Fraud Friday: The fall of Enron


Although it’s probably not reason to celebrate, the 20-year anniversary of the fall of Enron is upon us. While most of the main players have served their time and moved on (many back into the energy world), they left behind a legacy of corporate greed. The company’s predecessors were formed in the 1920s and 30s and through a series of mergers, landed with Kenneth Lay. It was then known as InterNorth, and Lay spent over $100,000 on focus groups to come up with a new name: Enteron. Since this word was already taken (it means “digestive tract or system”), it was shortened to Enron. But this never-adopted moniker seemed to inform company practices, which took shady accounting practices and lying to investors to new heights before a whistleblower pulled the chain and sent it all down the drain. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron)

CPAs, get four hours of fraud CPE with our 2021 Fundamentals of Fraud Prevention & Detection On-Demand WebinarClick here for more information.