The Enron Corporation– Dilemma in the Workplace
The Enron Corporation (Enron) was once one of the world's leading energy companies. In December 2001, Enron filed the largest corporate bankruptcy claim in United States history. The collapse led to investigations of both Enron and Arthur Andersen, an accounting firm employed by Enron. Investigators focused on charges that Enron deliberately concealed its financial problems, misled investors, and failed to pay income taxes.
Enron has taken a downward slide since January making their stock worthless today. With corrupt executives and the help of their auditing firm, they have been able to provide investors with false financial information, which gave them a false picture of the company’s true state of affairs. The collapse of Enron has made thousands of employees lose their life savings in 401k plans, and company stock holdings. Investors were defrauded out of billions of dollars and everyone is asking the questions, “How did this happen, and can we prevent this from happening again?”
Company Background
In 1930, Northern Natural Gas, a Nebraska-based gas pipeline company was founded. By 1950, the company had doubled in size. A decade later, it started processing and transporting natural gas liquids. The company was renamed InterNorth in 1980 and bought Belco Petroleum three years later. InterNorth also helped build the Northern Border Pipeline to link Canadian fields with the United States markets. (C-Span.com, 2002)
Houston Natural Gas (HNG) formed in 1925 as a South Texas natural gas distributor. The company started developing oil and gas properties in 1953. It ...