In 2007, they hid mountains of debt and toxic assets from regulators and investors using a combination of shell companies (special purpose entities), creative revenue recognition, aggressive mark to market practices, and outright fraud. None of this would have been possible without compromising the two parties in charge of their governance and oversight, their Board of Directors and their Audit Partner, Arthur Andersen. Enron didn’t have effective board oversight because the board relied on data from the executive team and never once sought independent validation or forensic analysis of the increasingly complex organization they oversaw. The company peaked at a $70B market cap and 30K employees. Top executives were paid $55M in bonuses and cashed in $116M in stock, while employees lost $1.2B in retirement funds.
