| Description |
276 pages ; 21 cm |
| Contents |
The Andersen way -- The making of an android -- The cult in culture -- Cain and Abel Andersen -- Billing our brains out -- Lord of the flies -- Arthur the terrible -- The cobbler's children -- The fall of the house of Andersen -- Other people's money -- Epilogue, November 2003 |
| Summary |
"Arthur Andersen's conviction on obstruction of justice charges related to the Enron debacle spelled the abrupt end of the eighty-eight-year-old accounting firm. Until recently, the venerable firm had been regarded as the accounting profession's conscience. In Final Accounting, Barbara Ley Toffler, former partner-in-charge of Andersen's Ethics & Responsible Business Practices consulting services, reveals that the symptoms of Andersen's fatal disease were evident long before Enron. Drawing on her expertise as a social scientist and her experience as an Andersen insider, Toffler chronicles how a culture of arrogance and greed infected her company and led to enormous lapses in judgment among her peers |
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"Chronicling the inner workings of Andersen at the height of its success, Toffler reveals "the making of an Android," the peculiar process of employee indoctrination into the Andersen culture; how Androids - both accountants and consultants - lived the mantra "keep the client happy"; and how internal infighting and "billing your brains out" rather than quality work became the all-important goals. Toffler was in a position to know when something was wrong. In her earlier role as an independent ethics consultant, she worked with over sixty major companies and is considered one of the nation's leading experts on business and management ethics. Toffler traces the roots of Andersen's ethical missteps and shows the gradual decay of a once-proud culture."--BOOK JACKET |
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Final Accounting exposes the slow deterioration of values that led not only to Enron but also to the earlier financial scandals of other Andersen clients, including Sunbeam and Waste Management, and illustrates the practices that paved the way for the accounting fiascos at WorldCom and other major companies." |
| Notes |
A Currency book |
|
Originally published: 2003. Reprinted in paperback 2004 |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Arthur Andersen & Co.
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Accounting firms -- Corrupt practices -- United States.
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| Author |
Reingold, Jennifer.
|
| ISBN |
0767913833 |
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