Introduction
In today's business world, corporations could be audited due to not following ethical and legal standards. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legal, ethical, and social responsibility of Arthur Andersen. This paper will also analyze three factors that influence Arthur Andersen's strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning. The term ethics must first be defined to understand a few of the issues involving Arthur Andersen. According to Wikipedia, the term Ethics is a set of principles of right conduct, a theory or system of moral values. When a corporation does not follow ethical or legal standards, they lose public respect, money, customers, and trust due to their behavior. Whether it is taking an extended lunch break or the Accountant fixing your books to overstate revenue by millions of dollars, ethics play a significant role in daily business transactions (Wikipedia, 2007).
About Arthur Anderson
Arthur Andersen LLP, was an accounting firm with an extensive history. It obtained worldwide growth and opened its first international offices during the 1950's. Furthermore, in 1979 it surpassed 1,000 partners and became the world's biggest business services firm. During 1989, it formed a separate consulting practice, from which Andersen Worldwide became the umbrella company for both firms. However, in 1997 Andersen bid for independence and finally in 2000 the split between Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting was agreed upon. During 2002 a potential merger with KPMG (another major accounting firm) failed.
Andersen had 85,000 employees around the world, with about 2,300 clients and $9.3 billion in annual revenues. During 2002, about 700 parted ways with the firm. ...