Ormerod defends Andersen
Andersen UK managing partner, John Ormerod, has revealed the Enron shambles 'rightly' poses questions for the profession, and thrown his weight behind any changes required in the UK.
In a letter sent to all Andersen UK staff and partners, Ormerod, said that ‘whatever emerges from the ashes of Enron, if the profession needs to change the way it works here in the UK, we will support that.’
Meanwhile, he hit back at critics, by declaring that his firm should not be blamed for the failure of Enron, and that ‘responsibility for its strategy, financing and ultimate failure rests primarily with the company’s management and directors.’
He said: ‘Andersen should not be singled out as being responsible for Enron’s failure, which it appears was not anticipated by many.’
Additionally Ormerod defended the firm against accusations it had destroyed Enron files after being ordered not to.
‘All auditors routinely destroy during and after any audit many non-material documents, but as soon as we found that an Andersen partner had committed a serious error of judgment in relation to the destruction of documents, we notified the authorities and dealt with the people involved firmly and publicly,’ he said.