Bankers believe that a single point of contact will help a customer identify the range of the bank's services, will provide a consistent level of service quality, and will increase the cross-selling of services. As a result, customer retention will increase and profitability will improve. Arthur Andersen had a similar relationship-management strategy.
The breakdown occurred because engagement partners who served as relationship managers had the final word on signing-off on accounting policy. Because the engagement partner was compensated on the basis of total revenues paid by the client, the partner had a natural conflict between trying to increase his or her compensation and holding firmly to recognized accounting standards.