Reading Enron's code of ethics, on first impression, you would expect nothing but excellence from a respectable company. Their code of ethics relied heavily on effective communication, a high level of integrity, and nothing but excellence. Through this code they portrayed a business that was capable of exceeding greatness to the highest standard. This soon to be eluded fact jaded by the deception with Enron's unethical actions, which would ultimately lead to its untimely demise. Enron, at one point, was the seventh largest company within the Fortune 500. Careful accounting strategies allowed it to be listed as the seventh largest company in America, and it was expected to dominate the trading it had virtually invented in communications, power and weather securities. Instead it became the biggest corporate failure in history.

             Enron was formed in 1985, by Kenneth Lay, CEO. Lay graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in economics. He then went on to get his Ph.D. from the University of Houston. With his extensive background in economics, Lay began to work for Exxon Mobil, and thus began his life in the energy business. He soon began to get involved in the natural gas market, which led him to propose the idea of the deregulating energy. Lay merged his company, Houston Natural Gas, with Omaha, Nebraska's InterNorth to form Enron (Briefing 2012). .

             In addition to traditional sales and transportation of natural gas, Enron, under Lay's direction, invested into, what at the time was, future markets. From around 1983-1987, oil prices fell drastically. Buyers of natural gas switched to newly cheap alternatives such as fuel oil. Gas producers, led by Enron, lobbied vigorously for deregulation (Briefing 2012). Once-stable gas prices began to fluctuate, spooking buyers. That's when Enron started marketing futures contracts guaranteeing a price for delivery of gas sometime in the future (Briefing 2012).