Quotes for All
Creative accounting is an absolute curse to a civilization. One could argue that double-entry bookkeeping was one of history’s great advances. Using accounting for fraud and folly is a disgrace. In a democracy, it often takes a scandal to trigger reform. Enron was the most obvious example of a business culture gone wrong in a … Read more
For business to survive over a long period, it needs to be contributing to society and people’s well-being. Otherwise, who’s going to want it? Otherwise you end up like Enron or some of these other companies. Charles Koch
Every coach, every executive, every leader: They all know right from wrong. Even those Enron guys. When someone uncovers a scandal in their company, I don’t think they can say, I didn’t know that was going on. They’re just saying they’re too dumb to do their job! And if they really are too dumb, then … Read more
If you look at the great frauds of all time, Enron had that phantom trading floor. What Herbalife has is it has phantom or fictitious customers. Bill Ackman
So Merrill Lynch has launched its first campaign in years to advertise the accomplishments of its investment banking business. The ads feature things like Merrill’s recapitalization of Sierra Pacific. I guess including “helping Enron achieve its earnings goals in 1999” might be a little awkward given that Merrill Lynch bankers are currently on trial in … Read more
Today, the Indian government is trying to present privatization as the alternative to the state, to public enterprise. But privatization is only a further evolution of the centralized state, where the state says that they have the right to give the entire power production in Maharashtra to Enron. Arundhati Roy
I think that the failures of Enron and WorldCom and other companies are partially failures of investors to recognize companies that are selling for a thousand times nothing, but chances are they may be worth only that. Arthur Levitt Jr
The only beef Enron employees have with top management is that management did not inform employees of the collapse in time to allow them to get in on the swindle. If Enron executives had shouted, “Head for the hills!” the employees might have had time to sucker other Americans into buying wildly over-inflated Enron stock. … Read more
Before the New York Times starts running “Portraits in Grief” of former Enron employees, it’s worth remembering that even after the collapse, Enron stock is still worth more than the entire Social Security “trust fund.” Ann Coulter
I wish I could undo what I did at Enron but I can’t. I understand that I deserve punishment. Your honor, I accept the prison sentence that you are about to impose and will serve it without bitterness. Andrew Fastow