The fall of Enron cannot be blamed on just a few bad apples, discuss Essay

The fall of Enron cannot be blamed on just a few bad apples, discuss critically - Essay Example lt was a replacement of Andrew Fastow, Enron’s Chief Financial Officer and the start of investigations on investment partnerships depicting the web of partnerships aimed at hiding Enron’s debt. The effect was a plummeting of Enron stock to less than a dollar, and Enron filed for bankruptcy in Dec 2, 2011. This study aims at analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the assertion that the fall of Enron cannot be blamed on just a few bad apples. The effect is the development of an in-depth understanding of the factors that were in play in the fall of Enron and provided a conclusion as to the reasons behind the fall of Enron. There are a number of strengths for the statement,â€Å"a few bad apples are to blame for Enron’s fall†. The statement takes into consideration the mistakes made by a few people including Arthur Andersen LLC, Enron’s accounting firm alongside Andrew Fastow for allowing Enron to use partnerships to hide debt and present questionable profits in its financial statements2. Andersen LLC overlooked problems at Enron since it was a lucrative client garnering over $100 million in fees; hence are among the bad apples to blame for Enron’s fall. Andersen is also responsible for the shredding of evidence relating to its dealing with Enron affecting the ability of investigations to unearth the cause of the fall showing that they are responsible for Enron’s fall. Andrew Fastow is to blame for orchestrating the minimal disclosure and the use of the mark-to-market accounting to hide debts at Enron and gives a false impression of profitability. He also demonstrated a conflict of interest in terms of the $30 million he gained from the partnerships aimed at helping Enron but allowing for him to gain from the transaction sat the expense of the stakeholders. The Enron executives form the other bad apples to blame for the fall of Enron through cashing in on their stock while using company funds for personal use through phony investments. The evidence for