ENRON: A FINANCIAL REPORTING FAILURE? Anthony H. Catanach Jr.1 Associate Professor 610-519-4825 anthony.catanach@villanova.edu and Shelley Rhoades-Catanach Associate Professor Both at Villanova University College of Commerce and Finance Department of Accountancy INTRODUCTION The dramatic collapse of Enron Corporation‚ following a series of disclosures of accounting improprieties‚ has led many to question the soundness of current accounting and financial reporting standards. Within Enron’s reported
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it was the "Greed Factor" which drives Enron employees to increase the profits through unethical methods‚ and ultimately causing its downfall. But could it be the opposite? I mean‚ could it be that it was Enron ’s culture and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)‚ which is to increase the profits and share price that "forced" Enron employees behave in an unethical manner? What circumstances caused them to be unethical‚ really? At first‚ the leader of Enron Finance Corp‚ Jeffrey Skilling recruited
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ENRON Introduction Enron was the country’s largest trader and marketer for electric and natural gas energy. Its core business was buying energy at a negotiated price and later‚ selling the energy when prices increased. As an energy broker‚ Enron provided a service by allowing producers to negotiate a certain price while Enron took the risk that prices would fall below what it bought energy. Buyers of energy also benefited because Enron could ensure the supply of energy. In 2000 Enron was listed
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Reaction Paper on Enron Case September 9‚ 2013 Summary: Enron’s origins date back to 1985 when it began life as an interstate pipeline company through the merger of Houston Natural Gas and Omaha-based InterNorth. Kenneth Lay‚ the former chief executive officer of Houston Natural Gas‚ became CEO‚ and the next year won the post of chairman. From the pipeline sector‚ Enron began moving into new fields. In 1999‚ the company launched its broadband services unit and Enron Online‚ the company’s website
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REACTION PAPER – THE ENRON SCANDAL FACTS OF THE CASE Enron Corporation was formed in 1985‚ led by Kenneth Lay‚ as a result from the merger of Houston Natural Gas and Internorth that specializes in natural gases and commodities. In 1990‚ the company hires Jeffrey Skilling to lead the trading of commodities under deregulated market and Andrew Fastow later that year (USA Today‚ 2002). Deregulation of the energy markets allowed companies to place bets on future prices‚ and Enron was poised to take
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Enron Case The internal controls that were ignored when LJM1 was created were one‚ LJM’s books were kept separate from Enron’s. LJM1 ignored some of Enron’s entries in the books that were missing. Outsiders owned less than 3% of the Special Purpose Entities equities. There was an error made by Arthur Andersen to let LJM’s financial statement to remain unconsolidated. If the financial statements had been consolidated‚ some of the errors could have been found. They may have even had some time to correct
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the Causes and Effects of the Enron Accounting Scandals Name: Do Minh Tam Class: MEP 100 Lecture: Karen Bird Date: December 24‚ 2010 Introduction Background From the 1980s until now‚ there have been a lot of accounting scandals which were widely announced on by media. The result of this situation is many companies were bankruptcy protection requests‚ and closing. One of the most widely reported emulation of accounting scandals is Enron Company. Enron Corporation is one of the largest
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Introduction 2 2. History 3 a. Formation 3 b. Operations 3 c. The Success 4 d. All that glitters is not gold 4 e. The Fraud 4 3. Products 5 4. Enron Scandal – The Company Fraud 8 f. What Happed? 8 5. Techniques used in the Company Fraud 9 g. Revenue Recognition 9 h. Mark-to-market accounting 9 i. Special Purpose Entities 10 j. Executive
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Enron Case ACC 304 1. What led to the collapse of Enron under Lay and Skilling? There were various reasons as to why Enron collapsed under Lay and Skilling. One reason Enron collapsed under Lay is because Lay simply did not practice what he preached. Lay did not live by his code of ethics and neither did his corporation. Not only that‚ but Lay and top management gave Andrew Fastow an exemption to the code of ethics to continue doing business. Another reason that Enron collapsed‚ under Skilling
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CASE 1.1 Enron Corporation “Think Straight‚ Talk Straight. “ This was the motto of Arthur Edward Andersen. He was the founder of the Arthur & Company‚ which was established to provide accounting‚ auditing and related services. Throughout his professional‚ Arthur E. Andersen career‚ relied on a simple‚ four-word motto to serve as a guiding principle in making important personal and professional decisions: “Think straight‚ Talk straight.” Andersen would prefer fewer clients‚ than having more
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