WSJ: AICPA, Four of Big Five Boot Andersen from Lobbying Group

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WSJ: AICPA, Four of Big Five Boot Andersen from Lobbying Group

WASHINGTON -- Andersen, the Big Five firm involved in the Enron situation, was kicked out of a group lobbying for an auditing industry overhaul, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The paper reported that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and four of the Big Five firms removed Andersen from the lobbying group in order to distance themselves from the firm. The group said it felt Andersen's reputation was undermining its ability to "effectively lobby Capitol Hill and that reforms under consideration by the firm could go far beyond what the rest of the industry is willing to accept."

Washington lobbying firm Clark & Weinstock, which the coalition recently hired, said the decision was in the best interests of the accounting industry as a whole.

"Arthur Andersen is in the middle of a firestorm," Clark & Weinstock's Vin Weber told The Journal. "For the near term, the coalition and Andersen will pursue separate paths."

The coalition told Andersen of its decision last Wednesday in a phone call to Andersen's head of government relations in Washington.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff