Houston, We Have a Logo

The market for Enron collectibles has dried up considerably since we first published John Goff’s article, shortly after the energy company’s collapse, but his insights into Enron’s corporate culture are worth a second look, and perhaps a few chuckles.Examine our Enron archiveReader A.W. of Pawtuc...

By John Goff • Feb. 24, 2002

Enron Insurance Fallout: D&O Premium Surge

Enron keeps rippling everybody else’s lake. The latest example: it seems the company’s collapse is sending premiums for officers and directors insurance through the roof.Companies whose market caps exceed $1 billion will see their premium bills jump more than 50 percent, according to published re...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 22, 2002

Enron’s D&O Insurers Get Wanderlust

Maybe D&O means Duck Out.It seems The Royal Insurance Co. of America and St. Paul Mercury Insurance Co. are seeking to walk away from policies they wrote for Enron’s directors and officers. Their reasoning? The two say (in court filings) that Enron misled them.Of course, if the two indemnifie...

By Roy Harris • Feb. 21, 2002

Dumb and Dumber?

Kenneth Lay was duped. And Jeff Skilling knew what was coming.That was the thrust of the testimony provided by Sherron Watkins, the former Enron executive who appeared before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee yesterday.Watkins repeatedly told the amiable — and at-times apologetic — lawma...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 15, 2002

Instant Karma?

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday proposed changes to corporate disclosure rules that would speed up the reporting of financials and other important information. As CFO.com reported exclusively in early February, some of the changes involve form 8-K.“These steps will provide sig...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 14, 2002

Enron Insurance Fallout: D&O Premium Surge

Enron keeps rippling everybody else’s lake. The latest example: it seems the company’s collapse is sending premiums for officers and directors insurance through the roof.Companies whose market caps exceed $1 billion will see their premium bills jump more than 50 percent, according to published re...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 12, 2002

Hollings Disses Pitt

The Enron hearings resume today.The highlight, of course, will be former chairman Ken Lay taking the fifth, making him the sixth person to refuse to testify before Congress.While a number of legislators spent the weekend on the TV interview circuit promising to get to the bottom of the Enron scan...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 12, 2002

Mr. Skilling Goes to Washington

It started off slow and fairly predictable.Four current and former Enron executives invoked the Fifth Amendment, refusing to testify to a House Subcommittee on Thursday. The non-talkers: former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow and ex-executive Michael Kopper, as well as two current Enron exe...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 8, 2002

Enron on Parade: Skilling Set to Appear Later Today

As expected, former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow refused to testify before Congress this morning, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.Michael Kopper, a former Enron executive, also invoked the Fifth Amendment, as did Richard Causey, Enron’s chief accounting officer. Richard Buy...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 7, 2002

The Difficulties of Thinking Ahead

It’s June 1999. You are the CFO of a successful telecom-products supplier. Your vice president of strategy has just completed an exhaustive scenario-planning exercise. Of the several scenarios he presents, one says that in less than three years there will be an excess of telecom bandwidth that wi...

By Kris Frieswick • Feb. 5, 2002

Look Who’s Not Talking

They’re starting to circle the wagons.On Sunday, one day after an internal Enron investigation blamed the company’s executives, auditors, directors and lawyers for the energy trader’s stunning collapse, the key players in the drama went on the defensive.Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay cancelled...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 4, 2002

Terrorism Insurance: Pray As You Go

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority oversees New York City’s subway system, buses, railways, tunnels, and bridges, from the Triboro to the expansive Verrazano Narrows connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn. Had a terrorist destroyed the latter prior to September 11, the MTA would have had rec...

By Russ Banham • Feb. 4, 2002

The Risks Get Riskier

Bad news for CFOs and risk managers: The days of cheap insurance premiums and readily available coverage are over. Worse, this trend is coming at a time when the upward limits of risk suddenly seem immeasurable.To gauge the situation,we’ve taken the pulse of the insurance markets in five key area...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Jan. 30, 2002

Andersen Losing Customers–Will Delta Fly the Coop as Well?

Andersen’s association with Enron Corp. has already cost the accounting giant some business, chief executive officer Joseph Berardino said Monday.“Yes. We’ve lost business,” Berardino reportedly said at a press conference held at Andersen’s Chicago headquarters, when asked by reporters whether cl...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 29, 2002

LLP or CYA? Andersen Employees Blame Duncan

One by one they sat at the formal table, staring up at their inquisitors and trying to explain what happened at Andersen. And one by one they answered the question of the day with the same two words: David Duncan.As a cadre of current and former Andersen executives appeared before the House Energ...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 25, 2002

Lay Steps Down, Duncan Clams Up

Let the games begin.On the eve of the first two of nine scheduled Congressional hearings over the next five weeks, Kenneth Lay resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of Enron Corp., the company announced Wednesday evening.Lay, who will remain on the company’s Board of Directors, will be...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 24, 2002

Whole Lot of Shredding Going On

Two things came to mind while we watched ABC News’ report last night claiming that Enron employees were shredding documents as recently as last week: First, if the allegations are true, did the employees really think they would get away with it? And second, why did Enron buy such crappy shredding...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 22, 2002

Political Risk: Run for Cover?

On 9/11, in a matter of minutes, CFOs and their risk managers came smack up against a risk that until then seemed minor: terrorism. The problem, however, was that the insurers that covered the exposure had a similar encounter.Traditionally, companies bought terrorism coverage for both domestic an...

By Jennifer Caplan • Jan. 22, 2002

Workers’ Comp: End of an Error

Blame the insurance cycle.After years of minuscule rises in the cost of workers’ compensation insurance — and even a few decreases — rates are starting to go up substantially. Add in the impact of 9/11, and corporate managers could find themselves deep in the hole after paying their workers’ comp...

By Joseph McCafferty • Jan. 22, 2002

D&O Insurance: The House Hangs on to Its Money

Just a glance at recent class-action settlements in securities fraud should be enough to convince any sane CFO that cutting back on corporate directors and officers liability coverage is a bad idea.The payouts have been staggering. In late 1999, Cendant agreed to fork over a mind-bending $3.5 bil...

By Craig Schneider • Jan. 22, 2002

General Liability: Major Pain

Ask recent renewers of general liability coverage to characterize the market, and you’ll get three very different answers. A few will insist that policy costs are not actually increasing a great deal. Most others will say premiums are getting quite pricey. Still others will speak about mind-bendi...

By Marie Leone • Jan. 22, 2002

Property: Factory Seconds

Reality check No. 128:Take a walk around one of your company’s facilities. Check out the state of the sprinkler systems. Examine the thickness of the walls, the strength of the foundations. Run a few worst-case scenarios through your computer, simulating the effects of a fire, an earthquake, or b...

By David Katz • Jan. 22, 2002

Enron Was Economic–Not Accounting–Failure, Says Andersen CEO

Michael Odom, the head of risk management for Andersen’s Houston office, told congressional investigators that he was reminded of the firm’s document-disposal policy in an Oct. 12 e-mail he received from the auditor’s Chicago office. This, according to The Wall Street Journal.Odom’s statement see...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 21, 2002

Wanted: Auditor. Must Be a Document-Saver, Work Well With Congressional Investigators

Embattled energy trader Enron went on the offensive on Thursday.First of all, the bankrupt energy trader fired Andersen as the company’s auditor? The reason? Because the accounting firm destroyed critical documents, said Enron’s management. “While we had been willing to give Andersen the benefit ...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 18, 2002

Pro Forma Poster Boy? The Donald

Chalk up another first for billionaire real estate developer and self-professed financial wizard Donald Trump. Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission slapped The Donald with The First pro forma enforcement action ever.The cease-and-desist order stems from an SEC investigation into a statem...

By John Goff • Jan. 16, 2002