Andersen employees face tough interviews
The UK recruitment industry believes former Andersen employees will have a tough time in job interviews and 'may have some explaining to do' following the firm's guilty verdict in a US court.
Steve Carter, managing director of Robert Half UK, said: ‘The Andersen people are recognised as highly skilled, but having worked for Andersen is not as advantageous as it was.’
Meanwhile nervousness has started to emerge from those once in the market for hiring Andersen staff and partners, especially in the US.
Jeremy Newman, UK managing director of BDO Stoy Hayward, who has been in the market to hire former Andersen employees, said the guilty verdict may impact on acquisitions across the Atlantic. He said: ‘There is no legal precedent. Things are not clear in the US.’
In the UK, a spokesman said the firm was continuing to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile Grant Thornton may consider re-examining the liability of 38 former Andersen partners recently hired by the firm in America.
A worst case scenario could see the firm pulled into legal action if former Andersen partners face liabilities as a result of future civil cases. GT hired the partners before the defeated Big Five firm was declared guilty of obstruction of justice after shredding documents relating to the Enron collapse.