"Every team takes turns providing the food and drinks for everyone else," said Ms. Tripp, a 38-year-old accounting analyst.

"Any change is sure to have an immediate impact on corporations and investment banks," said Janet Pegg, an accounting analyst at Bear, Stearns.

Chris Senyek, an accounting analyst at Bear Stearns, said drug companies would probably make up about half of all the money repatriated by publicly traded companies.

"There is an element of compromise in this decision," said Robert Willens, an accounting analyst for Lehman Brothers.

"They are allowing a lot of flexibility in the accounting," said Michael A. Moran, an accounting analyst at Goldman, Sachs.

"Leaving us in limbo is really dreadful," said John G. Hayes, a senior accounting analyst in Enron's liquid products trading division.

An accounting analyst evaluates public company financial statements.

As an example, the accounting analyst may work for a financial research company evaluating differing financial accounting principles and how they influence the company's reported wealth.

"This is a very unusual situation," said Jane Adams, an accounting analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.

And, some accounting analysts note that pooling greatly restricts how the new combined company can run many parts of its business.