Andersen's Philadelphia office has held onto most of its clients while other offices have suffered massive defections since the collapse of Enron Corp., whose books where audited by Andersen's Houston office.
So the office here offers a strong competitive advantage in this region, Salmon said.
The potential merger partners for the 900-plus person Philadelphia office, which has branches in Lancaster and Cherry Hill, are the surviving "Big Four" global accounting firms - PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG, or Deloitte & Touche, Salmon said.
The Philadelphia office of KPMG referred questions to George Ledwith, a national spokesman for the firm. He would not say whether negotiations are under way with his firm, saying the firm does not comment on such matters. Representatives of other firms could not be reached.
Though Andersen's Philadelphia office has suffered some client defections in recent days, including four made public Tuesday, Salmon said that the office's client base remained essentially intact and that its partners and employees had remained loyal.
"The Philadelphia office has very strong practices in manufacturing, owner-managed business, emerging-growth industries, life sciences, and real estate, among other areas," Salmon said. "If you merge us with a firm that doesn't have the Andersen brand problems, in one fell swoop you have a significant volume and quality increase in your practice."
Andersen's Philadelphia partners are privately seeking to assure clients that a deal is likely that would allow the office to offer a full range of services through a robust global network.
Merging Andersen's Philadelphia office with a rival firm "is a case where one plus one equals three," he said.
