Part of the blame goes to off-balance-sheet equipment leases that EDS has handed off to banks.
Nearly a year ago, even France admitted to having off-balance-sheet transactions and hiding debt.
This egregious error is even more offensive to common sense than Enron's use of off-balance-sheet vehicles.
Frequent use was made of off-balance-sheet vehicles, on a greater scale even than Enron.
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So were the company's links with the obscure off-balance-sheet partnerships that were subsequently to trigger its downfall.
It all sounds suspiciously like the subprime mortgage boom, when banks parked illiquid assets in off-balance-sheet vehicles.
Off-balance-sheet transactions, widely used by Enron and employed by many companies for legitimate reasons, further obfuscate the picture.
Banks themselves engaged in a binge of creating off-balance-sheet structures, most notably with so-called SIVs (structured investment vehicles).
However, the volume of products that it keeps off-balance-sheet where the bank technically isn't responsible to cover any losses fell.
To finance the off-balance-sheet assets, the government set deposit interest rates at very low levels: 1% or so.
For instance, they are carrying large off-balance-sheet liabilities and have secured loans with collateral that does not exist.
Another line of defence is expected to rest on Mr Fastow's self-enrichment from off-balance-sheet partnerships that dealt with Enron.
But these are far different animals from the off-balance-sheet monsters that led to the collapse of Enron in 2001.
The accounting standards for both these trades and repo-to-maturity trades allowed off-balance-sheet treatment.
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Some banks woke up early to the risks and are reducing their off-balance-sheet loan commitments as fast as they can.
Fitch says bank lending including both the 9.6 trillion yuan formally lent and off-balance-sheet lending was about 11 trillion yuan last year.
Or to buy short-term paper issued by off-the-balance-sheet financial units of major banks that were not transparent to the investment community.
Morgan Chase spokesman argues the new rule would cover only a fraction of the off-balance-sheet liabilities and therefore isn't a problem.
In February 2010, Greece admitted that through assistance from Goldman Sachs, it used off-balance-sheet transactions to hide its deficit and national debt.
The IMF fears that off-balance-sheet lending by Chinese banks as well as credit from lightly regulated nonbank lenders could backfire on the world's second-largest economy.
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On the other hand, weakening consumer credit in America and uncertainty over its exposure to off-balance-sheet assets will add to the subprime worries.
Other factors that might raise red flags include a high proportion of off-balance-sheet transactions, frequent changes in auditor and delays to earnings announcements.
Not accounted for in these sovereign debt numbers is the banks' exposure to off-balance-sheet items, equities and commercial and residential loans in PIIGS countries.
Even those banks that are in good shape may want to hold back amid uncertainty over capital-adequacy requirements and accounting rules for off-balance-sheet assets.
When adapting the Enron book for television, the movie's writer, Stephen Mazur , knew he had to gloss over the complexities of Enron's off-balance-sheet partnerships.
In a regulatory filing last week, Citi said it had received subpoenas and information requests relating to subprime mortgages, mortgage securities, derivatives and off-balance-sheet funds.
China's bank regulators have been working to curb bank off-balance-sheet lending.
FASB, which in the case of Enron's off-balance-sheet entities required consolidation.
The amount of loans treated this way is unclear because nobody centrally collates the data, and Fitch says its three trillion yuan estimate for off-balance-sheet credit is rough.
If Andersen is found actually to have advised on the design of Enron's off-balance-sheet vehicles, as the company implies, it will find it hard to plead ignorance over their construction.
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