Only 39% of senior financial executives at America’s 1000 largest companies are “very confident” in the reliability of the auditing being done for corporations today, according to a new national survey by Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvala Inc, a financial strategy consulting firm.

The study involved phone interviews with a random sample of 100 senior financial executives at Fortune 1000 companies from Feb. 5-8, in the aftermath of the Enron debacle. These senior executives are divided over the extent to which the problems with the auditing done in the Enron bankruptcy are more widespread, with 39% believing that auditing problems go beyond just Enron.

The survey’ also found that the Enron bankruptcy has badly damaged the credibility of the accounting industry in general and Arthur Andersen in particular, in the eyes of these senior executives. Only half (51%) say the auditing problems are limited to Enron, while 39% say the problems are “more widespread.”

Only 39% are “very confident” in the reliability of auditing, while 60% are just “somewhat confident.” 82% of these senior executives believe that the Enron bankruptcy is a “significant problem” for the “credibility of auditing and accounting firms,” and another 17% say it is “somewhat of a problem.”

Almost four in 10 senior executives say that they are now reviewing their own relationship with their accounting firm as result of the Enron controversy. Accounting firms also currently provide consulting services to 61% of these companies. Half of senior financial executives say that their companies would not consider using Arthur Andersen in the future. Only 39% believe the accounting firm will survive in its present form.