Enron And Continental Vending: A Comparison

Abstract

We have all heard it said that if we don’t learn from history, we are condemned to repeat it.  It appears that we, as the accounting profession, failed to learn from the Continental Vending case that occurred about four decades ago and thus repeated our mistakes in the Enron case.  First, we will give a brief review of the basics of the Continental Vending case since few of us seem to remember it.