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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Enron and WorldCom FIN/486 December 22‚ 2014 Enron and WorldCom In 1998‚ Waste Management executives acknowledged earnings misstatements of approximately $1.7 billion. With the help of the Arthur Anderson accounting firm‚ Waste Management shareholders lost more than $6 billion dollars (CNN‚ 2001). The Waste Management corruption ushered in a series of corporate scandals into the new millennium. Enron and WorldCom were only two of many ethical and accounting violations that prompted new legislation
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Business Ethics Movie Summary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room The movie starts with a man named Kenneth Lay‚ he founded Enron. The idea of the film is a documentary of how Enron was managed‚ and by who it was managed‚ and what scandals they were up too. The name of the movie “ Smartest guys in the room” was given because it was not only Kenneth Lay behind the desk‚ he had a group of smart people managing Enron‚ one man by himself cannot manage to create a scheme‚ he needs help from a
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1. Enron was valued at $2.3 billion when it was formed in July 1985. On August 23‚ 2000‚ its stock was at $90 per share and it had a market capitalization of $65.9 billion. Explain the major business practices that created such dynamic growth in the price of the stock. Enron used many different tactics to inflate their stock prices. The one that sticks out to me is when they signed a 20-year contract with Blockbuster. Early in the contract Blockbuster and Enron parted ways with a null and void
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Enron and Ethics Failure is the best teacher not only for those who fail‚ but also for those who observe the failure. Thus‚ for many businesses the Enron scandal proved to be the greatest teacher. Since the fall of Enron‚ there have been several theories and examinations about why it failed as it was a corporation that no one imagined would ever crash. Based on research to date there are multiple reasons for Enron’s failure; however‚ one that stands out immensely is corporate disregard for ethics
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Review of accounting ethics : The Enron Fraud Kemal Cankaya Strayer University Arlington Campus Financial Accounting Prof. Tony Somathiti February 1‚ 2013 The Enron Fraud “Enron‚ a Houston-based energy firm founded by Kenneth Lay‚ transformed itself over its sixteen years lifespan from an obscure gas pipeline concern to the world’s largest energy-trading company (both off and online). Enron has become an interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline company
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Enron’s collapse was the result of unethical practices; alas‚ such practices had a long‚ ignominious presence. The Enron story begins with CEO Kenneth Lay‚ who in 1986 combined his Houston Natural Gas company with several other entities. Until 1996‚ Enron primarily sold natural gas. Yet‚ in a sign of trouble to come‚ in 1987 Lay overlooked evidence of financial misdeeds in the company’s Valhalla‚ NY unit as executives Louis Bourget and Thomas Mastroeni greatly inflated profits while embezzling
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even forced to enter bankruptcy. Enron is one of the biggest examples of when making business ethical decisions go wrong. An American energy‚ commodities‚ and services company based in Houston‚ Texas Enron was a big deal. Employing approximately 20‚000 staff and was being one of the world’s leading electricity‚ natural gas‚ communications‚ and pulp and paper companies. Enron was a company on top on of the reason the fall was so drastic. Since Enron was the largest corporation contributor to
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Q1- Who were the key stakeholders involved in‚ or affected by the collapse of Enron? How and to what degree were they hurt or helped by the actions of Enron management? Ans- The key stakeholders affected by the collapse of Enron were its employees and retirees. Stakeholders and mutual funds investors lost $ 70billion market value. Banks were also affected by the meltdown of the company. They included big banks like J P Morgan Chase and Citigroup. Not only the stakeholder and bondholder lose out
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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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