One of the most

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

One of the most telling details of the Enron saga is the way that nearly everyone agrees that ‘aggressive’ (as in ‘aggressive accounting’) should serve as a synonym for ‘deceptive.’

Aggressive accounting‘ means massaging the numbers so they’ll yield a deceptive impression of a company’s financial health.

Overly aggressive accounting‘ is bad because that’s too deceptive.

But ‘aggressive accounting’ is okay because that’s only deceptive, not too deceptive.

Is this the attitude that’s at the root of the problem?

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: