Ken Lay, the former head of Enron, seized the headlines Thursday when he was indicted on a host of charges that accuse him of lying and defrauding employees and investors and colleagues. Lay attracts attention because his own company, even in ruins, stands as the prime example of what went wrong with corporate America.
The promise of obscene profit drew accountants and regulators and auditors, into a belief that almost anything was acceptable, if you believed you could get away with it. Even today the story of Enron and corporate America is less about the law, which seemed easy to bend, and more about morals and ethics.
Guests:
Dr. Barbara Lay Toffler, former head of ethics and responsible business practices at Arthur Anderson and author of “Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed, and the Fall of Arthur Anderson.”
Rob Davis, a former Enron employee
Robert Prentice, a professor of Business Law at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas.