Eight of the 12 partners in Cincinnati's Arthur Andersen office have been hired locally by Deloitte & Touche, along with almost 100 other employees of the embattled accounting firm.

        With most of the other partners and employees also gone, or about to go, and all local public companies dropping the firm as their auditor, the local office is not expected to survive.

        “In a couple of months, there won't be an Andersen office in Cincinnati,” said Brian Carley, managing partner of Andersen in Cincinnati.

        Mr. Carley is one of the eight Andersen partners moving to Deloitte & Touche. Also joining the firm are partners Lynn Good, Dan Holthaus, Thomas Johnson, Jerry Reichert, Jim Sowar, Gene Ewing and Ray van der Horst. Deloitte also announced Monday the hirings of principals Alex Torok and Bob Bitter.

        Mr. Carley said these latest hires, and others still in negotiations, will bring the total number of Andersen employees moving to Deloitte to about 100. Earlier this year, Andersen had employed about 385 in Cincinnati.

        Also, 30 to 35 people in Andersen's local business consulting group are joining fellow Big Five firm KPMG.

        “We're thrilled for so many of our people to be able to continue their careers,” Mr. Carley said of the moves. “And our clients have supported us through these difficult times.”

        Mr. Carley said he expected some Andersen clients also to move to Deloitte. Many already have, such as Cinergy Corp. and Newport Steel parent NS Group.

        All of Andersen's Tristate public company clients have dropped the firm as its auditor since it became entangled in the downfall of Enron Corp. Last fall, Enron sought protection from creditors in the United States' biggest-ever bankruptcy.

        Allegations of Enron's questionable accounting spread to Andersen, which, as Enron's auditor, was supposed to oversee and vouch for the energy trader's books.

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