The Enron Corporation files for bankruptcy. Eventually some of Enron aggressive accounting practices which misrepresented its financial results.
The accounting practices included claiming future unrealized gains from some trading contracts into current income and the transferring of troubled operations to so-called special purpose entities (SPEs), keeping the assets off Enron’s books, making its losses look less severe than they really were. Enron’s collapse, cost investors billions of dollars, wiped out over 5,600 jobs and liquidated over $2 billion in pension plans. It also triggered the collapse of Arthur Anderson which had served not only as Enron’s auditor but also as a consultant to the company. More about Enron - More about the executives