Accountants March in Chicago to Save Andersen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chanting and waving placards reading "Don't delete us" and "Where's Enron's Indictment?", thousands of Andersen workers poured out of the beleaguered accounting firm's Chicago headquarters on Friday and marched toward federal government offices to protest the firm's indictment.


"I like this, this is fun," said one bespectacled accountant bearing an orange button reading, "I am the real Andersen." A column of thousands of workers stretched over two city blocks toward the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites)'s offices.

"It's a good day for us. It's been rough the last couple of weeks in particular, but we're all motivated and we're going to fight this," said Stephanie Arnold, hatless and smiling despite the sub-freezing cold.

"We may lose our jobs altogether," said Arnold, a five-year employee who works in marketing in Chicago, where Andersen is based with roughly 5,500 employees.

More Andersen auditing clients announced they were dropping the accounting firm on Friday, and some of Andersen's overseas partners defected to other firms.