Enron Corporation, a U.S Energy, Services, and Commodities Company
To complete this discussion, please base your work on Enron, WorldCom, or another white collar crime story of your choosing.
Name the company you selected and briefly summarize the crime.
Do you think that the CEOs and other corporate officers involved were justly held criminally responsible or not? Explain your perspective.
Do you believe that business can regulate itself to act ethically, or is government oversight a necessity to protect the public from financial wrongdoing? Explain your position.
Respond to at least two of your peers who focused on a company other than the one you selected. Offer your own perspectives on whether the CEOs and other corporate officers involved were justly held criminally responsible or not.
Overview
Your active participation in the discussions is essential to your overall success this term. Discussion questions will help you make meaningful connections between the course content and the larger concepts of the course. These discussions give you a chance to express your own thoughts, ask questions, and gain insight from your peers and instructor.
Directions
For each discussion, you must create one initial post and follow up with at least two response posts.
For your initial post, do the following:
Write a post of 1 to 2 paragraphs.
In Module One, complete your initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
In Modules Two through Eight, complete your initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
Consider content from other parts of the course where appropriate. Use proper citation methods for your discipline when referencing scholarly or popular sources.
Enron Corporation, a U.S Energy, Services, and Commodities Company
The company I chose is Enron Corporation, a U.S energy, services, and commodities company. This scandal led to the firm's bankruptcy; the firm had previously had sixty billion dollars in assets. The company shifted to fraudulent accounting practices known as mark-to-market to help the company from sinking in losses that had brought pressure from shareholders. Mark-to-Market allows a company to give an illusion of higher profits through unrealized futures. Additionally, Enron used special purpose entities to dumb their troubled assets. Enron was under the leadership of Andrew Fastow, while Arthur Andersen served as the auditor.
The officials were found guilty and sentenced to prison. The auditing firm's license was revoked, and the company went into a downward spiral. The officials were aware of the crimes and gave the stakeholders false data about the firm. The officials even tried to destroy the evidence when the investigation was initiated, making them guilty.
Businesses cannot be trusted to operate ethically, and government oversight is necessary to protect the public from financial wrongdoing. Businesses are profit-oriented and will stop at nothing to avoid losses. The government must oversee companies just like they monitor individual incomes for taxes. The government also increases its revenue collection when it oversees business operations.
Sources: /event/Enron-scandal
/updates/enron-scandal-summary/
/enron-scandal/
Discussion Responses
Hey Lindsay,
First off, your post is interesting. You have picked a company with a perfect white-collar crime story. Having an account fraud crime for over 14 years is a serious issue that would have needed more attention from the company and government agencies. It is the company's role to ensure that its cations are ethical and do not affect the operations of other attributes. Account fraud activities were carried out within Wells Fargo, with no action being taken from the top management indicating ...
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