Enron Scandal Essay example - 1819 Words

The Enron Scandal One of the most popular business bankruptcies and collapses known to date is that of the Enron Corporation. Enron, once known as Americas Most Innovative Company by Fortune Magazine six straight years from 1996 to 2001. Enron seemed to be doing very well until the summer of 2001 generating a lot of cash and new businesses, but in October of 2001 Enron was forced to disclose that their accounting practices had been very creative, and failed to follow generally accepted accounting principles. Profits that had been soaring sky high were wiped away and replaced with enormous losses and charges that were never recorded properly. Unfortunately, Enron executives who were responsible for the shady accounting practices,†¦show more content†¦Without these government oversights Enron could do as they pleased and is the reason why they became a 100-billion dollar business (Lindstrom, 2004). Enron began business in 1986 as a small pipeline company out of Houston. A t that time Enrons goal was to create the first national gas pipeline. Unfortunately for Enron, the gas industry was regulated by the government, meaning they were told how much to charge for power, and profits were set a maximum. Through American-style bribery, also known as political donations, Enron was able to deregulate the gas market (Anonymous, 2004). With the help of Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth Lay, Enron was able to successfully enter into the energy market. Again, through political donations by Enron to political legislation they were able to deregulate the energy market, bringing together buyers and sellers of energy, and dominate trade contracts made possible through the use of financial instruments called derivatives (Lindstrom, 2004). A derivative is an instrument whose value is derived from the underlying value of something else, such as a stock, a bond, or in the case of Enrons derivatives, a unit of electricity. Derivatives are useful because they enable an investor to hedge against a decline in value. For example, Enron could enter a contract with a purchaser of electricity, such as a utility, guaranteeing that the purchaser would pay a certain price for a certain amount ofShow MoreRelatedThe Enron Scandal854 Words   |  4 PagesThe Enron Scandal Background Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 20,000 staff and was one of the world s leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000.[1] Fortune named Enron America s Most Innovative Company for six consecutive years. At the end of 2001, it was revealedRead MoreEnron Scandal2929 Words   |  12 PagesLaw and Management Book Review Enron, Titanic and The Perfect Storm - Nancy B. Rapoport Student No: 0834172 Word Count: 1500 1 CILM Book Review 0834172 Two years after Enron filed for bankruptcy in 2001, Nancy b. Rapoport wrote this essay expressing her unique perspective on the real cause of Enron’s demise. This essay catches the reader’s attention instantly, because unlike abundant other articles written on the biggest corporate scandal in American history, the author here rejectsRead MoreEnron Scandal9449 Words   |  38 PagesThe Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the de facto dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. 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EmployedRead MoreEnron And The Enron Scandal1387 Words   |  6 PagesEnron, The Shadiest Guys In the Room When you ask young people about the Enron scandal today, most of them have not even heard of it. The fact of the matter is, it is very relevant to young professionals today. Enron is the most recent story of classic Wall Street greed and fraud. However it is still argued today by different stakeholders who are is responsible. This essay will take the viewpoint from multiple stakeholders to use the Enron Scandal as an example to further explain American corporateRead MoreEnron Scandal1477 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Current issue: Scandals in auditing Enron Scandal 1. Introduction Accounting scandals are political or business scandals which arise with the disclosure of financial misdeeds by trusted executives of corporations or governments. These days, not too often, these scandals are splashed as headlines across media. Why? Because there are complex groups of stakeholders who might be seriously affected by the scandals. Enron scam was the most remarkable scandal in 20 centuries by their institutionalizedRead MoreThe Enron Corporation Scandal 1791 Words   |  7 PagesIDENTIFY THE ACCOUNTING PRACTICES THAT WERE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ACCOUNTING SCANDAL. The Enron Corporation failures made world headlines for many reasons ranging from greed from its executives, the alleged malpractice and criminal behaviours, and its quick and disastrous collapse. The most critical factor in Enron’s melt down was the use of creative and manipulative accounting practices to distort reported proï ¬ tability and indebtedness that befell the corporation (A. Holt and T. Eccles, 2002) TheRead MoreEnron Scandal Of Enron Corporation Essay1145 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Enron scandal which aroused in 2001 was one of the most famous events in the area of fraud audit. As the auditor company of Enron, Arthur Andersen failed to prepare true and fair auditing reports. They both suffered lethal loss at that time. The following paragraphs will discuss this fraud event, including the organization history, the organization’s event, the fraud issue in the event, the consequence of the main stakeholders, auditors in the event and their roles, and the current situation