A US energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas that filed for bankruptcy in December 2001. It was later revealed that the reported financial situation of Enron was based on systematic accounting fraud. The values of many of the recorded assets of Enron were inflated, while some assets were nonexistent. Debts and losses had been placed into entities formed ‘offshore’ so did not need to be included in financial statements. The abuse of accounting procedures underlying the bankruptcy has given rise to the term ‘Enron scandal’.