A daylong seminar, "Accounting, Auditing and Governance After Enron," drew about 200 representatives from area businesses to campus in June.

Sponsored by the College's Audit and Financial Reporting Institute for Corporate Directors, the seminar focused on accounting, auditing and regulatory issues in the wake of the collapse of the energy giant Enron.

Charles M. Elson, Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Chair of Corporate Governance and director of the College's Center for Corporate Governance, discussed several events that he said people should have seen as warning signs about Enron, including:

• The waiving of the company's conflict of interest policy;
  
  
• Company insiders selling their Enron stock;
  
  
• Arthur Andersen's role in the company as both the internal and external auditor, as well as a myriad of problems in the overall auditing process; and
  
  
• The lack of term limits for the board and senior positions.

"Although each individual implication may not have seemed too alarming, as a whole, these red flags were obviously cause for concern," says Elson, who adds that he believes the only way for a board of directors to be completely effective is with the presence of both independence and equity.

--Elissa Serrao, AS 2003