CRITICAL THINKING CASE
CP12–6.
Req. 1
The payment from Merrill Lynch to Enron does not automatically make the Nigerian
barge transaction a sale. When a loan is established between a lender and borrower, a
The four revenue recognition criteria discussed in Chapter 3 are:
1) delivery has occurred or services have been rendered,
4) collection is reasonably assured.
Without knowing about the secret side deal, it’s not obvious which of the four criteria
have not been fulfilled. Knowing about the side deal, however, makes it clear that the
first criterion has not been fulfilled. At the time of the initial transaction (and receipt of
cash from Merrill Lynch) Enron had a continuing obligation to ensure that Merrill Lynch
was repaid six months later. In other words, Enron had not performed all of the acts
promised to Merrill Lynch.
Req. 2
By recording the transaction as a regular sale, Enron reports the cash received as a
Req. 3
Most financial statement users view cash flows from operating activities as recurring
sources of cash into the future. If $100,000 of cash is generated from operations this