This major new reference for students, faculty, and professionals of American corporate governance, modern financial history, and securities law begins with an examination of the collapse of the Enron Corporation and other financial scandals that arose in the wake of the market downturn of 2000. Jerry W. Markham, author of the award-winning Financial History of the United States and former SEC counsel, provides context and analysis to the modern era of corporate curruption. The book examines the SEC's full disclosure system in corporate governance and the role of accountants in that system, including Arthur Andersen LLP, the Enron auditor that collapsed after it was accused of obstructing justice. The author chronicles the meltdown in the telecom sector that gave rise to accounting scandals at Nortel, Lucent, Qwest, Global Crossing, Adelphia, and WorldCom. He traces other accounting and governance failures at Rite Aid, Xerox, Computer Associates, AOL Time Warner, Vivendi, HealthSouth, and Hollinger. Markham also covers such Wall Street scandals as the Martha Stewart trial, the financial analyst conflicts, and the mutual fund trading abuses. This reference places today's financial news in perspective with discussion of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation that was adopted in response to these scandals, the burdens it imposes, and continuing flaws in full disclosure. The book also traces the remarkable market recovery that followed the scandals and addresses the misguided efforts of corporate governance reformers that led to the abuses.