Valaki segitene ezt leforditani?

To understand the ending of this historical accounting giant, you must know it’s history. The young days of the

firm are nothing to forget; the founder of this once well respected organization began his career at the age of 23 as the youngest certified accountant in Illinois (Goff, 2002). Arthur E. Andersen, an accounting professor at Northwestern University, formed a partnership with Clarence M. Delaney in 1913 in which they purchased a small accounting firm in Chicago that would become

known as Andersen, Delaney, & Co (Carnegie, 2005). The partners split in 1918 and the firm

became Arthur Andersen. Mr. Andersen was a man with a mission; he wanted to create an

organization that was more than “just another accounting firm,” but to be honest and to “think

straight and talk straight”, a phrase Mr. Andersen learned in childhood (Carnegie, 2005). His death in 1947, and succession by Leonard Spacek, led to a period of very successful times for the firm. The first international office was opened in the 1950s, with revenues around $8

million and in the late 1970s, with revenues around $130 million (Goff, 2002). The number of

partners at the firm surpassed 1,000 people. When the firm’s successful consulting division split

from Arthur Andersen, renaming itself Accenture, the top accounting firm emerged from the deal

as number five and with a focus more on its audit services. During these high times, the firm

engaged Enron as a client, in 1986. Andersen provided Enron, through the years, with external and internal auditing, as well as consulting services. Little did many know that this 16 year relationship would become the demise of the firm and its client, Enron.