The partners at Arthur Andersen were having another argument about the management of the Enron account. As usual, Enron executives were throwing their weight around and trying to dictate who could be involved on their engagement. Specifically, they didn’t want […]
John Forney, an Enron energy trader, came up with an idea to skirt the trading rules in California. Enron and Portland General were considered related, so California did not allow them to deal with each other on energy trading transactions. […]
Former employees of Enron were thankful and encouraged upon hearing that Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were found guilty of felony charges of conspiracy and fraud. While nothing will give back all that they lost, the idea that “justice prevails” […]
Kathryn Ruemmler, one of the federal prosecutors active in the trial of former Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, told the jury in closing arguments that the defendants lied “over and over and over again” to investors and employees. […]
Enron had banking and finance relationships with some of the largest international firms: Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch, and Greenwich NatWest to name a few. All of the firms were interested in continuing their business relationships with Enron, as […]
Enron had a history of trying to elicit favorable opinions on accounting issues from Arthur Andersen. The executives were aggressive in their reporting of income and expenses, always seeming to find a way to report things in the way that […]
Two existing companies came together to form the company that would later be known as Enron. The original companies were Houston Natural Gas (HNG) and InterNorth. The new company was called HNG/InterNorth, but constant power struggles between the two sides […]
I have recently begun reading the true story of the rise and fall of Enron. The book is Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald. It is fascinating so far, so I thought I’d post here about it […]
The New Yorker recently printed a commentary on Sarbanes-Oxley. While the legislation was viewed by politicians as an important step toward protecting investors from fraud, corporate executives aren’t so impressed. Corporate executives believe that the high cost of implementing the […]
