...Enron Corporation (former NYSE ticker symbol ENE) was an American energy company that was originally involved in transmitting and distributing electricity and natural gas throughout the United States. It was founded in 1985 in Omaha, NB. The company later relocated to downtown Houston, TX and was based in the Enron Complex. Enron transformed energy into a commodity that could be traded like stock and bonds. Before its bankruptcy in late 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications and pulp and paper companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000. Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. The top executives at Enron were: Kenneth Lay: Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling: President, Chief Operating Officer, and CEO (February-August 2001) Andrew Fastow: Chief Financial Officer Prior to joining Enron, Skilling told Lay that he would not join the company and build his new division unless he could use mark-to market accounting. The concept of mark-to market accounting is essentially stating potential future values as profits. Much of what happened at Enron can be linked to this form of accounting. This radical notion of value came to define the way Enron presented itself to the world, justifying the millions in profits on a business before it had generated a penny in actual revenues. Skilling felt that...
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...A new strategy Enron was the biggest seller of natural gas in North America in 1992, their EBIT was 122 million dollar. Enron used differentiation strategy which aimed to develop and operated with different assets such as pipelines, services, paper plants, water plants and electricity plants. Enron did not just make profit on its assets but also traded with contracts of the assets and service in order to reach higher profit. This is how Enron became a favourite among investors in the ‘90s and its stock price increased 311%. The growth did not stop until the year of 2000. Enron’s market value was above 60 billion dollars and its stock price was 83,13 dollars the 31 December of 2000. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 helped them with their derivatives businesses. “One example was during the California electricity crisis (2000-2001) where they manipulated the California energy market and sent electricity prices surging by at least a factor of eight. During that time, the price of natural gas was trading as much as $60 per thousand cubic feet in California (which was previously selling for about $3 per thousand cubic feet). This kind of manipulation increased Enron's stock price and revenues. But this not so clever manipulation of Enron made itself a political target and accelerated the ruins of their finances.” Enron’s downfall Mark-to-market Accounting The use of mark-to-market accounting later struck back. The Enron’s aggressive accounting had corrupted...
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...Running Head: ENRON CORPORATION Enron Corporation July 20, 2011 Based in Houston, Texas, Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities and service company. Enron was formed in 1985 by Kenneth Lay after merging Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth. Enron employed approximately 22,000 employees and was one of the world’s leading electricity, natural gas communications, and pulp and paper companies before its demise in late 2001. For six consecutive years, Fortune named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company". At the end of 2001, it was discovered that Enron’s financial accounting reports had been falsified and the company had filed for bankruptcy. This substantial act was known as the "Enron scandal". The Enron scandal also lead to the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a United States federal law enacted on July 30, 2002 to enforce firmer standards for management and accounting firms. Enron has since become a popular symbol of willful corporate fraud and corruption. Describe how Enron could have been structured differently to avoid such activities. Enron withheld essential financial and accounting information from the public and its shareholders. By law Enron was required to disclose their company financial dealings. Enron’s shareholders should have been informed about their financial and accounting transaction. Several shareholders were employees who had invested their life savings into this company. Instead of promoting within the...
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...Enron Corporation was a company that provided services which related to energys, commodities and services based in Houston Texas. Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff. It was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, pulp, and paper companies. Enron claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000 before it filed bankruptcy in late 2001. Enron was named "America's Most Innovative Company" for six years in a row by Fortune. In 2001, Enron was accused of accounting fraud which later was recognized as the "Enron Scandal" and forced to file bankruptcy. The scandal led attention to other corporation's practices and activities from this result. The creation of the Sarbanes-Oaxely Act of 2002 was influenced by the Enron scandal as well. Enron's roots go back to a company that was formed in 1932 known as the "Northern Natural Gas Company". The company was reorganized in 1979 as leading subsidiary of a holding company known as InterNorth Inc. The company was a leader in natural gas, transmissions, and marketing. It was also a provider of natural gas liquids as well as an innovator in the plastic industry. InterNorth owned "Peak Antifreeze" as well as developing "EVAL" resins for food packaging. The Enron Corporation led itself into scandel, fraud, lies, and illegal financial cover-ups that would later be known as one of the biggest corporation scandels in history. 1. Discuss how Enron could have been structured differently to avoid such activities...
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.... Burton Final Paper: The Enron Scandal MSA 602 Dr. Pendarvis 12-4-2011 Abstract Enron's collapse is generally viewed as a morality tale - the natural result of managerial greed, a clueless board, and feckless gatekeepers. But none of these aspects of the story clearly distinguishes Enron from other major firms during the bubble era of the late 90s. This material identifies certain economic facts from the many moving parts that was Enron, and organizes them along two main threads. The first describes Enron's major businesses, and the incentives and constraints under which the managers of those businesses operated. The second thread describes the basic financial engineering tools developed by Enron's finance department. These threads are then woven into the timeline of Enron's ultimate collapse. What emerges is a tale of how bad bets that resulted in good outcomes came to be viewed by top management and the board as bets worth repeating on an ever-larger scale. Early success in highly risky ventures were ramped up and duplicated, under perverse incentives, into a financial disaster. The firm then doubled down on that disaster with non-economic hedges developed by the finance group. The CFO, in a wholesale breach of his fiduciary responsibilities, including corruption of various gatekeepers, managed to cloak the poor quality of his hedges and his motivation in creating them. This duplicity prevented...
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...In the repercussion of Enron‘s bankruptcy filing, numerous Enron executives were charged with criminal acts. Those charges were fraud, insider trading and money laundering. Enron was described as―House Of Cards‖ as it was built over a pool of gasoline. It all sort of became smoke and mirror. Louis Borget, former Enron's CEO was also exposed to be rerouting company’s money to offshore accounts. Once their schemes were discovered by the auditors, Kenneth Lay encourages them to "keep making us millions". However, the traders were fired once it was revealed that Enron's reserves were gambled awaywhich nearly destroyed the company. After these facts were brought to light, Ken 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 Skilling, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Enron was charged on 35 counts that included conspiracy wire fraud, insider trading, securities fraud, and making false statements on financial reports. Andrew Fastow, former Enron’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), faced 98 counts of money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy in...
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...Enron and Arthur Andersen Accounting Scandal The Enron accounting scandal resulted in a loss of reputation to Arthur Andersen which was a result of fraudulent financial statement reporting. Crimes discovered included irregular accounting procedures which could be turned in as fraud which involved Enron and Arthur Andersen as its accounting firm. They were found to have committed wire fraud, security fraud, making false statements to banks, creating several “independent” companies, called “Special-Purpose Entities” (SPEs) and using them as a way to hide many bad and devalued assets to fool investors into believing Enron was financially healthy so Enron executives could pocket millions from sales of inflated stock. They created a company called LJM1 which purchased the provider’s stock at inflated prices and took them off the books at Enron. Later, when the price of the stock fell, Enron did not have the loss on its books. LJM allowed Enron to move money-losing assets off its balance sheet. LJM was also involved in complex hedging that was supposed to reduce the volatility of some of Enron's investments, including stakes in high-tech and telecom businesses. Arthur Andersen, Enron’s accountants, were accused to have allowed LJM1 to be isolated from Enron’s books, and go unnoticed. In the end, LJM1 was stuck with stock from the internet provider, which they purchased from Enron at inflated prices, and now were worth much less. Andy Fastow was the Enron executive who...
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...Enron Corporation Describe how Enron could have been structured differently to avoid such activities. Enron had a code of ethics policy in place but failed to implement it correctly (Bagley, C.E. & Savage, D.W., 2010). An enforced code of ethics policy, which includes required annual ethics training, is crucial in setting standards for employees in regards to their ethical behavior. It reminds all employees that they need to think about how they conduct themselves on the job. Here at NASA, we have a code of ethics policy and annual ethics training. NASA’s ethics training is a required course that all employees must take. Training informs all NASA employees of what is and is not acceptable behavior. Along with the enforcement of a code of ethics policy and training, Enron needed to be structured so that people could safely come forth if they witnessed any illegal or unethical actions. Of course, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which makes it easier for employees to come forth, did not pass until after the Enron scandal. Another way that Enron could have been structured differently was to have a better way to scrutinize the activities that went on at Enron. That is, structure the company so that daily activities could be closely monitored. A separate group could have been created to do some internal monitoring of the activities at Enron. The things I mentioned would have been helpful in developing a better culture at Enron and could have helped limit such activities. However...
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...Professor Young March 5, 2011 Enron was an old line energy company, owning electric power production facilities and natural gas pipelines. It engaged in several acquisitions during the late 1980s and the 1990s that dramatically increased its size. Its acquisitions included power companies in the U.S. and abroad, as well as investments in various energy and technology companies. In the 1990s, Enron reorganized itself as an energy trading company, whose primary form of business was to trade in various energy vehicles, including contracts to provide electric power in the future at pre-determined prices and similar contracts to deliver natural gas, water rights, wind power systems, broad band transmission systems, insurance, and other products. 1. Describe how Enron could have been structured differently to avoid such action. Enron, like most public companies was required by law to describe its party transaction to shareholders and the members of the investing public in several different disclosure documents. Overall, Enron failed to disclose facts that were important for understanding the substance of the transaction. Although they did disclose that there were large transactions that the CFA had interest. Enron did not give the CFO’s actual or expected benefits from these transactions or provide complete financial statements. The organizational structure could have been different by not changing the original structure. When Enron decided to change its structure by...
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...1. ENRON Enron Corporation tuvo su origen durante la recesión en el año de 1985, cuando Kenneth Lay, CEO de la Houston Gas Company, se fusionó con Internorth Inc. La nueva compañía reportó en su primer año una pérdida de $14 millones de dólares, que consistía en $12.1 billones de dólares en activos, 15,000 empleados, la segunda en la nación con la mayor red de distribución y una imponente montaña de deudas. Enron fue una empresa típica de distribución de gas natural con todas las indumentarias tradicionales de un alto grado de apalancamiento, compitiendo en una “vieja economía” de energía regulada. Se tambaleaba en la quiebra en sus primeros años de operación, Enron tuvo que lidiar con un proceso de adquisición hostil. Su estrategia de “vieja economía” no motivaba al mercado de valores. Sin embargo en la década de 1990, sufrió un cambio drástico cuando Jeffrey Skilling remplazó a Richard Kinder como CEO. La empresa se dedicaba originalmente a la administración de gasoductos dentro de los Estados Unidos, aunque luego expandió sus operaciones como intermediario de los contratos de futuros y derivados del gas natural y al desarrollo, construcción y operación de gasoductos y plantas de energía, por todo el mundo, convirtiéndose rápidamente en una empresa de renombre internacional. En 1999, Enron fue nombrada por la revista Fortune como “La Empresa más innovadora de América” “No. 1 en Administración de Calidad” y “No. 2 en Empleados Talentosos” Crecimientos vertiginosos: 1990:...
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...ENRON: The Idiocy and the Irony Introduction Red flags were blinding as Enron learned about possible corruption with Enron Oil Trading in Valhalla, New York. After the merger between HNG and InterNorth, the Valhalla office, originally established by InterNorth seemed all but forgotten until quarterly and annual reports were due. Supervisors Tom Harding and Steve Sulentic were rarely on-site, preferring the comfort of offices in Houston. Louis Borget who established and operated the trading business was an autocratic manager, receiving excessive incentive payment for profitable performance. Between 1984 - 1986, Valhalla continued to report profits in the emerging oil trading industry. A call to Enron in Houston by Apple Bank would shatter the false sense of security regarding Valhalla. An ensuing investigation by Arthur Andersen, an accounting firm employed by Enron, failed to produce concrete evidence of misappropriation within Valhalla. Questionable practices were identified, but Enron failed to react appropriately to this information. CEO Lay was able to persuade key executives within Enron and the board of directors to keep running Valhalla offices, with minor changes in personnel. Mick Seidl, unhappy with Lay’s influence over the board, called Mike Muckelroy to investigate Valhalla. Muckelroy’s investigation would become the tipping point regarding Valhalla. With a secret set of books discovered, fraudulent trading entities identified and $1 billion...
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...The Enron and Corporate Governance Company Enron Corporation Industry Energy Founded Omaha, Nebraska, USA (1985) Founder Kenneth Lay Employees approx. 22,000 (2000) Fate Bankruptcy, 2001 Website enron.com To write about Enron I was inspired by documentary movie “Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room”. It explains in details how negligence and ‘cheating’ in corporate governance can lead to disaster for whole nation. The case of Enron became classical example of the company where executives can manipulate whole industry using ‘creative accounting’ and corporate governance. Enron bankruptcy is the greatest knowing corporate failure in the US from the time when the crash of numerous savings and loan institutions in the 1980s. This scandal showed the necessity for important improvements in accounting and corporate governance in the country, along with a tight control at the moral values in the culture of business in whole and of enterprises in the country. Actually, one can find a lot of reasons why this collapse happened. And there is the problem of interest between the two roles played by Mr Andersen, as auditor but also as consultant to Enron; the lack of attention shown by members of the Enron board of directors to the off-books financial entities with which Enron did business; and the lack of truthfulness by management about the health of the company and its business operations. In some ways, the culture of Enron was the primary cause of the collapse...
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...Enron Corp. Ivan Rodriguez Professor Daniel Smith Legal 100 April 30, 2011 2. Discuss whether Enron’s officers acted within the scope of their authority. 3. Describe the corporate culture at Enron. 4. Discuss two alleged irregularities in the actions between sellers of securities and Enron. 5. Discuss whether or not Enron was liable for the actions of its agents and employees. The format of the report is to be as follows: o Typed, double spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one inch margins on all sides, APA format. o Type the question followed by your answer to the question. * In addition to the 3-4 pages required, a title page is to be included. The title page is to contain the title of the assignment, your name, the instructor’s name, the course title, and the date. Describe how Enron could have been structured differently to avoid such activities. Using computers, the Internet, and other resources, research the activities of the Enron Corporation (Enron), its officers, and its agents (auditors and sellers of securities). Using all the material presented thus far in the course, analyze the activities you researched. The Enron Corporation was an American energy company, which since its merger in 1985 with two other natural pipeline gas companies Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth failed to structure a corporation built around strong ethics and accordance with the law. It would be fair to predominantly commence by...
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...Enron and World Finance A Case Study in Ethics Edited by Paul H. Dembinski, Carole Lager, Andrew Cornford and Jean-Michel Bonvin Enron and World Finance Also by Observatoire de la Finance From Bretton Woods to Basel Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, no. 21, Spring 2005 Ethics of Taxation and Banking Secrecy Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, no. 12, Autumn 2002 Will the Euro Shape Europe? Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, no. 9, Winter 2001–2 Dommen, E. (ed.) Debt Beyond Contract Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, Supplement no. 2, 2001 Bonvin, J.-M. Debt and the Jubilee: Pacing the Economy Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, Supplement no. 1, 1999 Dembinski, P. H. (leading contributor) Economic and Financial Globalization: What the Numbers Say United Nations, Geneva, 2003 Enron and World Finance A Case Study in Ethics Edited by Paul H. Dembinski Carole Lager Andrew Cornford and Jean-Michel Bonvin in association with the Observatoire de la Finance Selection, editorial matter and Chapters 1, 2 and 16 © Observatoire de la Finance Remaining chapters © contributors 2006 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence ...
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...ENRON’S FAILURE RESEARCH #1 Failure of Enron Corporation Enron Corporation, called America’s most innovative company for six consecutive years by Fortune Magazine, was the world’s leading energy company. Enron was formed in 1985 by a merger of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, involving the transmission and distribution of electricity and gas throughout the United States, but majority of its growth was due to the pioneering marketing and promotion of power and communication bandwidth commodities as well as its related risk management derivatives (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2009). Under new leadership Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, Enron adopted an aggressive growth strategy. To ‘seal the deal’, they hired Andrew Fastow as CFO and it was he, that helped to create the complex financial structure for Enron (Reinstein & Weirich, 2002). One could say that Enron began to plummet as soon as the company shifted its focus from regulated natural gas domestically to international energy, water and broadband communications – as these were volatile and risky hedging transactions (Reinstein & Weirich, 2002). Engaging in these risky transactions, enabled Enron’s stock to rise but when these three new areas went sour, the stock plummeted as well. Enron’s management did not disclose these losses and liabilities on their financial records nor to the investors of the corporation (Reinstein & Weirich, 2002). Despite Enron being called the most innovative and having alleged...
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