Management controls refer to the tools that seek to elicit behavior that achieves the strategic objectives of an organization, such as budgets, performance measures, standard operating procedures and performance-based remuneration and incentives. While Enron’s demise has been portrayed as resulting from a few unscrupulous rogues or ‘bad apples” (the phrase used by President Bush) acting in the absence of formal management controls, Enron featured all of the trappings of proper management control, including a formal code of ethics, an elaborate performance review and bonus regime, a Risk Assessment and Control group (RAC), a Big-5 auditor, and conventional powers of boards and related committees. This control infrastructure was widely lauded right up until the demise of the company.
The three core pillars of Enron’s management control system were the risk assessment and control group, Enron’s performance review system and its code of ethics.