Arthur Andersen was one of the "Big Five" accounting firms until its collapse in 2002 following accounting scandals. Pressure to generate revenue led Andersen to indulge in accounting irregularities and pursue high-risk clients without proper oversight. Its cozy relationship with Enron, including sending inexperienced auditors and destroying documents during investigations, ultimately led to its ban from auditing public companies and bankruptcy. Deficiencies in Andersen's culture, conflicts of interest from non-audit services, lack of independence, and long client tenures all contributed to its audit failures and downfall.

1.  Arthur Andersen was founded as a partnership firm in 1913. acquired
a strong reputation for audit & accounting , opened international offices
during 50s.
In 1979 it surpassed 1000 partners and became the biggest business
service firm. It reorganized itself in 1989.
 In 2002, Anderson Consulting broke away from Anderson worldwide
and became independent under the name of Accenture.
By 2002 Arthur Anderson was among the “Big Five” audit firm of the
world. It had around 85,000 employees, 2300 clients and annual
revenue of $9.3 billion. It was in the same year that the firm collapsed
following a series of accounting scandals and filed for bankruptcy.

2. Causes of downfall of Arthur Andersen :
1. Pressure of revenue : failure to withstand the revenue pressure brought a
negative influence on its corporate culture. It indulged in revenue growth
through accounting irregularities and frauds. Large no. of mergers bought
strain on the business.
2. Cost-Cutting policies : Its strategy focused on generating new business
and cutting cost. The high risk clients added in 1990s needed special
attention because of financial complexities. The cost cutting policies like
partners retiring at age of 56, engaging fewer & less-experienced partners
led to deficiency in applying audit standards.
3. Poor audits : It came under financial strain on account of payment of
damages of $330 million to settle civil suits. Also a series of poor audits and
restatement of Sun beam and Waste management , its clients, damaged its
reputation.
4. Cozy relationship with Enron : Enron was one of the biggest clients of
Andersen. It was receiving $52 million as audit fees from Enron. Despite
suspicious findings of Enron, better audit repots were given by Anderson by
sending untrained auditors.

3. 5. Investigation : After the Enron collapse in 2001, the Securities &
Exchange Commission and other US regulatory agencies started
investigating other clients of Anderson. As a result the other clients such
as WorldCom, Qwest Communication, Global Crossing and others filed
for insolvency.
6. Obstruction in investigation : Anderson destroyed a large no. of
Enron documents after the investigation initiated and hence was
charged with obstruction of justice by the US District Court in March
2002. It was banned from taking further audits of public companies. It
eventually collapsed in August 2002.

4. Audit and Governance Flaws :
1. Deficient culture : The audit failure of its clients like Sunbeam, Waste
Management and Enron proved that leadership and culture were deficient at
Anderson which led to an inevitable collapse of it. Several audit partners
sided with the management teams rather than fulfilling their commitments,
this showed lack of professionalism.
2. Conflict of interests : Anderson was providing audit, accounting and
consulting services simultaneously and charging a huge amount of fees from
these assignments which ultimately led to conflict of interests on many
clients’ accounts. Providing non-audit service was denting the independence
of the auditor.
3. Lack of independence : The maintenance of a permanent office space in
Enron’s office is the biggest evidence that Anderson lacked independence. Its
employees also joined many events organized by Enron. This cozy
relationship made it very easy to continue with improper practices.
4. Long audit tenure : Many of its clients had long audit tenure which led to
over friendly relations with them. Example, 20 years long audit tenure with
Enron tended to develop over-familiarity which resulted in over-looking
conflicting activities and deficiencies in internal control systems of the clients.