There were other warning signs. Enron’s debt was climbing rapidly—$3.9 billion of debt was added on the balance sheet in the first nine months of 2000 alone—which didn’t make sense if the business was as profitable as Enron was claiming. It was also clear that Enron was selling assets and booking the proceeds as recurring earnings. In fact, publicly filed documents showed that nearly 40 percent of Enron’s earnings in 1998 and 1999 came from gains on sales of assets rather than from ongoing operations.
