervised the account, to remove her name from a file memo that disagreed with Enron's characterization of a $1 billion loss as "non-recurring." Said prosecutor Andrew Weissman: "This is a perfect example of Arthur Andersen sanitizing the record so the SEC would have less information...
...Andersen vowed to appeal. After several days of deliberation, jurors had seemed deadlocked; then the judge gave them an instruction to basically force them off the fence, a charge that will now be part of that appeal. "Our purpose was to fight for our honor and dignity. We don't think we committed a crime," said senior Andersen partner C.E. Andrews as he stood in the Texas heat defending the firm, which faces as much as $500,000 in fines and up to five years' probation. While the case may continue, the firm may not. Soon after the verdict, Andersen...
...corporate America falling apart? Each day brings sordid details of dirty dealings at the highest levels of what were once our most respected companies. The sleaze at Enron and Arthur Andersen shocked us. Now it's Tyco's turn, and it won't be the last...
...CONSULTING FEES CORRUPT CORPORATE AUDITORS The accounting firm Arthur Andersen earned $54 million a year in fees from Enron, making about as much for auditing the books as it did for consulting work. Andersen basically blessed its own advice. And guess what might have happened to those consulting fees if Andersen had stood up to Enron over questionable bookkeeping? The auditing and consulting functions should be performed by separate firms, and auditors should be replaced every three years. The U.S. should also move to "principles based" accounting standards like those in Europe. America's "rules based" approach, known as GAAP...