In case you haven't seen it, I've attached a link to an ABC news site that
has a scanned copy of the "smoking gun" letter written by an officer of
Enron to Chairman Lay in October.  Although you'd have to be a CPA or
finance-type to appreciate fully the depth of the apparent deception and
subtlety of the accounting methods mentioned in her letter, I'm struck by
Ms. Watkin's candor, and how she offers a truthful assessment of the
landscape and even a prescription for how Enron might claw its way back from
this brinksmanship.  Unfortunately, it now appears this letter came "too
little, too late," and in any event, went unheeded.
 
Suffice it to say this whole debacle makes me sick and a little ashamed for
having been associated (by employment) with the perpetrators of this farce.
Although the gas pipeline group I worked for apparently never took part in
these shenanigans (we made our money the old fashioned way -- we earned it),
as Ms. Watkins says, my "Enron work history will now be worth nothing on my
resume."
 
Hard lessons have been learned by everyone, and the repercussions will be
felt for years to come.  I saw this quote today in Restructuring Today and
thought it was poignant:
 
What's important:  Beyond the many other issues -- including the
appropriateness of time in an upscale correctional facility for people we
have considered business friends -- what really matters is that the checks
and balances our society has created for the world of commerce failed
miserably.  It would be shocking if Auther Andersen survives as an auditor
of anything.  Even so, our system needs radical improvement.

 
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/pdf/layletter020115.pdf
<http://abcnews.go.com/sections/pdf/layletter020115.pdf>