December 2 was the 10th anniversary of the Enron bankruptcy.
Just a few of the big consequences of that massive fraud were Sarbanes-Oxley legislation and the bankruptcy of Arthur Andersen.
Two of the subtle consequences are that it’s now a federal felony to destroy any documents after a federal investigation has begun (when the IRS or ICE has merely started asking questions about one of your clients, it becomes a felony to do a routine shredding in your office or cleanup of your e-mail) and PCAOB is setting standards for public company audits.
If you need to refresh your memory of what happened, here are just a few of the recent blog posts discussing that not-so-wonderful time:
10 years after Enron, the wound is still fresh – CPA Success
The Legacy of Arthur Andersen – re: The Auditors
And a contrarian opinion that things have gone downhill since then (mild language warning):
Look, You Guys, You Should Really Be Thankful for Enron’s Bankruptcy – Going Concern
Maybe this should be Part Ib of my What’s going on in the big firm posts.
GOOD READING…..The Biggest Stock Scams Of All Time at
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/12/01/investopedia355.DTL&ao=all
Mr. Zeune points to a great article that provides a condensed 2 paragraph summary of 8 different major financial frauds. Chronological order too. Good article. Thanks for pointing it out.
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