Yes. This was clear in 2001 during the Enron scandal. Which by the way triggered the collapse of one of the then-“Big Five” and created the “Big Four”. Nothing has substantially changed.
Yes. This was clear in 2001 during the Enron scandal. Which by the way triggered the collapse of one of the then-“Big Five” and created the “Big Four”. Nothing has substantially changed.
And I don't know why you say nothing substantially changed, Sarbanes-Oxley came out of that and accounting students are beat over the head with the lessons from Enron and what changed.
Plus, Arthur Andersen Consulting still exists as Accenture, but they were separate companies at that point. (Accenture was actually pretty psyched because they had nothing to do with Enron, but when AA accounting and AA Consulting broke up they had a deal where the more profitable business would send a cut of their profits to the other company. Since consulting is always more profitable, AA Consulting was looking for a way out of that deal when AA accounting imploded.)
After Enron, Arthur Andersen folded. The partners of Andersen Consulting rebranded their business as Accenture.
Arthur Aderson and Anderson Consulting operated separately under Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative since 1989. The companies formally separated in August of 2000, and the Accenture name was announced in January, 2001.
The Enron scandal broke in December, 2001.
Accenture's timing proved fortuitous, but coincidental.