2002: Year in Review

Its been a year many in the acccounting profession would like to forget - 12 months dominated by the demise of former Big Five firm Andersen, as corporate America was consumed in a long list of accounting scandals, starting with gas giant Enron and global telecom WorldCom, both which spectacurlarly collapsed.

To relieve some of these moments, AccountancyAge has put together this special report -just click on the links on this page to reflect on the sagas, debacles, collapses and scandals that rocked the world of accounting and the business world in general.

• Year of shame and pain
  As US scandals battered accountancy's reputation and threatened to engulf the UK industry, Damian Wild looks back on our very own annus horribilis.

• Flashback 2002
  2002 will be remembered as the year when the Big Five became the Big Four and accountants lost their 'boring image' - for the wrong reasons. Even without all this, it would still have been a turbulent year. Michelle Perry, Paul Grant and David Rae look back.

• Timeline 2002
  Highlights and lowlights from the year.

We also covered some of the biggest news stories in a series of special reports. Click on the links below to trace these

• The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
  
• WorldCom
  
• Andersen and Enron
  
• SEC in crisis - Pitt goes
  

Below, some of the biggest stories of the year as they happened: