NEW YORK -- The Enron accounting scandal is beginning to infect the entire stock market as investors look to distance themselves from other companies whose balance sheets may not be squeaky clean.

''Everybody's concerned there is funky accounting going on,'' says Todd Clark, trader at Wells Fargo Securities. ''Enron has undermined people's ability to figure out what companies' real earnings are.''

Investors' fears of being victimized by the ''next Enron'' dragged the Dow Jones industrials down 248 points, or 2.5%, to 9618. The drop was the Dow's worst of 2002 and left it down 4% for the year and back at levels not seen since November.

Stocks with Enronlike qualities, either real or imagined, led the decline:

* Tyco International, which has been dogged by accounting issues for two years, suffered another blow to its credibility Tuesday. The stock tumbled $8.35, or almost 20%, to $33.65 as investors reacted negatively to a disclosure that it paid $20 million to an outside director for his help in securing a major acquisition last year.

Tyco Chairman Dennis Kozlowski, who surprised Wall Street last week with his plans to split the company into four pieces to boost its sagging stock price, issued a statement defending its practices: ''We are in an environment where people are intensely skeptical of Corporate America, but we are prepared to openly discuss whatever legitimate questions or concerns shareholders, analysts or the media may have.'' Tyco shares are down 43% this year.

* Cendant, the travel and real estate services firm that was the center of a high-profile accounting scandal in 1998, fell victim to a rumor Tuesday that a major media outlet was readying a negative story about its books.

Cendant shares fell $1.83, or 4.8%, to $16.52. The company issued a statement saying it was unaware of any ''story'' in the pipeline. It also said it would beat analysts' estimates when it reports fourth-quarter earnings Feb. 6 and expects to raise its full-year 2002 projections.

* PNC Bank fell $5.79, or 9.4%, to $56.08, after federal regulators advised it to restate its reported 2001 results by about $155 million.

* Anadarko Petroleum said late Tuesday that it will restate third-quarter earnings because of an accounting error. It will write down oil and gas properties by $1.1 billion, or $4.33 a diluted share.

Even General Electric, one of the USA's most admired firms, is now viewed suspiciously because it has delivered a steady stream of double-digit earnings gains quarter after quarter for years. ''People are looking at that and saying, 'Hmm, how are they getting that done?' '' says Jeff VanHarte, portfolio manager at Transamerica funds. GE fell $1.69 to $36.46.

Yahoo!

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

Answers

In June 1999, the Special Committee on the Year
2000 Technology Problem asked over 1200 US
companies in a letter about their Y2K compliance
and a synopsis of their assessment as of July 1,
1999. Tyco Int. was one of the few companies that
refused to respond.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002