Berardino faces a tough year ahead at the Andersen helm after his admission that his firm has ‘some explaining to do’ following the collapse of energy giant Enron.
But the admission is likely to have repercussions throughout the profession as watchdogs in the US and on this side of the Atlantic rush to review, once again, the vexed issue of auditor independence.
In second place on the Top 50 list is Stephen Alexander, of City solicitors Class Law, currently giving the Big Five sleepless nights with no less than three of them facing the threat of legal action for their work at collapsed Independent Insurance and Railtrack.
Other influential figures in the top ten includes Ernst & Young’s insolvency king Alan Bloom, currently the administrator at Railtrack, the as yet unnamed accountant to head the anti-terrorist finance unit and Howard Davies, head of the omnipotent Financial Services Authority.