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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1. The Enron debacle created what one public official reported was a “crisis of confidence” on the part of the public in the accounting profession. List the parties who you believe are most responsible for that crisis. Briefly justify each of your choices. a. Kenneth Lay‚ Jeffrey Skilling‚ and Andrew Fastow. A common theme of the allegations leveled at the three executives was that they had created a corporate culture that fostered‚ if not encouraged‚ “rule breaking”. b. Andersen
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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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The Fannie Scandal: The ’Financiopaths ’ Did It Article Analysis Jami L. Harris University of Phoenix ACC 363/ Financial Accounting II Facilitator: Eduard Delacruz November 5‚ 2006 Abstract When most people hear the word "Enron‚" they the first thought that comes to mind is watching the news with the executives being taken by handcuffs to a police car due to the scandal. Though it remains very familiar in the minds of the American people‚ Fannie Mae had also lead a scandalous act to
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What were the business risks enron faced‚ and how did those risks increase the likelihood of material misstatements in enron’s financial statement Enron faces most of the risk ordinarily faced by any energy company‚ including price instability and foreign currency risks. Enron operated in many different areas of the world with different regulatory and political risks. Enron faced business risks such as a complex business model‚ extensive use of derivatives and special purpose entities‚ aggressive
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Enron History Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) were used and often abused by most large corporations in the late 1990’s. Enron was likely the corporation that abused the accounting treatment the most‚ but certainly not the only one. The Enron SPEs were not hidden from the auditors or the investing public‚ but were so extensive‚ invasive‚ and complex that no one‚ including primary architect‚ Andrew Fastow‚ was able to understand the total implications. The 2000 financial statements for Enron included
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1. What led to the eventual collapse of Enron under Lay and Skilling? The collapse of Enron seems to be rooted in a combination of the failure of top leadership‚ a corporate culture that supported unethical behavior‚ and the complicity of the investment banking community. In the aftermath of Enron’s bankruptcy filing‚ numerous Enron executives were charged with criminal acts‚ including fraud‚ money laundering‚ and insider trading. Ben Glisan‚ Enron’s former treasurer‚ was charged with two-dozen
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1. Adsteam Adonist@gmx.de‚ quigonjinn@hotmail.de was a very model of conglomerate(jujie). In the eyes of the outside‚ it was a successful company. But it’s not true. It’s far from other companies in its complex structure. Adsteam group comprised numerous less-than-majority-owned companies. It acquired major share-holdings in numerous companies throughout the 1980’s. The acquisition strategy resulted in an extremely complicated cross-shareholding-based structure. It was noting that the maximum amount
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1.What are the main reasons that Enron collapsed? I think the reasons for the collapse are three fold. Firstly Enron’s accounting practices(mark to market accounting- companies estimate how much revenue a deal is going to bring in and state that number in their earnings the moment the contract is signed) Its managements goal was to maintain the appearance of value by always having rising stock prices rather than focus on creating real value for the company. Secondly its reliance on Special
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