List of Figures and Tables Preface Acknowledgements PART I: MANAGEMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS THE SHAREHOLDERS Senior Management Ethics and Personal Accountability Mismanagement and the Firing of a Bad CEO Creative Accounting, EBITDA and Core Earnings The Misleading of Investors Top Management Pay and Options Responsibilities of Certified Public Accountants and of the Board PART II: A HIGHLY LEVERAGED COMPANY, ITS TRADES, ITS ACCOUNTS AND ITS BANKS Enron: The End of an Empire Assigning the Blame for Enron The Bankers of Enron Trading and the Risks of Derivatives Exposure Investors, the Securitization of Bad Loans and the Probability of Default PART III: PROBLEMS DON'T DISAPPEAR BECAUSE THEY ARE IGNORED Case Studies of Banks which are Finding the Going Tough Notes Index

The author outlines the reasons why management risk must be examined within the perspective of each company's business challenges. He suggests there is a synergy between shareholder value and business ethics. He also underlines the importance of honesty, the risks associated with short-sighted management and over-centralisation, the benefits of innovative strategies and senior management's accountability for reliable financial reporting. The text is based on an extensive research project done by the author between 2000 and 2002 in the US, the UK, France, Italy and Switzerland.

Dimitris N. Chorafas served on the faculty of the Catholic University of America and as Visiting Professor at Washington State University, George Washington University, University of Vermont, University of Florida, and Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, as well as the University of Alberta, Technical University of Karlsruhe, Ecole d'Etudes Industrielles de l'Université de Genève, Ecole Polytechnic Fédérale de Lausanne, Polish Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences. More than 8,000 banking, industrial and government executives participated in his seminars in the United States, England, Germany, Italy, other European countries, Asia and Latin America. Chorafas is the author of 160 books, translated into several languages world-wide.