“You are the guardians”

On March 10th, 2000, NASDAQ was at 5,048. Today March 2003 it’s a little over 1,200. Three years ago the dot‐com bubble had not entirely burst. Accounting firms bragged in advertisements about their aggressive consulting services, as their lobbyists fought ferociously to preserve their ability to offer those services. Now they are funding full page ads, like the recent one from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, declaring that Corporate America has entered a new era of transparency. Hot shot analysts were doling out millions in initial public offerings. Corporate governance was a topic best left to academics. Foreign policy ranked almost dead last on a list of America’s top concerns. Enron was trading in the neighborhood of $80 per share. And for the previous five years, for tune magazine had touted the company as the most innovative in America. Little did we know that its most noteworthy innovations were not being done in their business, but in their books. . .