On May 25, 2006, CEOs Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffery K. Skilling were both found guilty of fraud and conspiracy. “The conspiracy and fraud convictions would each carry a sentence of 5 to 10 years, as would the insider trading charge for Mr. Skilling which carries a maximum of 10 years (Barrionuevo, 2014). Lay and Skilling bear most of the blame, because they decided to encourage greed and fraud regardless of ethics. These men were very limited in their approach and were not qualified to fill their positions. The aftermath of Enron changed the way business is conducted to this day under the new Sarbanes and Oxley Act. Even though the Sarbanes And Oxley Act was passed, there are still other precautions to take. Enron's mistakes led to the passage of new laws, but there were many internal problems that caused Enron to fail. Accounting played a major role in the collapse of Enron. By using controversial accounting practices, Enron perceived that the finances were much larger than they actually were. One of the main accounting practices was to decentralize operations and put them into shell companies, this allowed Enron to hide. No standard independent audits were conducted before the fraud years, which is a bit curious until you look at Enron's contributions to political candidates. . Enron used its political connections in Democratic and Republican administrations, as well as on Wall Street, which allowed them to prepare fraudulent statements. “Since 1989, Enron has made a whopping $5.8 million in campaign donations, 73% to Republicans and 27% to Democrats (Follow the Enron money, 2002).” The money Enron spent bought favors from the most powerful people in America and gave them the ability to commit fraud wherever they saw