Category: Quote of the Day

Enron Whistleblower: WikiLeaks > SEC

“I don’t think the SEC’s culture is one that will make this effective one iota,” said Sherron Watkins, a one-time vice president at Enron, referring to expanded protections for whistleblowers included in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. If she was in the same situation today as 10 years ago, when Watkins approached government authorities about accounting fraud at Enron, she would probably instead take her information to an organization like WikiLeaks, Watkins said. [Paper Trail]

Does Anyone Think Chris Van Hollen Actually Knows What ‘Enron-type accounting’ Is?

Anyone?

If you want to call attention to bullshit political games, we humbly suggest, “bullshit political games.” Not this:

“This is a huge loophole for Enron-type accounting … In the rule they pass tomorrow they are going to reiterate that the chair of the budget committee has the authority to come up with his own estimate of the budget impact of various pieces of legislation.”

So aggressive revenue recognition, abusing mark-to-market accounting and SPEs = marginalizing the Congressional Budget Office. Got it?

Dems Accuse GOP Of ‘Enron-Type Accounting’ And Assaults On CBO [HuffPo]

IFRS: Four. More. Years.

Comments reflected “a lot of unanimity around, if we go in this direction, allowing sufficient time for companies to adjust,” said Schapiro in a question-and-answer session following her keynote address to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ national conference on accounting and auditing issues for public companies. “It’s likely to be a minimum of four years,” but that’s still a point for the SEC to decide, she said, assuming it decides to incorporate IFRS into U.S. capital markets. [Compliance Week]