Part A (20 marks)

Read Case 9: Enron: Questionable accounting leads to collapse, starting on page 395 of your textbook. Answer questions 1 & 2 (10 marks each) on page 404. You are expected to fully research your answers and reference your sources appropriately.

You have already discussed this case in tutorials, so I expect that you will have very good answers already noted down. However, for this assessment item, I want you to take very particular perpectives, as described below:

1.How did the corporate culture of Enron contribute to its bankruptcy?: Please focus on Enron's lack of critical questioning of its accounting practices, and how it became necessary for a whistleblower to make Enron's questionable accounting practices more widely known.

2.Did Enron's bankers, auditors, and attorneys contribute to Enron's demise?: Again, focus on the apparent lack of unquestioning or uncritical review by these stakeholders, and whether this was unethical. Why do you think they might have adopted the same (apparently) unquestioning attitude to Enron's accounting as Enron's staff and managers?

You are expected to research the Enron case beyond the presentation in your textbook. There are many articles and analyses of Enron's accounting practices in the academic databases, and on the Web.

Part B (20 marks)

Read this Financial Times article on whistleblowers. It is clear that whistleblowers have had a tough time in the United States despite having a level of legislated protection.

You are to answer the following two questions (10 marks each):

1.Investigate and report on the form and extent of current institutionalised whistleblower protection in Australia.

2.How effective has this (Australian whistleblower) protection been? Support your answer with research and examples.

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