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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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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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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Enron: Tone at the Top The fall of Enron is not just one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history‚ but in my opinion‚ a landmark case study of the lack of business ethics in an organization. Enron’s downfall‚ along with the demise of Arthur Andersen‚ one of the largest public accounting firms at the time‚ brought about a swift change in U.S. regulations governing how publicly traded companies reported their financials. While the top brass at Enron pled ignorance to the fact that they had no control
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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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problems of the Enron Scandal The main problem of the Enron scandal was that they committed business fraud. This is what the root problem of the company was. The sad thing about the Enron scandal was that approximately 22‚000 men and women lost their jobs. Not only did it affect the people who worked for the company but the problem was that it also affected other accounting firms that worked directly with Enron‚ for example the company Arthur Anderson went under because of the Enron scandal and this
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The Smartest Guys in the Room It was a profound story happened between two giant companies‚ both of which once marked as one of the greatest companies for decades in the American History. Enron‚ started as Northern natural Gas Company in 1930‚ creatively making its way through the Great Depression by opening up the natural gas market with its lower cost and developing extensive pipeline network with the unlimited low-cost labor resource‚ fell apart due to its creative use of the SPEs and related
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Enron Scandal In 1985‚ Enron was formed by Kenneth Lay after the merging of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth. In the 1990s‚ Lay helped to initiate the selling of electricity at market prices. Markets made it easier for Enron to sell energy at higher prices‚ which caused the company to get richer. Enron was the largest merchant of natural gas in 1992. In November 1999‚ the creation of EnronOnline enabled Enron to develop‚ negotiate and manage its trading business. By 2001‚ Enron became a
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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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