ABSTRACT
Enron Corporation is an energy trading company that developed in 1985 from a merger of two companies, Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, a Houston pipeline company. From 1996 through 2000, Enron was named America’s Most Innovative Company because of its cultivation of a unique niche as a developer of markets in energy futures and other financial commodities related to energy and communication markets. It turned out that the corporation may have been most innovative when it came to fudging accounts and hiding losses to portray a false image of a highly profitable firm. Investigations launched in early 2002 led eventually to indictments of top Enron executives on charges of various forms of fraud and conspiracy. At the heart of the scandals were communications intended to mislead and deceive stockholders, the stock markets, regulators, and the public in general concerning the financial worth of the corporation. The scandal also entangled the accounting and consulting firm of Arthur Andersen, since they had served as auditors for and signed off on Enron’s accounting reports and practices. This connection led to revelations of other scandals involving companies such as WorldCom, Global Crossing, and ImClone (this latter connection even led to the legal troubles of media celebrity on good living, Martha Stewart).
