Compliance December 12, 2001

House Committees Seek Enron Answers

December 12, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The House Committee on Financial Services says it will proceed with public hearings today ? although Enron and the chairman of the SEC declined invitations to appear, according to Reuters. Arthur Andersen CEO Joseph Berardino will appear before the Financial Services Committee today, as will SEC Chief Accountant Robert Herdman.
Reported by

Also set to testify at the hearing was Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, who is expected to speak on the need for ‘more protections for retirement plans,’ among other things.

Document-ation

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee has asked Enron to release a number of documents related to its financial troubles by December 17 –and would like to conduct interviews with current and former senior Enron employees as well as members of Enron’s audit and compliance committee –by December 21.

Last week, Energy and Commerce Committee investigators traveled to Houston to interview Enron’s current CFO, Jeffrey McMahon.

Seeking Disclosure

In letters to Enron, The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Representative Billy Tauzin and Representative James Greenwood listed 43 aspects of the Enron case in which the committee has interest, including:

  • earnings restatement decisions
  • financial ties among Enron officers
  • outside partnerships with which Enron officers were involved
  • minutes from Enron board of directors and audit committee meetings from 1997 to present

Enron also is under investigation by the Justice Department and by the Labor Department for practices related to the treatment of stock in its 401(k) program (see  DOL Launches Enron 401(k) Investigation ).

– Nevin Adams                     editors@plansponsor.com

MORE on our Exclusive Company Stock Issues page at

«