Letters to the editor

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2003

Life After Andersen

JUST RECEIVED MY COPY of the Eaylor Business Review highlighting all the problems with Arthur Andersen, Enron, etc. Thought I would share my views with you.

I was one of the privileged that graduated from Baylor University thanks to the GI Bill. I had the honor to serve my Country during the Korean Conflict. I was discharged in 1955 and my wife Gerry and I settled in Waco. I went to work for the Postal Service and we bought a little GI Home out past the Circle. In 1958 I came to the realization that if I were going to achieve the goals I wanted in life, I would need a college degree. I had graduated from high school in 1949 at the small town of Rio Vista, Texas. We had only nine students in our senior class. Needless to say, we lacked many of the attributes of larger schools.

In March 1958 I enrolled in Baylor night school. There were many fellow military veterans in the night school program. At the time I was working the midnight shift at the post office. I went to school from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., then to work from midnight to 8:30 a.m. I took the required courses of Old Testament, New Testament, English, Algebra, etc. As a veteran, we were exempt from P.E. Two years later I determined that I needed to accelerate my program. I was able to change my work schedule. I had classes at Baylor from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. then worked from 2:00 p.m. till 10:00 p.m. Needless to say, I had little time to frolic or participate in campus life. My wife was supportive of my goals, which made our married life easier.

I was an accounting student and took all the courses I could in accounting, economics and management. (The only electives I took, to my recollection, were music appreciation and speed reading.) I was graduated in May 1962, some four years after starting. I was 30 years old and we had two children.

During my final year I had interviewed several firms. I was a good student. I particularly wanted to go to work for Arthur Andersen. The recruiter wanted to hire me, however, the firm had a ceiling age of 28 and I was 30. Ernst & Young and GAO made attractive offers. Instead, I opted to continue with the U.S. Postal Service. I became a postal inspector-internal auditor and moved to Atlanta, Georgia.

My career in the postal service was fruitful. I was privileged to work in many cities and had a variety of assignments from "bean counting" to "major fraud cases." I later went into management with the postal pervice and did graduate work at UCLA Graduate School of Management. I came back to Waco as a District Manager with the postal service. I ended my career as postmaster/area manager in Bryan-College Station, Texas. I am now retired and enjoying life living on the golf course at Elkins Lake in Huntsville, Texas.

One of the things I was taught while at Baylor was "accountability for my actions." I can still remember the words of Dr. James Parsons who taught me in Auditing that "the things I say or write will make an impact on somebody's bank account" and the teachings of Dr. Streetman in an income tax class that I always remember, "You are dealing with someone else's pocket book." Dr. Emerson Henke, who was our Dean and a member of the AICPA board, always told us to be fair with ourselves and we would be fair with our clients. Dr. Rodrick Holmes and others always emphasized to us our responsibilities that come with our profession.

Have the teachings at universities changed in subsequent years? Have the few that came after us corrupted the multitude of our chosen profession? I would hope not. I understand that Baylor and other universities now have special classes in "Integrity in Auditing and Accounting." We were taught that in the core classes of Accounting 101, 102 and Auditing 101.

Maybe, just maybe, the current day professors should go back and review the textbooks and class notes of the professors we were privileged to have. They might learn that accountability starts at the beginning.

Thanks for listening.

M GAYLAND MOULDER, 1962

Huntsville, TX

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

According to Dr. Charles Davis, chair of the Accounting & Business Law department, "We do teach ethics throughout several courses. We do not have such a course at the time ("Integrity in Auditing and Accounting"), although one will be coming soon, thanks to a new ruling by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. Other schools do teach an ethics course in their accounting curriculum."

YOUR STORY DID A GOOD JOB of highlighting the impact of the collapse of Andersen on many of the employees. However, it did not convey the sense of abandonment felt by many of the employees as the partnership at Andersen made a deal that protected the partners' financial investment while placing the employees at considerable risk. The collapse of Andersen was the result of a lack of capable organizational management as the firm tried to increase income of the partners with no regard for the impact on the operation or risk exposure of the firm.

Another point that you made is that many of the personnel moved to other firms as part of the original group that they worked with inside Andersen. However, what you did not mention was the special status that these new employees had within their new firms that made them significantly at risk. Most of these business units were set up outside of the partnership of the receiving firm so that they were easy to cut if they did not make the aggressive sales targets identified by their new owners.