Abused power, acted unethically and believed they were invincible eventually uncovering willful corporate and accounting fraud.
CFO Andrew Fastow and Chair Ken Lay stated, “lawyers and accountants reviewed and approved what was being done.” (Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferrell ,2013).
Fastow stated, that his tactical strategy to move assets and debt off its balance sheet and increasing the appearance of cash flow was justified.
Misguided by personal financial rewards, forfeited generating profits for shareholders was circumvented .
Serious problems were ignored by Enron accountants.
Accounting firm of Arthur Anderson played a dual role as auditor/consultants-compromised ethical decision making for the sake of profit margin.
General culture was unethical believing that “anything could be turned into an economic product and traded for profit.” (Ferrell 2013).