Enron Affects All CPAs

What was the most significant event to affect the profession in the past 50 years? It was the disclosure of Enron’s massive manipulation of its financial reporting and the fall of one of the nation’s most prominent and respected CPA firms.

It has had a profound effect on me as a CPA, and is an event that affects every CPA, whether in public or private accounting, the academic or nonprofit world—even students deciding whether they want to join our profession.

Given the importance of the Enron debacle, why has the JofA, the profession’s leading publication, given it so little editorial attention? What limited attention the story has received reflected a legal tone, rather than the substantive analysis of a CPA.

What else can I say, other than that I am surprised, disappointed and a bit embarrassed.

Steven Edelman, CPA
New York City