Preview

What led to the eventual collapse of En

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1919 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What led to the eventual collapse of En
What led to the eventual collapse of Enron under Lay and Skilling and How?

Answer: All the fraud activities conducted by Lay and Skilling and bad corporate culture led to the Eventual collapse of Enron. Both were aware of the Enron Code of Ethics but they did not follow it. Kenneth Lay former CEO was indicted on 11 criminal counts of fraud and making misleading statements. Jeff Skilling was indicted on 35 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy, making false statement on financial reports, and insider trading. Hence both were responsible for collapse of Enron.

How did the top leadership at Enron undermine the foundational values of the Enron Code of Ethics?

Answer: Enron numerous executives such as former CEO, former chief financial officer and treasurer who forced company to the bankruptcy were found guilty after the bankruptcy. They were engaged in money laundering, fraud and conspiracy. In this manner Enron’s leadership undermine the company’s expressed Enron Code of Ethics i.e. respect, integrity, communication and excellence.

Enron: What Caused The Ethical Collapse?
Answer: (Introduction) Kenneth Lay, former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Enron Corp., is quoted in Michael Novak’s book Business as a Calling: Work and the Examined Life as saying, “I was fully exposed to not only legal behavior but moral and ethical behavior and what that means from the standpoint of leading organizations and people.” In an introductory statement to the revised Enron Code of Ethics issued in July 2000, Lay wrote: “As officers and employees of Enron Corp., its subsidiaries, and its affiliated companies, we are responsible for conducting the business affairs of the companies in accordance with all applicable laws and in a moral and honest manner.” Lay went on to indicate that the 64-page Enron Code of Ethics reflected policies approved by the company’s board of directors and that the company, which enjoyed a reputation for being fair and honest,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Awc Case

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages

    References: Ager, D., Andron A., & MacLeod W. (1994). Enron Corp. In D. Sharp (Ed.), Cases in Business Ethics (pp. 203-210). California: Thousand Oaks.…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Enron Case Study

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages

    What happened to Enron was just its founder at the time Ken Lay was greedy and unethical right from the beginning, and that was how he steered the boat to that direction. Instead of firing traders who were pocketing profits for themselves, manipulating reports which showed steady financial trends, he managed to keep them, because they were making a lot of money for the company. So he was giving opportunities for this staffs to do underhand works and he only cared if it made profits for the company. Later, when Jeff Skilling joined Enron, he developed what Lay had…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Intellectual Stimulation as posited by Hall et al. (2008) describes leaders who encourage innovation and creativity through challenging the normal beliefs or views of a group. Leaders with intellectual stimulation promote critical thinking and problem solving to make the organization better. I seek to challenge the status quo from time to time. Largely, I don’t think I have been able to move my team in this regard. The food business thrives on taste which is also a function of several factors within the customer’s control. Creativity is allowed only to the extent that it adds value to our business by promoting customer loyalty. There are clear sanctions for creativity that results in extra costs as well rewards for creativity that adds value.…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Discussion Question 2

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Greed, power and personal satisfaction are all characteristics that motivate people to do things that might not always be in the best interest of others. In the case of Lay and Skilling, along with dozens of other executives, this is exactly what happened. There was no acceptance of blame, only ignorance and death. Enron was a highly respected company in many ways. As one of the fastest growing, wealthiest companies in the 90’s, Kenneth Lay’s praises were sung by presidential candidates, the Fortune 500 and widely renowned business magazines across the country CITATION Joh123 \l 1033 (Johnson, 2012). How could a company who had such highly profiled respect and revenue be at the root of such a huge scandal?…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This paper will discuss and analyze the requirements for search and arrest warrants based with regard to probable cause. I will post a recent news regarding probable cause and will discuss exceptions to warrant requirements.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Enron senior management gets a failing grade on the truth and disclosure and a passing grade on arrogance and greed. For Fifteen years Enron was a paper tiger with few questions ever asked concerning its earnings profitability or business practices. The deceit and deception by Enron management seems to be the environment of a divisive marketing campaign that Kenneth Lay, Jeffery Skilling and Andrew Fastow hide while touting Enron. In reality Enron was one of the greatest Ponzi schemes to date, all hat and no horse. The management was superb at financial fraud and unparalleled at persuading the public and investors that they were respectable and legitimate. The money they stole bought a lot of respect and they spent freely on image and luxury in proving Enron was for real…

    • 2316 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The culture at Enron had become so free reign and focused on astronomical profits, that it absolutely was a contributing factor to the ethics digressions. Ethics became a complete after thought for the company. Skilling and the executives at Enron were making obscene amounts of money each and every day and at that point pure gluttony took over. The company’s vision became narrowly focused on one thing and one thing only, keeping the absurd profits rolling in, no matter what has to be done in order to do so.…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Paper

    • 9026 Words
    • 37 Pages

    Some argue Enron’s record-breaking bankruptcy and eventual demise was the result of a lack of ethical corporate behavior attributed, more generally, to capitalism’s inability to check the unmitigated growth of corporate greed. Others believe Enron’s collapse can be traced back to questionable accounting practices such as mark-to-market accounting and the utilization of Special Purpose Entities (SPE’s) to hide financial debt. In other instances, people point toward Enron’s mismanagement of risk and overextension of capital resources, coupled with the stark philosophical differences in management that existed between company leaders, as the primary reasons why the company went bankrupt. Yet, despite these various analyses of why things went wrong, the story of Enron’s rise and fall continues to mystify the general public as well as generate continued interest in what actually happened.…

    • 9026 Words
    • 37 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Business Failure Paper

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The collapse of Enron is known as one of the biggest corporate scandals in the twentieth century lead by greed, lack of leadership and bad investment. Employees of Enron loss their retirement saving, jobs and some even committed suicide as a result to the down fall of Enron. Enron known as the world’s largest energy companies in the United State failed due to unethical accounting techniques and poor leadership. One may wonder how this is possible with the cleaver work of chief executive officer of Enron this transformation of making Enron a financial trade company done by hidden huge amount debt and inflating earning. Companies put lots of trust in their key employees many time no question ask in their decisions. In Enron this form of one man show leadership contribute to its demise. In a well structure business everyone is consider a key employee and decisions are made to benefit every employee. In the case of Enron failed to intervene in the wrong doing of the management staffs because sales were increasing which is…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The United States Census is a decennial census that is organized by The Bureau of the…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Enron's Code of Ethics

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Enron’s values, as stated in the 2000 code of ethics, include the following: respect for others; openness and integrity; a premium on communication; a commitment to organizational excellence; and a commitment to non-discrimination.…

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Personal Ethical Framework

    • 2597 Words
    • 11 Pages

    According to Boatright (2003) the major factor in Enron scandal is an increased focused on share price; second important factor is the deregulation that occurred in the past two decades and the legal liability of accounting firms and investment banks was reduced, and third factor and most significant are simultaneous changes in the compensation structures for executives, accountants, and investment bankers. However, these factors, I believe were brought by the culture that leaders had cultivated and were influenced by the shadows they have casted as what the bible says "a man reaps what he sow” (Galatians 6:7, NIV). Every person’s behaviors and actions will have consequences and the effects are not necessarily obvious, such as when Enron executive’s slowly casted shadows of power, privilege, mismanaged information, inconsistency, misplaced and broken loyalties, and irresponsibility. In Enron, these were demonstrated by human failures of greed and corruption, dishonesty and intolerance, and pride…

    • 2597 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Enron, at the time, was a legitimate energy company that delivered tangible goods. The two bosses of the company, Enron, were Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay. They also had companions that contributed to this disgraceful activity as well. Jeff and Ken were caught constantly lying about everything. They corrupted all of the six factors of an ethical leader and the six pillars of characters, but in this particular incident, they corrupted honesty and trustworthiness. The company and its owners strived firmly on no interference from the government. To most people, this is better known as “Laissez faire”, which is, “The practice or doctrine of noninterference in the affairs of others” (dictionary.com). Due to the fact that there was no government interference, it made Jeff and Ken very believable, thus the reason why they were so convincing until the stock market collapsed. After it collapsed, both Jeff and Ken tried to put the blame on Andy Fastow, who was the CFO that Jeff had hired. Fastow was guided by others involved on the deal and had no idea what was going on. The bosses, Jeff and Ken, were not honest with him about the company before they hired him; later on, this also made them not trustworthy. Fastow was the only one that did not know what was going on so it made sense for the Jeff and Ken to put the blame on him because Fastow was responsible for the paperwork. In…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Enron's Ethics Breakdown

    • 2754 Words
    • 12 Pages

    It is perhaps the most compelling business ethics case in a generation—a textbook version of what can go wrong in an organization that lacks a true culture of ethical compliance. Investors and the media once considered Enron to be the company of the future, but as its demise suggests, it was in reality not a particularly modern business organization, especially in its approach to ethics. On the surface, at least, it appeared to reject progressive innovation in governance and ethics programs and instead sought to circumvent systems that were designed to protect the company and its shareholders. The purpose of this report is not to comment on the legal or political ramifications of the case but rather to focus on the business ethics issues raised by the conduct of the company’s directors and officers, its accountants, and lawyers as it is known to date. It is meant to be a reminder that simply having a detailed code of ethics on the books (as Enron certainly did) is not enough. Organizations need to infuse ethics and integrity throughout their corporate culture as well as into their definition of success.…

    • 2754 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is common knowledge that Enron is arguably to biggest corporate collapse in recent history. It is not common knowledge, however, what exactly happened within Enron that lead to its demise. Kenneth Lay founded Enron in 1985 when he configured the merging of two natural gas companies. Enron continued to grow by acquisition, leading to large amounts of debt. Lay hired Jeffery Skilling in 1989 to head the company’s finance department. Skilling devised a way for Enron to be the middle man for many commodity markets, when added together Enron traded over 1,800 unique products.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics