1885年出生的亚瑟·安达信（Arthur Andersen）在23岁的时候，成为
美国伊利诺斯州最年轻的注册会计师（CPA），当时在整个美国也才仅有2200名注册会计师。在亚瑟·安达信27岁的时候，芝加哥北部久富盛名的西北大学（Northwestern University）向亚瑟发出了邀请，条件是做该学校会计学系的主管。仅仅一年后，亚瑟就成为第一个介入公众经济学领域的学者，当然亚瑟仍然留在西北大学任教，并且一教就是十年。
1913年任西北大学教授的亚瑟·安达信和普华会计师行（Price Waterhouse）的克拉伦斯·德莱尼（Clarence Delaney）在芝加哥创立了安达信公司（原名Andersen Delaney & Co.）。当时正值第一次世界大战期间，会计师很少具有大学文凭，他们大多从学徒开始做起，在堆积如山的账册中苦熬多年才能出头。会计师的工作也仅限于核对公司的资产负债表和收益表。
但安达信深信，会计师传统的角色难以满足20世纪企业的需求。查账人的角色不应该只是最后的审查，也要进行最初的把关。他认为，一流的会计师应该为公司客户提出具建设性的报告，帮助其解决管理上的日常问题。此时，恰逢美国国会通过了所得税法，给会计师行业的发展提供了机会，安达信对传统的会计制度发起了挑战，将审计纳入了公司的运营，并以自己的服务信念，迅速将公司发展壮大。
安达信的的先见之明给他带来了发财和繁荣壮大的机会。亚瑟·安达信是一个有心的人，从他决定做事业的那一天起，他就谋划将学校最有前途的学生选入自己教授的班上。他苦心竭虑地要将他们培养成千锤百炼的会计师。安达信的目标是，这些可造之才要能用独一无二的方法论来提高财政金融系统的性能。
这时的这群人更像一个团体。
初建信誉
早在1914年，一家芝加哥铁路公司要求安达信认可其一笔有争议的交易，以达到降低费用、提高收益的目的。当时，安达信尚不满周岁，且正值28岁的亚瑟 ·安德森缺少现金支付工资。但他却坚决地回绝了该公司的要求，并正告：即使倾芝加哥全城之财富，也难以诱我让步。其结果不难设想，安达信立刻失去了一个审计客户。然而，数月后该铁路公司就陷入了破产。亚瑟为安达信赢得了作为一个会计师应有的声望。
1915年，安达信要求一家轮船公司在公布其资产负债表时，对一艘货轮的沉没而造成的成本进行披露──尽管这发生在这家轮船公司的财政年度之后，但在安达信签署这家公司的财务报表之前。这是历史上首次有一家会计师事务所要求用这样的标准进行披露，以保证财务报表的准确性。由于这种专业化特色及一贯对客户采取严格标准，安达信公司很快赢得公众的信赖。
1918年，德莱尼退出，公司改名为Arthur Andersen & Co.并迅速在美国扩张，其中包括1921年开始在哥伦比亚特区开展业务。当时，安达信便提出了一个全新的业务概念——管理信息咨询，但这并不是其后来的咨询业务内容。在以后的20年中，安达信用一种“一家公司”的理念把所有办公室联系在一起。这家公司为其员工和合伙人开设了有创新意识的培训课程并树立了从业标准。
更新换代
1947年安达信去世，由于对安达信家族的所有权有争议，公司几乎破产。好在后来安达信的学生伦纳德·斯帕切克（Leonard Spacek）继承了他的衣钵，继续将公司团结在一起，建成一家主要业务为审计和咨询的公司。
斯帕切克是一个极其有创见性并在商务操作方面创造性的领导。在1947年至1963年，在他的任期内，安达信公司得到了全球性的发展，在仅仅20年里，公司收入从1950年的800万美元变成了20年后的1亿3千万美元。斯帕切克还直接参与并启动开张了5家位于欧洲的全球性分公司，这也是安达信首次拥有自己的全球性分公司并开始向它的顶点迈进。
1950年，安达信将所谓“克里考夫”方法介绍给全世界：安达信不仅仅为客户审计帐务，还可以按照客户的需要建立电脑记帐系统。此项技术为其带来了巨额利润。
在斯帕切克掌管公司期间，安达信继续保持了其保护公众利益的姿态，发扬光大了亚瑟·安达信开创的“诚信高于利润”的传统。它曾指责拜斯海姆钢铁公司将其 1964年利润虚增60%.它还批评SEC对公司假账监管不力。坚持使用严格的会计标准，甚至牺牲本公司和其它公司的利润也在所不惜。这些业绩的直接结果是使安达信公司成为了世界上最大、最受尊敬的专业性服务机构之一。在斯帕切克离去后的很长时间里，安达信仍十分注重公众利益。
天作之离
1952年，安达信的会计师们首次帮助GE（通用电气公司）安装了一套电子系统，标志着安达信咨询业务的开始。安达信公司在1954年开始在美国成立安达信咨询（Arthur Anderson Consulting），正式进入咨询领域。安达信的咨询业务增长非常快，同时由于受到外界对于该公司，同时为企业提供会计财务审计和咨询服务而可能丧失公允性的怀疑，安达信咨询一直试图脱离安达信公司。80年代中期，会计业的竞争使审计收入呈下降趋势，事务所开始将注意力转向管理咨询。
1989年，公司最终分拆为主营会计业务的安达信公司（Arthur Andersen）和主营IT咨询业的安达信咨询公司（Andersen Consulting）。从此咨询和审计业务分离，双方各自经营，业务范围彼此分立、相互补充。到了90年代，审计同管理咨询之间的收入差距日益明显。安达信咨询（Andersen Consulting）是从Arthur Andersen分离出来的，但收入增长远远超过Arthur Andersen.90年代后期，Andersen Consulting每年要向Arthur Andersen支付2亿美元的利润，这使安达信咨询的合伙人深感不快。同时，利润又驱使Arthur Andersen建立起自己的管理咨询部门。这不仅违反了双方的分工默契，而且形成了一定的竞争。有趣的是，安达信（Arthur Andersen）最终抵制不住咨询需求迅速增长的诱惑，开始鼓励自己的咨询部门承接业务。
到1997 年，安达信咨询（Andersen Consulting）已经成为世界上最大的咨询公司，而安达信（Arthur Andersen）的企业咨询业务也已经跻身全球第十四名。Andersen Consulting向设在巴黎的国际商会提出了离异的要求。当安达信咨询决定最终脱离安达信时，后者认为根据协议，前者必须支付100亿美元的违约金及继续使用Andersen这一名称的费用，而安达信咨询指责安达信私自发展咨询业务，实际上已违反1989年协议在先。争端持续了两年半，2000年8月，国际商会的仲裁实现了Andersen Consulting的愿望，但以此为代价的是必须放弃“Andersen Consulting”的名称，另起炉灶。
从1997年到2000年，漫长的诉讼使安达信公司业务损失惨重，在“五大”中只能敬陪末座。虽然安达信最终得以保留“安达信咨询”的商标所有权，原安达信咨询公司被迫更名为Accenture（埃森哲或安盛）。但是 “分家”之后，安达信只获得了10亿美元的赔偿，与它提出的150亿美元巨额赔偿要求相去甚远。
2001年年初，当安然事件被炒得沸沸扬扬之时，由于与安达信以前的血缘关系，埃森哲的名字也被频频提起。人们感叹埃森哲未卜先知的运气：正因为当年埃森哲选择和安达信分手，才避免了在安然事件中也弄得一身污水。人们常把有情人终成眷属说成是“天作之合”，可这桩分离实在可以称得上是“天作之离”。
误入歧途
贝拉迪诺的前任瓦迪亚对“离婚大战”的判决心满意足，声称安达信“离婚”成功是他事业上的“一个高峰”。安达信董事会则对10亿美元的赔偿感到不满。最后，瓦迪亚体面地离开安达信，贝拉迪诺走马上任。
Andersen Consulting独立后，Arthur Andersen的收入压力陡增，从而进一步刺激了其对咨询业务的欲望。总是Arthur Andersen做出让步，而决策又常常来自于最高管理层。媒体指出：丰厚的咨询收入使审计师丧失了挑战管理当局的勇气。
在经历痛苦的分拆之后，安达信在全球五大会计师事务所当中由排名第一降至最末。再造辉煌，重夺王座的艰难任务，陡然间压在新任CEO贝拉迪诺肩上。
但是，从1993年起Arthur Andersen却因卷入多起会计丑闻而接二连三地受到SEC的调查。几次比较重要的有：
1.1996年的韦斯特管理公司虚报合同案，韦斯特管理公司的财务报表对公司1992年至1996年的收入虚报多达10亿美元。美国证券与交易委员会发现安达信的审计报告极不真实，而且有误导作用。最终裁定其涉嫌不正当职业操作。安达信接受了这一裁决，并赔付了700万美元的民事罚金，但对其是否应负责任未置可否。安达信还同意为2.2亿美元的庭外和解支付部分款项，但没有承认自己有任何过失。
2.1997年的阳光公司（SUNBEAM）破产案，阳光公司被指伪造销售额、利润和开支。在其合伙人已发出信号的前提下，安达信仍旧认可了阳光公司存有疑点的财务报表。最终，阳光公司宣布破产。对于美国证券与交易委员会提出的索赔要求，安达信极力反对。最终，在对指责不置可否的情况下，安达信与股东庭外和解，赔偿1.1亿美元。
3.垃圾处理公司破产案，垃圾处理公司（WASTE MANAGEMENT INC.）是美国著名的垃圾处理和回收公司，1971年上市，安达信一直对这家公司进行审计。1997年Arthur Andersen的审计客户垃圾处理公司宣布对其1988至 1997年的财务报告进行调整，调整金额创下了美国历史最高记录。美国证券交易委员会向法院提供的起诉称，安达信在1992年至1996年期间“明知故犯”和“不顾后果”地为美国废物管理公司提供虚假、具有误导性的审计报告，把该公司的收入虚报了14.3亿美元。这种做法显然给投资者以错误的财务报告。 2001年6月，华盛顿联邦法庭以“欺骗及伪造账目”罪判处安达信罚款700万美元。垃圾处理公司于2002年1月宣告破产，安达信以2.2亿美元了结因垃圾处理公司的帐目问题而引起的集团诉讼。
在五大中，安达信由于审计问题与集团诉讼股东达成的和解次数和金额是最多的。
致命一击
安达信自安然公司1985年成立伊始就为它做审计，做了整整16年。除了单纯的审计外，安达信还提供内部审计和咨询服务。20世纪90年代中期，安达信与安然签署了一项补充协议，安达信包揽安然的内部审计工作。不仅如此，安然公司的咨询业务也全部由安达信负责。2001年，安然公司付给它的5200万美元的报酬中一半以上的收入（2700万美元）是用来支付咨询服务的。
安然从1997年到2001年间虚构利润5.86亿美元，并隐藏了数亿美元的债务。美国监管部门的调查发现，安然公司的雇员中居然有100多位来自安达信，包括首席会计师和财务总监等高级职员，而在董事会中，有一半的董事与安达信有着直接或间接的联系。
2001年10月安然财务丑闻爆发，美国证监会（SEC）宣布对安然进行调查。可就在同时，安达信的休斯敦事务所从10月23日开始的两个星期中销毁了数千页安然公司的文件。而公司在10月17日就已得知美国证券交易委员会在对安然公司的财务状况进行调查，直到11月8日收到证券交易委员会的传票后才停止销毁文件。2001年12月安然宣布破产。2002年1月安达信承认销毁文件，Arthur Andersen芝加哥总部提出：这是休斯敦事务所所为。2002年初Arthur Andersen将负责安然审计的资深合伙人大卫·邓肯除名。而大卫·邓肯则申辨：这是总部的授意。在初步调查的基础上，司法部于3月14日对Arthur Andersen提起刑事诉讼，罪名是妨碍司法公正，理由是该公司在安然丑闻事发后毁掉了相关文件和电脑记录，从而开创了美国历史上第一起大型会计行受到刑事调查的案例。
分崩离析
注册在瑞士的Andersen World Wide是安达信全球范围内所有业务的“母”公司。行政总部设在芝加哥的安达信美国成员所通过一系列复杂的法律协议安排，和世界各地的安达信成员所建立了复杂的“合伙”关系。通过这种精密安排，和世界各地的成员所共享资源、分配利润、承担风险。安达信美国所的赔偿责任主要落在美国所和美国合伙人的身上，其他地区的业务虽有波及，但相比之下损失应该非常小。
为逃避株连，安达信的海外公司纷纷自寻出路，脱离安达信的全球网络，2002年3月 21日安达信（香港）和安达信（中国）宣布加盟普华永道，安达信被拆掉第一块砖。紧接着俄罗斯安达信宣布并入安永；新西兰安达信也宣布并入安永；加拿大安达信宣布与普华永道进行合并谈判；西班牙安达信也宣布脱离全球体系。安达信（新加坡）、安达信（菲律宾）、安达信（台湾）的业务并入安永；安达信（日本）和安达信（泰国）等并入毕马威。这种状况可谓：从大树底下好乘凉变成树倒猴狲散；或者从同一战壕的盟友变成墙倒众人推。只可惜百年老店毁于一旦。
2002年3月26日安达信的CEO约瑟夫·贝拉迪诺辞职。
2002年4月3日，安达信国际任命安达信（法国）负责人阿尔多·帕多索为新的CEO，安达信的税收咨询业务也在4月底正式并入德勤事务所，安达信宣布裁员7000多人，占美国人员的四分之一；前后不过4个多月的时间，安达信（美国）从呼风唤雨的业界“巨无霸”变成众叛亲离、甚至自身难保的“泥菩萨”，等待它的除了5月份开庭的官司，还有破产或者被吞并，其最好的结局恐怕也是“死缓”。
最后结局
2002年6月15日，安达信被法院认定犯有阻碍政府调查安然破产案的罪行。安达信在陪审团作出决定后宣布，从2002年8月31日起停止从事上市公司的审计业务，此后，2000多家上市公司客户陆续离开安达信，安达信在全球的分支机构相继被撤销和收购。而2001年财政年度的它的全球营业额为93.4 亿美元，代理着美国2300家上市公司的审计业务，占美国上市公司总数的17％；在全球84个国家设有390个分公司，拥有4700名合伙人、2000个合作伙伴，专业人员达8.5万人。
8月27日，安达信环球与安然股东和雇员达成协议，同意支付6000万美元以解决由安然破产案所引发的法律诉讼。但安达信美国就没有那么幸运了，作为安然的外部审计师，它仍然是这起集体诉讼的被告之一。
2002年8月31日，安达信环球（Andersen World wide）集团的美国分部——安达信会计师事务所（Arthur Andersen LLP）宣布，从即日起放弃在美国的全部审计业务，正式退出其从事了89年的审计行业。
2002年10月16日，美国休斯敦联邦地区法院对安达信妨碍司法调查做出判决，罚款50万美元，并禁止它在5年内从事业务，此次裁决使安达信成为美国历史上第一家被判“有罪”的大型会计行。
2005年5月31日，美国最高法院推翻了安达信公司妨碍司法的判决，认定先前判决缺乏充分证据。也许对安达信而言，3年后虽然终于等到最高法院为其翻案，但实际意义可能将只限定于“还其清白”的范畴。充其量这一最终裁定也只能使安达信在民事诉讼中则可以处于一个比较有利的位置，而合伙人也可能不会因为败诉而赔得倾家荡产。
2005年12月5日，美司法部放弃了对安达信的诉讼。这一决定使安达信负责安然审计的大卫·邓肯可能免除牢狱之灾。目前安达信仅有约200个管理人员，他们的工作主要是与代表股东的律师们就安达信提供给安然和其他客户的服务进行协商。
Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations. In 2002, the firm voluntarily surrendered its licenses to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the United States after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the firm's handling of the auditing of Enron, an energy corporation based in Texas, which had filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and later failed. The other national accounting and consulting firms bought most of the practices of Arthur Andersen. The verdict was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States. However, the damage to its reputation has prevented it from returning as a viable business, though it still nominally exists.
One of the few revenue-generating assets that the Andersen firm still has is Q Center, a conference and training facility outside of Chicago.[1]
The former consultancy and outsourcing arm of the firm, now known as Accenture, which had separated from the accountancy side in 1987 and renamed themselves after splitting from Andersen Worldwide in 2000, continues to operate and has become one of the largest multinational corporations in the world.
History
Founding
Born 30 May 1885 in Plano, Illinois and orphaned at the age of 16, Andersen began working as a mailboy by day and attended school at night, eventually being hired as the assistant to the controller of Allis-Chalmers in Chicago. In 1908, at age 23, he became the youngest CPA in Illinois.
The firm of Arthur Andersen was founded in 1913 by Arthur Andersen and Clarence DeLany as Andersen, DeLany & Co.[2] The firm changed its name to Arthur Andersen & Co. in 1918. Arthur Andersen's first client was the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee. In 1915, due to his many contacts there, the Milwaukee office was opened as the firm's second office. In 1917, after attending courses at night while working full time, he graduated from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in business.
Andersen had an unwavering faith in education as the basis upon which the new profession of accounting should be developed. He created the profession's first centralized training program and believed in training during normal working hours. He was generous in his commitment to aiding educational, civic and charitable organizations. In 1927, he was elected to the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University and served as its president from 1930 to 1932. He was also chairman of the board of certified public accountant examiners of Illinois.
Reputation
Andersen, who headed the firm until his death in 1947, was a zealous supporter of high standards in the accounting industry. A stickler for honesty, he argued that accountants' responsibility was to investors, not their clients' management. During the early years, it is reputed that Andersen was approached by an executive from a local rail utility to sign off on accounts containing flawed accounting, or else face the loss of a major client. Andersen refused in no uncertain terms, replying that there was "not enough money in the city of Chicago" to make him do it. Leonard Spacek, who succeeded Andersen at the founder's death, continued this emphasis on honesty. For many years, Andersen's motto was "Think straight, talk straight."
Arthur Andersen audited major corporations in the US in the early 1960s, such as Louis Lesser Enterprises, Inc..
Arthur Andersen also led the way in a number of areas of accounting standards. Being among the first to identify a possible sub-prime bust, Arthur Andersen dissociated itself from a number of clients in the 1970s. Later, with the emergence of stock options as a form of compensation, Arthur Andersen was the first of the major accountancy firms to propose to the FASB that stock options should be included on expense reports, thus impacting on net profit just as cash compensation would.
By the 1980s, standards throughout the industry fell as accountancy firms struggled to balance their commitment to audit independence against the desire to grow their burgeoning consultancy practices. Having established a reputation for IT consultancy in the 1980s, Arthur Andersen was no exception. The firm rapidly expanded its consultancy practice to the point where the bulk of its revenues were derived from such engagements, while audit partners were continually encouraged to seek out opportunities for consulting fees from existing audit clients. By the late-1990s, Arthur Andersen had succeeded in tripling the per-share revenues of its partners.
Predictably, Arthur Andersen struggled to balance the need to maintain its faithfulness to accounting standards with its clients' desire to maximize profits, particularly in the era of quarterly earnings reports. Arthur Andersen has been alleged to have been involved in the fraudulent accounting and auditing of Sunbeam Products, Waste Management, Inc, Asia Pulp & Paper, and the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, WorldCom, as well as the infamous Enron case, among others.
Two of the last three Comptrollers General of the US General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) were top executives of Arthur Andersen.[3]
Andersen Consulting and Accenture
The consulting wing of the firm became increasingly important during the 1970s and 1980s, growing at a much faster rate than the more established accounting, auditing, and tax practice. This disproportionate growth, and the consulting division partners' belief that they were not garnering their fair share of firm profits, created increasing friction between the two divisions.
In 1989, Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting became separate units of Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative. Arthur Andersen increased its use of accounting services as a springboard to sign up clients for Andersen Consulting's more lucrative business.
The two businesses spent most of the 1990s in a bitter dispute. Andersen Consulting saw a huge surge in profits during the decade. However, the consultants continued to resent transfer payments they were required to make to Arthur Andersen. In August 2000, at the conclusion of International Chamber of Commerce arbitration of the dispute, the arbitrators granted Andersen Consulting its independence from Arthur Andersen, but awarded the US$1.2 billion in past payments (held in escrow pending the ruling) to Arthur Andersen, and declared that Andersen Consulting could no longer use the Andersen name. As a result Andersen Consulting changed its name to Accenture on New Year's Day 2001 and Arthur Andersen meanwhile now having the right to the Andersen Consulting name rebranded itself as "Andersen".
Perhaps most telling about who won the decision was that four hours after the arbitrator made his ruling, Arthur Andersen CEO Jim Wadia suddenly resigned. Industry analysts and business school professors alike viewed the event as a complete victory for Andersen Consulting.[4] Jim Wadia would provide insight on his resignation years later at a Harvard Business school case activity about the split. It turned out that the Arthur Andersen board passed a resolution saying he had to resign if he didn't get at least an incremental US$4 billion (either through negotiation or via the arbitrator decision) for the consulting practice to split off, hence his quick resignation once the decision was announced.[citation needed]
Accounts vary on why the split occurred — executives on both sides of the split cite greed and arrogance on the part of the other side, and executives on the Andersen Consulting side maintained breach of contract when Arthur Andersen created a second consulting group, AABC (Arthur Andersen Business Consulting) which began to compete directly with Andersen Consulting in the marketplace. Many of the AABC firms were bought out by other consulting companies in 2002, most notably, Deloitte (especially in Europe), Hitachi Consulting, PwC Consulting, which was later acquired by IBM, and KPMG Consulting, which later changed its name to BearingPoint.
Enron scandal
The Powers Committee (appointed by Enron's board to look into the firm's accounting in October 2001) came to the following assessment: "The evidence available to us suggests that Andersen did not fulfill its professional responsibilities in connection with its audits of Enron’s financial statements, or its obligation to bring to the attention of Enron’s Board (or the Audit and Compliance Committee) concerns about Enron’s internal contracts over the related-party transactions".[5]
On June 15, 2002, Andersen was convicted of obstruction of justice for shredding documents related to its audit of Enron, resulting in the Enron scandal. Nancy Temple (Andersen Legal Dept.) and David Duncan (Lead Partner for the Enron account) were cited as the responsible managers in this scandal as they had given the order to shred relevant documents. Since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not allow convicted felons to audit public companies, the firm agreed to surrender its CPA licenses and its right to practice before the SEC on August 31, 2002 - effectively putting the firm out of business. It had already started winding down its American operations after the indictment, and many of its accountants joined other firms. The firm sold most of its American operations to KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young and Grant Thornton LLP. The damage to Andersen's reputation also destroyed the viability of the firm's international practices. Most of them were taken over by the local firms of the other major international accounting firms.
The Andersen indictment also put a spotlight on its faulty audits of other companies, most notably Waste Management, Sunbeam, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona and WorldCom. The subsequent bankruptcy of WorldCom, which quickly surpassed Enron as the then biggest bankruptcy in history (the record is now held by Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual) led to a domino effect of accounting and like corporate scandals that continue to tarnish American business practices.
On May 31, 2005, in the case Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously reversed Andersen's conviction due to what it saw as serious flaws in the jury instructions.[6] In the court's view, the instructions were far too vague to allow a jury to find obstruction of justice had really occurred. The court found that the instructions were worded in such a way that Andersen could have been convicted without any proof that the firm knew it had broken the law or that there had been a link to any official proceeding that prohibited the destruction of documents. The opinion, written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, was also highly skeptical of the government's concept of "corrupt persuasion"—persuading someone to engage in an act with an improper purpose even without knowing an act is unlawful.
Demise
Since the ruling vacated Andersen's felony conviction, it theoretically left Andersen free to resume operations. However, the damage to the Andersen name was so severe that it has not returned as a viable business even on a limited scale. There are over 100 civil suits pending against the firm related to its audits of Enron and other companies. In addition, its reputation was so badly tarnished that no company wanted Andersen's name on an audit. Even before voluntarily surrendering its right to practice before the SEC, it had many of its state licenses revoked. A new verb, "Enron-ed" was coined by John M. Cunningham, the former Arthur Andersen Director in the Seattle Office, to describe the demise of Arthur Andersen.
From a high of 28,000 employees in the US and 85,000 worldwide, the firm is now down to around 200, based primarily in Chicago. Most of their attention is on handling the lawsuits and presiding over the orderly dissolution of the company.
As of 2011, Arthur Andersen LLP has not been formally dissolved nor has it declared bankruptcy. Ownership of the partnership has been ceded to four limited liability corporations named Omega Management I through IV. As of 2011, Arthur Andersen LLP still operates the Q Center conference center in St. Charles, nowadays mostly used for Accenture trainings.