An Andersen failure would also cause headaches for regulators. Unless Andersen is rescued, and the majority of its client relationships preserved, regulators would have to deal with more than 2,000 public companies that all needed to change auditors at once, said Dennis Beresford, a University of Georgia accounting professor and former chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.
"Unless Andersen is bought, it would take a couple of years or more to get through the trauma," Beresford said. "It's a real issue as far as how do we keep the overall financial reporting marketplace functioning."
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