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Rating: 
Summary: good, workman-like explanation, approving yet critical
Review: I read this for a writing project and found it one of the best accounts available of what happened to make this company collapse the way it did. While there is occasionally a sense of victimization running through it - the authors all worked for AA or were affiliated with it - it does not stop them from hard-hitting analysis of how a company declined from iconic status as a standard-setter to one that was, well, slowly corrupted and traducing its values (like, the authors contend, all the other big accounting firms).
What this book adds is an analysis of how AA's governance evolved, from a tightly controlled firm with a charismatic leader to a global, highly decentralised one that was impossible to govern. This was a slow, evolutionary development with consequences that no one could have foreseen. Slowly, values eroded, a culture came undone, and the result was, in many cases, a naked scramble for money. In essence, accounting became a doorway to far more lucrative consulting arrangements, and so AA began increasingly to cooperate with those it was supposed to audit as a public service and with independence and integrity (as it clearly did in the past when the firm stood for something).
Where this book is weaker is on the wider context of the economy, which the reader will have to seek elsewhere. Moreover, while the SEC scrutiny - and the indictment that killed the company - may have been unfair, there were so many scandals developing that at least one firm was slated to take a fall. It was AA, as it turned out, somewhat a scapegoat in which many many good people got hurt, but still, in retrospect, it looks very very bad. I cannot feel outrage at its demise, though I do feel sympathy.
Recommended for specialists. This ain't pleasure reading, but the story is one that needs to be told as an ethics case study.
Rating: 
Summary: Huge Disappointment
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. I had thought we would get some insight into the failure and reasons for the failure of Andersen. This would have included why was David Duncan left in charge of the Enron audit after the restatement occurred, how could the shredding incident have occurred [did not Andersen know how to address potential litigation], where was the head of Andersen's risk practice, what did the practice do, how was the Houston office run if in fact Andersen's offices had considerable latitude to run engagements. None of this was covered. What we get is chapter upon chapter of history with references to the Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal and the First 60 Years of Arthur Andersen. Oh yeah, we also get comments from some manager in Asia about how he was surprised about the downfall of his firm. No interviews with key members of the Enron engagement team or the Houston office. No insight on why the firm failed. The book tries to lead us to think that the creation of Andersen Consulting [Accenture] led to the firm's demise. Hardly, did not the other Big 5 all have consulting practices, and none of these firms has failed. What made Andersen different then the other Big 5? David Duncan did not bring in Enron as a client. Who did? Who were the members of the engagement team? How did Duncan, a relatively junior partner, get to be the lead partner on the engagement? Who was really running the show? [The book makes it sound like Duncan reported to a practice director, which was hardly the case. In fact, this practice director was not even part of the Houston office.] Still considerable room for someone to step in and do some investigative journalism, and some real work to find out what caused the demise of Andersen stemming from the Houston Enron incident.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting prespective
Review: I was with Andersen for 8 years up until the fall of the firm. This is the first book I have read about the firm the takes a methodical look at what exactly happened at one of the most prestigous firms in the world. If you are interested in Andersen's rise to power and some insight as to what it was like inside during the fall, then its a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Inside Arthur Andersen
Review: Loved it! By taking the view of culture the authors hit at the marrow of the Arthur Andersen debacle. Arthur Andersen created a phenomenal franchise in a sector that demands integrity as a precept. The cultural erosion of that precept inside our public accounting sector is a particularly chilling realization for an average 401k investor.
Rating: 
Summary: Great overview of what is wrong with accounting...
Review: The Good: It provides a decent overview of the history of Arthur Andersen leading to the Enron debacle, and a good historical perspective of events leading to the downfall of AA. Also reaches some interesting conclusions at the end.
The Bad: Like another reviewer said, there's no in-depth "inside" look at what was going on in the Houston office, or really any explanation for the Waste Management, Sunbeam or WorldCom restatements beyond what's presented in the overview. It's not so much "Inside Arthur Andersen" as it is "The Rise and Fall of Arthur Andersen".
The Ugly: It's really far too short, and too heavily reliant on newspaper and internal AA documentation. I found a lot of things informative and enlightening about the book--but I admit I knew almost nothing about what happened before I read this book. It's a great starting point, and it raises many more questions and paths of inquiry than it does answer or solve anything.
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