David Dick, Chris Cox, Raymond James, Gina Campbell, and Dr.
As a forensic accountant, Campbell’s role is to investigate fraud and said some of the cases she’s investigated also lasted for a decade before being detected.įrom left: Dr. “If the only standard you use to make a decision, like me, is whether or not you’re following the rules, why wouldn’t you do the next more aggressive transaction? Why would you ever stop?”Īfter his remarks, a panel of experts including Gina Campbell, partner at Deloitte, weighed in. But I am the poster boy to prove that’s not the case that in fact you can find ways and will come across ways to be the hero but violate the principles of the rules. “When I was CFO, I believed that if I’m getting permission and following the rules that by definition my behaviour was reasonable, what a reasonable person under normal circumstance would do. He became renowned for studying the rules and finding ways to make deals that could take advantage of accounting assumptions and structured financing practices. “In fact, I consider myself probably the person most responsible for Enron’s downfall.”įastow’s remarks focused on what he was thinking while in the role.
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He began the presentation taking full responsibility for his actions describing them as wrong, unethical and illegal. “If I had to sum it up in one word, the word I use is ‘loopholes.’ A loophole means you’re technically following the rules, but you’re intentionally going around the principle of those rules.”įastow, the keynote speaker at the Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership in Business’s (CCAL) annual year-end celebration on April 11, addressed the audience of students, faculty, staff and community members via webcast from Houston. “How is it possible to be the CFO of the year and commit the greatest corporate fraud in American history for doing the same deals? Every single deal I did was approved by Enron’s accountants, by the outside auditors, by Enron’s attorneys, by Enron’s outside attorneys, by the bank’s attorneys when appropriate and by Enron’s board of directors,” he said.
“I got both of these for doing the same deals,” says Fastow, the former CFO of Enron. But in the other hand, he showed the prison card he received after finishing his six-year sentence for his role in helping to orchestrate fraud of epic proportions. In one hand, Andrew Fastow held the trophy given to him as the chief financial officer of the year from Enron’s heyday when it was hailed as one of America’s most innovative companies. Former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow speaks via webcast to the Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership.