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As of 7/22/02
Congressional Hearings and Federal Agency Investigations of the Collapse of Enron Corporation
Hearings and legislative markups expected:
House
No hearings scheduled at this time. House and Senate conferees are meeting to reconcile differences between the Oxley and Sarbanes legislation.
Senate
July 23, 2002 - Governmental Affairs Committees Investigations Subcommittee - Focus: the role of financial institutions in the collapse of the Enron corp. focussing on their contributions to Enrons use of complex transactions to make the company look better financially than it actually was.
July 30, 2002 - Governmental Affairs Committees Investigations Subcommittee - Focus: the role of financial institutions in the collapse of the Enron corp. focussing on their contributions to Enrons use of complex transactions to make the company look better financially than it actually was.
House and Senate conferees are meeting to reconcile differences between the Oxley and Sarbanes legislation.
Hearings held:
House
December 12, 2001 - Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, in conjunction with the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises.
January 24, 2002 - Energy & Commerce Committees Investigations & Oversight Subcommittee - Focus: Destruction of Enron-related documents by Andersen employees. David Duncan, former Director of Andersens Houston office.
February 4, 2002 - Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets - Focus: Enrons collapse, Andersens accounting practices, and the impact of the bankruptcy on investors and the financial markets. Witnesses: Pitt, Kenneth Lay, Enron director William Powers.
February 5, 2002 - Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets - Continuation from Feb. 4. Witness: Joseph Berardino
February 5, 2002 - Energy and Commerce Committees Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee - Focus: findings of Enrons special investigative committee with respect to certain transactions between Enron and certain of its current and former officers and employees. Witness: William C. Powers, Jr., chairman of Enrons special investigative committee.
February 6, 2002 - Energy and Commerce Committee - Focus: Enrons relationship with outside auditor Andersen. Witnesses: academics and professional experts on accounting issues.
February 6 and 7, 2002 - Education and the Workforce Committee - Focus: Enrons employee benefits plan and its compliance with pension law. Witnesses: Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Enron executives and employees.
February 7, 2002 - Energy and Commerce Committees Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Continuations of Feb. 5 hearing. Witnesses: Andersen partner Thomas Bauer, Enrons Jeffrey Skilling, Andrew Fastow, Micheal Kopper, board member Robert Jaedicke, chief accounting officer Richard Causey, and other executives
February 13, 2002 - Education and the Workforce Committee - Focus: enhancing worker retirement security in the wake of Enrons collapse.
February 14, 2002 - Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection - Focus: Are current financial accounting standards protecting investors? Witnesses: Bob Herdman (SEC), SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, James Castellano (AICPA Chair), Ed Jenkins (FASB Chair), Phil Ameen (VP General Electric), Sarah Teslik (Council of Institutional Investors), Thomas Linsmeier (Michigan State University).
February 14, 2002 - Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations - Focus: the findings of Enrons special investigative committee. Witness: Sherron Watkins, Enron VP.
February 14, 2002 - Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises Focus: the causes of Enrons collapse, accounting practices of Arthur Andersen , and the impact of the collapse on investors and financial markets. Kenneth Lay has been subpoenaed to testify. HEARING WAS CANCELLED
February 26, 2002 - Ways and Means Committee Focus: retirement security and rules and regulations governing defined contribution plans. Witnesses: U.S. Depts. of Treasury and Labor, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Catholic University, Watson Wyatt. 2 pm
February 27, 2002 - Education and the Workforce Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee hearing on pension issues. 10:30 am
March 5, 2002 - Ways and Means Committee Oversight Subcommittee hearing on retirement security issues.
March 13, 2002 - Financial Services Committee H.R. 3763, the Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act of 2002, introduced by Committee Chairman Mike Oxley on 2/14/02. Witnesses: Mark Lackritz (Securities Industry Association), AICPA President Barry Melancon, James Glassman (American Enterprise Institute), Ted White (California Public Employees Retirement System), Roderick Hills (former SEC chair), Barbara Roper (Consumer Federation of America), Lynn Turner (former SEC chief accountant).
March 14, 2002 - Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee - Focus: the role played by both inside and outside counsel in the Enron crisis.
March 19, 2002 - Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Focus; Accounting issues and role played by Arthur Andersen LLP. Witnesses: TBA11 am **POSTPONED**
March 20, 2002 - Education and Workforce Committee full committee markup of H.R. 3762, ERISA legislation.
March 20, 2002 - Financial Services Committee - Focus: H.R. 3763, legislation that would revise and strengthen corporate accounting and disclosure rules in an effort to reduce accounting and stock irregularities in publicly traded companies. Witnesses: SEC Chair Harvey Pitt, Business Roundtable, Financial Executives institute, TIAA-CREF, National Assn. of Manufacturers.
March 20, 2002 - Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets Title: Reviewing Corporate Governance: The Role of Boards, Executives, and Audit Committees in Publicly Traded Companies.
March 21, 2002 - Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Title: The Effects of the Global Crossing Bankruptcy on Investors, Markets and Employees. Witnesses: CEOs and executives of Global Crossing, WorldCom, Qwest and Cable and Wireless, SEC deputy chief accountant, and telecommunications industry analysts.
April 9, 2002 - Financial Services Committee - Focus: H.R. 3818, legislation introduced by Rep. John LaFalce, which would bar accounting firms from providing non-audit services (to include tax advice) and create a new regulatory body for the accounting profession with expansive enforcement powers (to include subpoena power). Witnesses: David Walker (GAO), AFL-CIO, Georgetown Law Prof. Donald Langevoort, former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden.
April 11, 2002 - Financial Services Committee Full Committee mark up of H.R. 3763, legislation that would create an oversight board for the accounting industry. Also on schedule are two bills not related to accounting profession.
April 16, 2002 - Financial Services Committee Continuation of Full Committee mark up of H.R. 3763, legislation that would create an oversight board for the accounting industry.
April 23, 2002 - Rules Committee - will meet to consider rules for the floor debate for H.R. 3763, legislation that would create an oversight board for the accounting industry.
April 24, 2002 - House passed H.R. 3763 by a vote of 334 90.
May 1, 2002 - Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets - Focus: accounting standards (GAAP) and their credibility in light of recent accounting scandals.
May 14, 2002 - Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets Continuing hearings on accounting standards (GAAP) and their credibility in light of recent accounting scandals. Witnesses; SEC Chief Accountant Robert Herdman, FASB Chairman Ed Jenkins, Bob Litan (American Enterprise Institute-Brookings), Ellen Masterson (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Robert Verrecchia (Univ. of Penns Wharton School), former SEC Commissioner Steven Wallman.
June 26, 2002 - Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection hearing on discussion draft legislation on the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
July 8, 2002 - Financial Services Committee hearing on the alleged fraud in WorldCom Inc. financial statements, which announced June 25 it had made $3.8 billion worth of accounting errors in 2001 and the beginning of 2002. Witnesses: WorldCom CEO John Sidgmore, former CEO Bernard Ebbers, Former CFO Scott Sullivan, Salomon Smith Barney analyst Jack Grubman.
July 10, 2002 - Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection - met in an open markup session on Wednesday, July 10, 2002, to approve H.R. 5058, "The Financial Accounting Standards Board Act".
Senate
December 18, 2001 - Commerce, Science and Transportation
January 24, 2002 - Governmental Affairs Committee - Focus: The fall of Enron: How could it have happened? Witnesses: Arthur Levitt, Lynn Turner, and others. Sen. Dorgan presiding.
January 29, 2002 - Energy & Natural Resources Committee - Focus: Impact of Enron collapse on energy markets; defects and regulatory deficiencies in energy markets.
February 4, 2002 - Commerce, Science and Transportation
Kenneth Lay, former Enron CEO HEARING WAS CANCELLED
February 5, 2002 - Government Affairs Committee - Focus: the impact of Enrons collapse on investors in the companys 401(k) plans.
February 5, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs - Focus: Financial Illiteracy. Witnesses: Harvey Pitt, Paul ONeill, Alan Greenspan.
February 6, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs - Focus: Financial Illiteracy. Witnesses: Consumer Federation of America, AARP, and others.
February 6, 2002 - Judiciary Committee - Focus: Accountability issues - Lessons Learned from Enrons fall. Witnesses: securities lawyers, academics, union leaders.
February 7, 2002 - Health, Education, Labor and Pensions - Focus: Pension oversight issues associated with Enron collapse, including the movement away from defined benefit retirement plans to 401K plans, and employer stock matching options. Witnesses: Enron employees, officials from Enron Corp. Savings Plan, and academics.
February 12, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs - Focus: Accounting and investor protection issues. Witnesses: former SEC chairmen Arthur Levitt, Richard Breeden, David Ruder, Roderick Hills, Harold Williams. 538 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
February 12, 2002 - Commerce, Science and Transportation Focus: Kenneth Lay has been subpoenaed to testify.
February 14, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs - Focus: International accounting standards and necessary reforms to improve financial reporting. Witnesses: Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker, Chairman of International Accounting Standards Board Sir David Tweedie.
February 26, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs - Focus: Financial reporting practices by public companies and proposals for changing oversight of the accounting profession raised by the high profile failures of public companies, including Enron. Witnesses: Former chief accountants of the SEC (Walter Schuetze, Micheal Sutton, and Lynn Turner) and former FASB Chair Dennis Beresford. 538 Dirksen Senate Office Building. 10 a.m.
February 26, 2002 - Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee - Focus: Enron bankruptcy. Witnesses: Enron executives Sherron Watkins, Jeffrey McMahon, and Jeffrey Skilling. 9:30 am
February 27, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs - Focus; ways to improve corporate governance in the wake of the Enron collapse, particularly looking at ways to insure greater board independence. Witnesses: John Briggs (CEO of TIAA-CREF and former Public Oversight Board member), John Whitehead (former Securities Industry Assn. chairman and director of New York Stock Exchange), Ira Millstein (International Institute for Corporate Governance). 10 am
February 27, 2002 - Finance Committee Pension issues raised by Enron experience. Witnesses: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Executive Director Steven Kandarian, GAO. 2 pm
February 27, 2002 - Governmental Affairs Title: The Watchodogs Didnt Bark: Enron and the Wall Street Analysts. Focus: why Wall Street analysts maintained their buy recommendations on Enron stock, and ways to enhance analyst independence/improve disclosure to investors. 9:30 am
March 5 & 6, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs - Focus: regulation and financial reporting practices by public companies and proposals for changing oversight of the accounting profession raised by the failures of public companies, including Enron.
Witnesses for March 5: David Walker (GAO), Robert Glauber (National Assn. Of Securities Dealers), Joe Seligman (Washington Univ. Law School), John Coffee (Columbia Law School)
Witnesses for March 6: Shaun OMalley (Former PriceWaterhouse chairman, Chair of OMalley Commission- Panel on Audit Effectiveness), Lee Seidler (Commission on Auditors Responsibilities), Arthur Wyatt (Past Pres., American Accounting Association and former Andersen partner) Abraham Briloff (Baruch College professor), Bevis Longstreth (former SEC commissioner and former member of OMalley Commission).
March 14, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Proposals to increase government oversight of the accounting profession in the wake of the Enron collapse, including an examination of audit quality and independence and the formulation of accounting principles. Witnesses First panel: all AICPA panel consisting of Chairman James G. Castellano (Rubin, Brown, Gornstein Co. LLP), past AICPA chair Olivia Kirtley (former Vermont American Company VP and CFO), James Copeland (CEO, Deloitte and Touche), Public Company Practice Section Chair William E. Balhoff (Postlethwaite & Netterville), and Auditing Standards Board Chair James S. Gerson (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP); Second panel: Robert Litan (Brookings Institution) and Peter Wallison (American Enterprise Institute).
March 19, 2002 - Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - Focus: accounting and investor protection issues raised by the collapse of Enron, including the role of the Public Oversight Board, which was charged with overseeing ethics and disciplinary issues for the accounting profession. Witnesses: Charles Bowsher (POB Chair), Aulana Peters (POB member), William Seidman (Former FDIC Chairman), John Whitehead (Former Goldman Sachs Co-Chairman), Michael Mayo (Prudential Securities).
March 20, 2002 - Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - Focus: Continuation from March 19. Witnesses: Howard Metzenbaum (Consumer Federation of America) , Richard Trumka (AFL-CIO), Sarah Teslik (Council of Institutional Investors), Thomas Bowman (Assn. For Investment Management and Research).
March 20, 2002 - Governmental Affairs Committee - Focus: How Enron was treated by credit rating agencies before, during and after its bankruptcy filing.
March 20, 2002 - Health, Education, Labor and Pensions full committee markup of a pension overhaul bill (S. 1992).
March 21, 2002 - Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Focus: Continuation from March 20. Witnesses: Harvey Pitt, SEC Chair.
March 21, 2002 - Finance Hearing on tax shelters. Witnesses: Mark Weinberger (Treasury), B. John Williams (IRS Chief Counsel), Larry Langdon (IRS Commissioner of large and medium business division).
April 25, 2002 - Judiciary Committee Committee marked up pending legislation, including S. 2010, a bill to provide for criminal prosecution of persons who alter or destroy evidence in certain federal investigations or defraud investors of publicly traded securities.
April 30, 2001 - Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing on the consumer impact of Enrons influence on state pension funds.
May 7, 2002 - Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations - Focus: whether the board of directors of Enron Corp. identified and responded adequately to warning signs of the companys impending bankruptcy. Witnesses: members of the Enron Board of Directors, former SEC chief accountant Michael Sutton, Center for Corporate Governance Director Charles Elson, Former Chairman of Sunocos Board of Directors Robert Campbell.
May 16, 2002 - Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce and Tourism - Focus: How consumers will be affected by the influence of the Enron Corp. on state pension funds.
May 21, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will mark up a draft bill (S. ___ Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002) that would establish a new organization to monitor the accounting profession, to be overseen by the SEC. Unlike the House accounting profession bill (HR 3763), the legislation would fund the new oversight board mostly through fees assessed on accounting firms and their corporate clients, and would give it full authority to obtain documents or testimony in the course of investigations. POSTPONED
June 18, 2002 - Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Reported to the full Senate a draft bill that would establish a new organization to monitor the accounting profession (to be overseen by the SEC). Unlike the House accounting bill (H.R. 3763), the legislation would fund the new oversight board mostly through fees assessed on accounting firms and their corporate clients, and would give it full authority to obtain documents or testimony in the course of investigations. This mark up was originally scheduled for May 21.
Federal Agency Investigations:
Securities and Exchange Commission
Focus: Whether Enron broke securities laws by misleading investigators about its condition.
Justice Department
Plans task force of prosecutors from Houston, New York City and San Francisco.
Focus: Whether fraud was involved in Enrons off-the-books outside partnerships and accounting practices.
Labor Department
Focus: Whether Enron improperly blocked employees from selling Enron stock in their retirement plans.
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