Well, probably not.

Despite Andersen's involvement in the Enron mess, amid accusations that debt was hidden and profits were exaggerated, the accounting firm has largely been ignored by late-night comedians.

There are barbs for President Bush and Kenneth Lay:

"Enron CEO Kenneth Lay has sold all of his Enron stock. I guess we all knew that. In fact, the only thing he owns now is the Bush administration." - David Letterman

And Vice President Dick Cheney hasn't escaped.

"It was cold today. I was rubbing my hands together more than Dick Cheney at an Enron payday." - Jay Leno

But while these and other public figures were having their comic images shaped for America nightly over the Enron affair, the Andersen company and the accounting profession itself seem to have flown under the humorists' radar.

Maybe the generic jokes about accountants are on target after all.

Q."When does a person decide to become an accountant?"

A. "When he realizes he doesn't have the charisma to succeed as an undertaker."

Actually, jokeproof or not, the Enron scandal has succeeded in tainting the image of the professional bean counter in the eyes of many people, including some of those in the accounting profession.

And some in the profession think that the scandal may even dissuade some students from entering a career that they otherwise may have pursued. That would hit especially hard at a profession already experiencing declines in the number of young people graduating with an accounting degree.

At the same time, some people in the business are also hoping that both the public and the policy-makers hold off making judgments about their profession until all the evidence is in. And they most fervently hope that no ill-conceived regulations emerge from the rubble of Enron.

"I certainly think some damage has been done (by the Enron scandal)," said Jack Armitage, chairman of the department of accounting at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

"On the other hand, I would hope that people and prospective students will see that the accounting profession will react in a positive way. If we react in a positive way I think it will certainly lessen the damage."

The accounting profession already was up to its ledger sheets in what one expert called a "people crisis."

In a speech in October to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, Robert J. Sack, professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, said that for years universities annually turned out 60,000 students with accounting degrees.

In 1999, he said, that number fell to about 48,000, a 20 percent decline. And data suggest the downward trend is continuing, Sack said.

"The scratching sound you hear is the sound that bright people are making as they scramble to avoid the 'accounting trap,'" he said. Instead, Sack said, students were becoming "finance professionals" or "information providers."

Annette Harmon, executive director of the Nebraska State Board of Public Accountancy, said the number of people taking the exam to become certified public accountants has declined over the last four years, although "we have seen our numbers increase just in the last couple of exams."

"I think people will see that it's a steady income, a good career," she said.

Armitage acknowledged that the number of accounting graduates is declining, "and it started before Enron." The primary reason for the decline is that, after Jan. 1, 1998, people had to have accumulated 150 credit hours at a university -- more than enough for a bachelor's degree at most schools -- in order to take the examination to become certified public accountants.

Before that, no college degree was required to take the exam.

Andersen's role in the Enron scandal hasn't escaped the attention of students like Ryan Burke, a 22-year-old Creighton University senior majoring in accounting.

"It brings to the forefront how important ethics are in the accounting profession," he said. "There are definitely more instructors lately who have been incorporating the Andersen and Enron case into some classroom discussions."

The discussions, he said, focus mainly on "what this is going to do to the accounting profession as a whole."

While the scandal hasn't soured Burke on the profession he has chosen ("I think accounting provides a great base of knowledge in business," he said.), he worries that reforms will be accompanied by too much government involvement.

One thing Burke said he is sure of: "They (the profession) can't allow something like this to happen again."

Tom Purcell, associate professor of accounting and professor of law at Creighton, urged people to keep the Enron scandal in perspective.

"There are over 240,000 members of the American Institute of CPAs," he said. "If someone did something wrong (at Enron), that's a small number of people compared to all the honest CPAs that continue to practice." [SmartPros Editor's Note: The AICPA reports 340,000 members]

Purcell said he was concerned "about the congressional rush to judgment in trying to make the whole problem just an accountant's problem. I'm hoping that the reform that comes out is done in a reasoned fashion, rather than a witch-hunting fashion."

Donald Kluthe, chairman of the 2,500-member Nebraska Society of Certified Public Accountants, said that the "misdeeds of a few" have stained the entire profession. "There has been some damage done, no question about that," he said.

"But the profession will survive. I just hope that when people look at this they don't paint everybody with that same brush."

-- By John Taylor