Bigger Than Enron Transcript 
Written and Produced by
Hedrick Smith & Marc Shaffer
Directed by
Marc Shaffer
Correspondent
Hedrick Smith ANNOUNCER: It was a meteoric rise.
VOICE: We will become the world's leading company.
ANNOUNCER: And a devastating collapse.
VOICE: Enron is a corporate Chernobyl.
VOICE: You had the entire system playing fast and loose.
VOICE: It is not just Enron, it's an industry problem.
LYNN TURNER, SEC Chief Accountant (1998-2001): It is real, real damage to the country.
ANNOUNCER: Why didn't anyone sound an alarm?
VOICE: The watchdogs work for executives and Wall Street. They don't work to protect shareholders.
ANNOUNCER: Correspondent Hedrick Smith investigates how greed and politics undercut America's financial watchdogs.
HEDRICK SMITH, FRONTLINE Correspondent: Is anyone protecting the public?
ANNOUNCER: Tonight on FRONTLINE, Bigger than Enron.
HEDRICK SMITH, FRONTLINE Correspondent: [voice-over] Everything about Enron seemed larger than life, from its glittering Houston headquarters reaching to the skies to its spectacular downfall. But Enron's collapse was more than the shattering of one American success story. It was a warning of a far wider malaise in the marketplace.
Enron was the climax of an avalanche of American companies that cost investors as much as $200 billion by issuing deceptive financial reports. The roots of the Enron debacle stretch to Wall Street, where the accountants and other watchdogs were supposed to keep score on corporate America and make sure the market is honest.
The trail leads also to Washington, where Congress weakened the protections and tied the hands of regulators, making it easier for aggressive companies like Enron to push the envelope.
ARTHUR LEVITT, SEC Chairman (1993-2001): [Senate committee hearing] Enron's collapse did not occur in a vacuum. Its backdrop is an obsessive zeal by too many American companies to project greater earnings from year to year. When I was at the SEC, I referred to this as a culture of
Hedrick Smith & Marc Shaffer
Directed by
Marc Shaffer
Correspondent
Hedrick Smith ANNOUNCER: It was a meteoric rise.
VOICE: We will become the world's leading company.
ANNOUNCER: And a devastating collapse.
VOICE: Enron is a corporate Chernobyl.
VOICE: You had the entire system playing fast and loose.
VOICE: It is not just Enron, it's an industry problem.
LYNN TURNER, SEC Chief Accountant (1998-2001): It is real, real damage to the country.
ANNOUNCER: Why didn't anyone sound an alarm?
VOICE: The watchdogs work for executives and Wall Street. They don't work to protect shareholders.
ANNOUNCER: Correspondent Hedrick Smith investigates how greed and politics undercut America's financial watchdogs.
HEDRICK SMITH, FRONTLINE Correspondent: Is anyone protecting the public?
ANNOUNCER: Tonight on FRONTLINE, Bigger than Enron.
HEDRICK SMITH, FRONTLINE Correspondent: [voice-over] Everything about Enron seemed larger than life, from its glittering Houston headquarters reaching to the skies to its spectacular downfall. But Enron's collapse was more than the shattering of one American success story. It was a warning of a far wider malaise in the marketplace.
Enron was the climax of an avalanche of American companies that cost investors as much as $200 billion by issuing deceptive financial reports. The roots of the Enron debacle stretch to Wall Street, where the accountants and other watchdogs were supposed to keep score on corporate America and make sure the market is honest.
The trail leads also to Washington, where Congress weakened the protections and tied the hands of regulators, making it easier for aggressive companies like Enron to push the envelope.
ARTHUR LEVITT, SEC Chairman (1993-2001): [Senate committee hearing] Enron's collapse did not occur in a vacuum. Its backdrop is an obsessive zeal by too many American companies to project greater earnings from year to year. When I was at the SEC, I referred to this as a culture of