Then came the accounting frauds at Enron, WorldCom and elsewhere, and the implosion of Andersen.

ECONOMIST: Accountancy and law

The list also includes a stock whose name alone should serve as a warning to anybody clueless enough to invest in it: Miniscribe, the Texas disk-drive manufacturer that imploded in 1989 accounting scandal that provided an early taste of the Enron, Worldcom and Adelphia accounting frauds.

FORBES: SEC Euthanizes 397 "Dormant" Shells, Including Cray Computer, LA Gear

Partly, their exercise appears to be a clever attempt to deal with an issue that continues to dog the accounting profession, especially the biggest practitioners: limiting the potential liability for frauds and misstatements which they fail to detect.

ECONOMIST: Auditing firms: Opening the books | The