Andersen widens its search for a buyer. They’re busy: negotiating with the SEC to settle its potential liabilities as a result of Enron’s collapse, begging Deloitte, KPMG and E&Y to buy it… how do they have time to answer the calls from clients firing them?
Here’s what’s interesting: the article claims (and I think the writer is correct) that Andersen has to be bought. The alternative is a debacle for the accounting profession:
In essence, they said, Andersen must be absorbed by a rival quickly because a collapse would leave thousands of clients struggling to find new accountants, a huge transfer that competing firms would probably be unable to absorb rapidly.
One question: where is PWC?