Nicholas Barton 00343164 Accounting 2600 Case Study: The Enron Collapse “Why was it that Enron, a financial services company, in effect, could not release a balance sheet with their earnings statement?” -Jim Chanos, President Kynikos Associates. In the film “Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room,” analyst Jim Chanos asks why, the 7th largest company in the world at the time, could not supply investors with basic financial statements. These statements as we learn in accounting are the fundamental
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Corporation has been unfolding in the media for well over a year. In the span of only three years, ENRON has gone from public and professional acclaim of the company and its senior executives to scorn, infamy and bankruptcy. Its public auditing firm, Arthur Andersen, has basically been destroyed, as well as publicly disgraced. Tens of thousands of employees and investors have been emotionally and financially affected. Major financial services firms in banking, securities brokerage and insurance have been
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reach, and included many politicians including WWW.Time.COM (2002) George Bush Sr. and Jr. as well as then Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General John Ashcroft. It also included Enron’s auditor Joseph F. Berardino who was the CEO of Arthur Andersen, and their banker Marc Shapiro Vice President of JPMorgan Chase. All of these people played a role in the scandal, although they didn’t even work for the company, but the key players were the Enron officials. Including but not limited to the
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corporation John and Mary Andersen immigrated to the United States from their native Nor-way in 1881. The young couple made their way to the small farming community of Piano, Illinois, some 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. Over the pre-vious few decades, hundreds of Norwegian families had settled in Piano and sur-rounding communities. In fact, the aptly named Norway, Illinois, was located just a few miles away from the couple's new hometown. In 1885, Arthur Edward An-dersen was born. From
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Corporation John and Mary Andersen immigrated to the United States from their native Norway in 1881. The young couple made their way to the small farming community of Plano, Illinois, some 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. Over the previous few decades, hundreds of Norwegian families had settled in Plano and surrounding communities. In fact, the aptly named Norway, Illinois, was located just a few miles away from the couple’s new hometown. In 1885, Arthur Edward Andersen was born. From an early
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billion in revenues. But in 2001 the company’s reputation began to fall following rumors of bribery to obtain contracts in different parts of the world. Likewise, fraudulent accounting techniques, which were supported by its external auditing firm Arthur Andersen, allowed the company to create the largest corporate scam know in U.S. history until then (McLean, 2008). Enron’s fraud consisted of, what its CEO called, creative accounting: off-balance-sheet items, complex financing structures, and deals
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Lay denies having any knowledge of wrongdoing. Needless to say, when required to testify before the U.S. Congress on the reasons for Enron ‘ s collapse, Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and Andrew Fastow, sought refuge under the Fifth Amendment. Andrew Fastow, Jeffrey Skilling, and Kenneth Lay are among the most notable top-level executives implicated in the collapse of Enron‘s. Kenneth Lay, the former chairman of Enron was prosecuted on 11 criminal counts of making misleading statements and fraud. Jeff
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The activities of the leadership of Enron and its Board of Directors is a virtual how to on how unethical decisions can and will eventually bring a company to the brink of collapse. The short term rewards of unethical activity can be quickly overcome by the destructive force of investigations and market swings. How greed and lack of oversight can cause the disruption of the livelihoods of employees not directly involved with the unethical behavior. We will examine the events leading up to the
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Corporation John and Mary Andersen immigrated to the United States from their native Norway in 1881. The young couple made their way to the small farming community of Plano, Illinois, some 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. Over the previous few decades, hundreds of Norwegian families had settled in Plano and surrounding communities. In fact, the aptly named Norway, Illinois, was located just a few miles away from the couple’s new hometown. In 1885, Arthur Edward Andersen was born. From an early
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Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Discussions 3 2.1 Leadership and Culture 5 2.2 Internal Control 8 2.3 Internal Audit 13 2.4 External Audit 16 2.5 Board of Director (BOD) 19 3.0 Conclusion 21 4.0 Biliography 22 1.0 Introduction WorldCom is a profit organization that specialized in local, long distance and international plans, high cable internet, prepaid cards, and provided telecommunications to customers nationwide with business corporations making up the majority of the 20 million
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