¶ … Improper Data Analysis Led to the Fall of Enron
The downfall of the Enron Corporation in 2001 had far reaching effects that are still felt to this day. Employees, shareholders, auditors, executives, the public and many other stakeholders are still dealing with the impact of the fallout that came from the misconduct of the debt ridden company. Shareholders lost billions of dollars when the stock price plummeted. The accounting firm Arthur Anderson LLP was found guilty of obstruction of justice and is no longer able to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the United States. The lessons learned from how Enron and its accountants misused information has profound ethical and business implications for any student of data analysis in whatever field.
From a misuse of data perspective, the best place to begin with the Enron scandal is with its auditing firm, Arthur Andersen. While earning millions of dollars, this firm performed...
Furthermore, Andersen's auditors let themselves be pressured by Enron to not recognize specific billing items as the overwhelming credit weakness of the company became clear to everyone on the inside. As Enron's investments would never be profitable, accounting rules stated that they should be written-off the balance sheet, yet these accountants misused this data to trick share holders. Another way where conflict on interest overwhelmed Andersen's ability to police itself was in conflict between their Houston and Chicago offices. Andersen's Houston office, which was responsible for handling the Enron audit, regularly overruled the concerns and critical questions of Enron's decisions raised by the Chicago office. Andersen's misdeeds regarding data management were further compounded when after news of the federal investigation was announced, they…
