By Shihoko Goto
UPI Senior Business Correspondent
Published 7/8/2003 4:45 PM
WASHINGTON, July 8 (UPI) -- By now, the spectacular collapse of Enron Corp. is only too well known, and the principal actors in the drama have become familiar household names. But as the energy giant's former executives await trial, there is growing concern that not enough has been done to prevent similar corporate scandals from erupting again.
The problem is, however, that government officials including Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and private sector analysts alike expect it only a matter of time before other companies are found to be deliberately misguiding investors and file for bankruptcy. So the questions for policymakers are not only about how to prevent corporate malfeasance occurring in the future, but also how to protect investors from them once they occur.
"There might be more Enrons out there, since many other corporations share the primary characteristics that led to the Enron collapse," noted William Niskanen, chairman of the Cato Institute which had a briefing on lessons learnt from the failure of the company Monday.
"The collapse of other major corporations has undermined the popular and political support for free market policies. This has already led to increased demands for regulation of accounting, auditing, and corporate governance and increased criticism of any proposal for privatization," Niskanen added.
Post-Enron