The head of a Senate panel said Wednesday he'll ask the Florida Board of Accountancy to investigate Arthur Andersen, the auditor paid to scrutinize the bankrupt energy trader's numbers. Florida joins Connecticut and several other states whose accounting regulators are considering whether to revoke or suspend Arthur Andersen's license.

During a meeting of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee Wednesday, state Sen. Skip Campbell, D-Tamarac, told Martha Willis, director of the Florida Board of Accountancy, to send him the paperwork necessary to file a complaint.

"Hopefully you won't find anything," Campbell said. "Send me the forms, and I'll sign my name to it."

Fearing an Enron-like meltdown of a Florida-based company, the panel summoned Willis to discuss whether lawmakers should tighten regulation of accountants.

Auditing firms such as Arthur Andersen, and the accountants who work for them, must be licensed by each state where they do business.

Campbell asked that the state also investigate the auditor that performed a "peer review" of Arthur Andersen's practices, a standard procedure among auditors. Although Willis identified that firm as KPMG, it was Deloitte & Touche that reviewed Arthur Andersen's audits.

If Florida were to ban Andersen from working in the state, its clients would be forced to seek new auditors.

Andersen's Palm Beach County clients include American Media, Boca Resorts, Wackenhut Corp., Wackenhut Corrections and the city of Palm Beach Gardens.

It's unclear whether the state would ban Andersen. The auditor failed to catch Boca Raton-based Sunbeam's cooked books.

That mistake cost Andersen $110 million in a shareholder suit, but the state took no action against Andersen after Sunbeam's bankruptcy, Willis said.

-- By Jeff Ostrowski

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