Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen [Paperback]

Barbara Ley Toffler (Author), Jennifer Reingold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2004

A withering exposé of the unethical practices that triggered the indictment and collapse of the legendary accounting firm.

Arthur Andersen's conviction on obstruction of justice charges related to the Enron debacle spelled the abrupt end of the 88-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 Andersen 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. 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.

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 ethics consultant, she worked with over 60 major companies and was an internationally renowned expert at spotting and correcting ethical lapses. Toffler traces the roots of Andersen's ethical missteps, and shows the gradual decay of a once-proud culture.

Uniquely qualified to discuss the personalities and principles behind one of the greatest shake-ups in United States history, Toffler delivers a chilling report with important ramifications for CEOs and individual investors alike.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The doomed accounting firm of Arthur Andersen emerges as a grown-up version of Lord of the Flies in this fascinating insider exposé. Toffler, a Columbia Business School professor and an expert on management ethics, provides an engrossing history of the accounting firm, from its early days as an icon of financial probity to its demise after a drumroll of accounting scandals culminating in the Enron and WorldCom bankruptcies. But the book's greatest strength is the author's first-hand account of corporate corruption. Toffler spent four years at Andersen selling ethics consulting services to clients while her own ethics were affronted and compromised by the atmosphere at Andersen. As a consultant, Toffler wasn't involved in the auditing shenanigans that brought Andersen down, but there was sleaze a-plenty-outrageous over-billing and forcefully selling consulting services clients didn't need-in her bailiwick. Her observations of this sordid milieu, of bullying bosses, desperate sales pitches, jockeying for power and demeaning motivational hoopla, are both funny and revealing. Looking beyond the "bad apples" to the "rotten culture," Toffler blames Andersen's problems on an ethos of conformity and deference to senior managers, bizarre compensation schemes that set partners at each other's throats, and the relentless pressure for lucrative consulting tie-ins that made auditors acquiesce in clients' fraudulent bookkeeping. The result is a case study in "group dependency," in which moral chaos mounts as good people do nothing. Toffler's acerbic wit and keen analysis make this essential reading for anyone concerned with the profit-driven turpitude of corporate America.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Since Toffler was formerly the partner-in-charge of ethics and responsible business practices consulting services at Arthur Andersen, she'll have a lot to say.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business (April 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767913833
• ISBN-13: 978-0767913836
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Erratic, October 5, 2003

By 

G. J Wiener (Westchester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen (Hardcover)

Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen is sort of like a hamburger served at a cheap fast food restaurant. It has plenty of bread at both ends but not much meat midway through.

Barbara Toffler gives a good introduction to whats it is like to interview and train for Arthur Andersen. She gives valuable insight of the mentoring relationships as well and how things sometimes changed rapid fire for her. In addition, it was quite interesting to note how the Audit and Consulting groups never seemd to play for the same team.

However, midway through the book, the reading becomes quite a chore. Way too much repetition about the author's inability to generate sufficient revenues. Toffler does not distinguish herself as a Big Person within Arthur Andersen as she merely makes excuses that anyone reading this review could make. The chapters on massive billing are such a bore. This issue happens everyday at law firms. Anyone who has every watched LA Law would know this. The repeated obstacles that Toffler faced really could have happened anywhere.

All of a sudden, Toffler jumps into the Enron and MCI incidents without sufficient detail. Why did Duncan order the paper shredding? Furthermore, the dry writing style makes it nearly impossible for an outsider to maintain their attention span. Its like you had either work for Arthur Andersen or a similar firm to even relate.

The conclusion to Final Accounting is decent. Toffler is fair in her judgement and places some blame on her own shoulders. However, there are way too many questions left unanswered. Overall, a better book still needs to be written on this subject that will appeal to the average worker in a large corporation.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Biased, Hypocritical & Untruthful in Part, November 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen (Hardcover)

I had the displeasure of meeting Ms. Toffler a number of times at Andersen. Her personality made Leona Helmsley seem like Miss Manners by comparison. She was abrupt and rude to almost everyone she met and would never have fitted in at any large professional firm. Her antipathy to Andersen makes her book so biased as to lack credibility. It seems oriented more to profitable revenge than to providing insight. I know at least one of her descriptions in the book is factually untrue but her fiction makes for a more entertaining read. A pity this "ethics consultant" didn't walk the talk herself. A career as a writer for the National Enquirer seems a better fit.

If you want insights rather than insults, buy "Inside Arthur Andersen" instead. It is written by people skilled in analyzing organizational behavior, appears to be far more objective despite the authors' positions within Andersen, is better researched, and identifies and explains the issues well. It also shows that the key issues affect other firms too, not just Andersen. That book should be required reading for all CPAs, accounting professors and students.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Physician, heal thyself..., March 6, 2004

By 

Blaine Lilly (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen (Hardcover)

This is an odd book, because it's actually two separate books in one cover. The first book, which is essentially a short history of the rise and fall of Arthur Andersen, was no doubt written by the ghostwriter, Jennifer Reingold, and is actually fairly informative. This is the part that gets the three stars - not great by any means, but at least informative.

The second book is interspersed with the first, and purports to be a scathing indictment of the culture of Arthur Andersen, a respected American institution that was subverted and destroyed by arrogance and greed. It's easy to read a lot into this story, since it's really just the current American business ethic in microcosm. Nothing matters here but greed and taking pleasure in stepping in the other guy's face.

What's interesting here is the fact that Barbara Toffler, who clearly considers herself to be an "ethics expert", openly confesses that she was just as ruthless and greedy as everyone else at Andersen. But the reader is left wondering if she ever really quite gets it - does she understand she's just as morally culpable as the Andersen partners she eviscerates? She certainly doesn't seem to be too troubled by her own long list of questionable actions, in any case. The old joke about the definition of "chutzpah" being a person who murders his parents and then pleads for mercy because he's an orphan gets an update here: an unethical peddlar of "ethical services" who turns a quick buck by selling her story. You might feel like taking a shower after you finish this one.