I still don't understand what's going on. Enron was a solid company, and none of these articles explains what the devil happened. How could their accountants have failed to notice fraud or mismanagement on such a huge scale?
Enron has always been a somewhat shady, sleazy company. When that one CEO quit suddenly after only a month or two on the job (ostensibly because he wanted to spend more time with his family!), it was apparent that there was more to it than that. He must have seen what was going on and wanted to leave before the "bin laden" hit the fan.
Your first question is very good but your second question I think answers itself. There wasn't fraud or mismanagement on a
huge scale. I don't think the partnerships that were moved off the books were on a huge scale. Compared to the Company's Trading volume and capacity, the accounting quirks were trivial. Something else is going on here.
Note that the SEC has implied that Enron is playing ball and has taken steps to show it's getting its act together. Second, note the following quote:
The U.S. Treasury Department said it was monitoring Enron, but said it has yet to see "anything extraordinary."
The above quote confirms why your first question and observation is so good. I've been following this story fairly closely for a few weeks now. It really doesn't add up other than a temporary dive in some IT side investing. But just about everyone is shell shocked over IT spinouts, it's not isolated to Enron. Enron can still make a lot of money.
You asked the right question.
I personally suspect some payback politics.