The collapse of Enron free essay sample

The collapse of Enron seems to be rooted in a combination of the failure of top leadership, a corporate culture that supported unethical behavior, and the complicity of the investment banking community. In the aftermath of Enron’s bankruptcy filing, numerous Enron executives were charged with criminal acts, including fraud, money laundering, and insider trading. Ben Glisan, Enron’s former treasurer, was charged with two-dozen counts of money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy. During the plea negotiations, Glisan described Enron as a â€Å"house of cards. † Andrew Fastow, Jeff Skilling, and Ken Lay are among the most notable top-level executives implicated in the collapse of Enron’s â€Å"house of cards. † Andrew Fastow, former Enron chief financial officer (CFO), faced 98 counts of money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy in connection with the improper partnerships he ran, which included a Brazilian power plant project and a Nigerian power plant project that was aided by Merrill Lynch, an investment banking firm. We will write a custom essay sample on The collapse of Enron or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2. How did the top leadership at Enron undermine the foundation values of the Enron Code of Ethics? Enron’s ethics code was based on respect, integrity, communication, and excellence. Kenneth Lay, former chairman and (CEO) of Enron Corp. , once quoted as saying: â€Å"I was fully exposed to not only legal behavior but moral and ethical behavior and what that means from the standpoint of leading organizations and people. † In an introductory statement to the revised Enron Code of Ethics issued in July 2000, Lay wrote: â€Å"As officers and employees of Enron Corp. Its subsidiaries, and its affiliated companies, we are responsible for conducting the business affairs of the companies in accordance with all applicable laws and in a moral and honest manner. † Lay went on to indicate that the 64-page Enron Code of Ethics reflected policies approved by the company’s board of directors and that the company, which enjoyed a reputation for being fair and honest, was highly respected. Enron’s ethics code also specified that â€Å"An employee shall not conduct himself or herself in a manner which directly or indirectly would be detrimental to the best interests of the Company or in a manner which would  bring to the employee financial gain separately derived as a direct consequence of his or her employment with the Company. † 3. How did Enron’s corporate culture promote unethical decisions and actions? Enron has been described as having a culture of arrogance that led people to believe that they could handle increasingly greater risk without encountering any danger. According to Sherron Watkins, â€Å"Enron’s unspoken message was, ‘Make the numbers, make the numbers, make the numbers—if you steal, if you cheat, just don’t get caught. If you do, beg for a second chance, and you’ll get one. ’† Enron’s corporate culture did little to promote the values of respect and integrity. These values were undermined through the company’s emphasis on decentralization, its employee performance appraisals, and its compensation program. Each Enron division and business unit was kept separate from the others, and as a result very few people in the organization had a â€Å"big picture† perspective of the company’s operations. Accompanying this emphasis on decentralization were insufficient operational and financial controls as well as â€Å"a distracted, hands-off chairman, a compliant board of directors, and an impotent staff of accountants, auditors, and lawyers. † Jeff Skilling implemented a very rigorous and threatening performance evaluation process for all Enron employees. Known as â€Å"rank and yank,† the annual process utilized peer evaluations, and each of the company’s divisions was arbitrarily forced to fire the lowest ranking one-fifth of its employees. Employees frequently ranked their peers lower in order to enhance their own positions in the company. Enron’s compensation plan â€Å"seemed oriented toward enriching executives rather than generating profits for shareholders† and encouraged people to break rules and inflate the value of contracts even though no actual cash was generated. Enron’s bonus program encouraged the use of non-standard accounting practices and the inflated valuation of deals on the company’s books. Indeed, deal inflation became widespread within the company as partnerships were created solely to hide losses and avoid the consequences of owning up to problems. (p29-31) Weiss, Joseph W. (2009). Business Ethics: A Stakeholders Issues Management Approach

Learn How to Conjugate Réunir (to Reunite) in French

Learn How to Conjugate Rà ©unir (to Reunite) in French At first glance, you might guess that the French verb  rà ©unir  has something to do with reuniting and your hunch would be correct. Technically, it means to reunite and a conjugation is required to get it into the present, past, or future tense. This lesson focuses on the most common and useful forms of  rà ©unir  so you can start using it in French conversations. The Basic Conjugations of  Rà ©unir Rà ©unir is a regular -ir verb and that does make it a little easier to learn than some French verbs. It uses one of the common conjugation patterns, so if you have studied words like remplir (to fill), you already have a head start. The first step is recognizing the verb stem, which is  rà ©un-. Then, using the chart, you can learn which ending to add that corresponds to the subject pronoun and the tense you need. This will help you learn the basic forms of the indicative mood, which are used most often. For example,  je rà ©unis  means I am reuniting and  nous avons rà ©nissions  means we reunited. Present Future Imperfect je runis runirai runissais tu runis runiras runissais il runit runira runissait nous runissons runirons runissions vous runissez runirez runissiez ils runissent runiront runissaient The Present Participle of  Rà ©unir As with most regular -ir  verbs, the ending  -issant  is added to the stem to produce the  present participle. This results in the word  rà ©unissant. Rà ©unir  in the Compound Past Tense In French, the passà © composà © is the compound past tense. It requires an auxiliary verb and the past participle rà ©uni. To form it, begin by conjugating  avoir  into the present tense according to the subject, then add the past participle. For instance, this leaves us with  jai rà ©uni  for I reunited and  nous avons rà ©uni  for we reunited. More Simple Conjugations of  Rà ©unir A few more basic conjugations should round off your essentials list for  rà ©unir. You can use  the subjunctive  whenever the act of reuniting is uncertain or  the conditional  when its dependent on something else.  The passà © simple  and  the imperfect subjunctive  are both literary forms, so youll find these in written French. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je runisse runirais runis runisse tu runisses runirais runis runisses il runisse runirait runit runt nous runissions runirions runmes runissions vous runissiez runiriez runtes runissiez ils runissent runiraient runirent runissent The French imperative  is used for direct and often assertive statements. The most important rule you need to know is that the subject pronoun is unnecessary in this circumstance. You can shorten  tu rà ©unis  to  rà ©unis. Imperative (tu) runis (nous) runissons (vous) runissez

To write a paper assuming we don't know much about the industry, firm, Research

To write a assuming we don't know much about the industry, firm, product, etc - Research Paper Example Generally, economic recessions are a result of a decline in GDP growth, which is itself caused by a slowdown in manufacturing orders, falling housing prices and sales, and a drop-off in business investment. But the fundamental question is- what causes the slowdown in the first place? While few predicted the financial catastrophe, almost everyone has an explanation as to why it happened. Although it is important to note that recessions are a result of different factors as each has its own specific causes, all of them are usually preceded by a period of irrational exuberance. Before we look at the causes of the recent economic recession, it would be logical to first of all look at some of the reasons that led to the Great Depression, if for anything, see if some of the causes recur. Stock Market Crash In the 1920s, the economy was developing at a very high rate due to the birth of many businesses and companies. As a result, there was an increased supply of money and individuals investe d their surplus in the stock market. On September 3, 1929 the stock market peaked, closing at a record of 381.17. Trading volume was 444,000 shares. At the end of the same month, the market closed at 343- a 10% decline. On Monday, October 29, 16.4% shares traded and the markets fell by an 11.5% margin. The markets closed at 230.17 by that time, down 40% from its all time high. Reports indicate that in a single day investors lost 14 billion dollars and by the end of 1929, 40 billion dollars was lost. This crash put a lot of pressure on banks and caused a lot of money to be taken out of the economy. The stock market bubble finally burst on October 24, 1929 as investors began dumping shares en masse. On a day referred to as â€Å"Black Thursday†, a record 12.9 million shares were traded that day and five days later, on "Black Tuesday" 16 million shares were traded. This was after another wave of panic swept Wall Street. Millions of shares were rendered worthless, and those inves tors who had borrowed money to buy stocks were wiped out completely. Federal Reserve’s Role during the Great Depression In most cases, recession is a result of inflation but in this case it was caused by deflation. Cycles of ups and downs in the economy are normal. One of the reasons strongly touted as being the cause of the Great Depression was the increase in interest rates by the government. The rates increased, from 3.5% in 1929 to 5%. Upon increasing the rates, the government failed to act to stabilize or increase the money supply. In fact, between 1929 and 1933, the supply of money fell by 30%. This led to deflation. Bank Failures At the time there was alot of fear that banks would collapse since, there were no guarantees on cash at the bank. As more and more people panicked, there was a massive run to the banks to pull money out and some banks were not able to fulfill the requests for withdrawal and closed their doors. As banks collapsed, very many people lost their mo ney. More panic followed as people lost their money and banks collapsed. This rush to withdraw money created a domino effect. There was no confidence in the banks and people resorted to keeping their money under their matresses. Reports indicate that during that period, over 9,000 banks failed. Insurance policies were not as advanced as to cover deposits and thus as banks failed people simply lost their savings. For the few surviving banks, unsure of the economic