1.

[It may seem an exaggeration to describe the scandal overwhelming

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Royal Ahold as "Europe's Enron"]- [but in many ways it is true enough.]
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 Compound sentence

2. Certainly, [the world's third-biggest food retailer, after Wal-Mart and

Carrefour, presents none of the financial risks of Enron], [which was both
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deeply in debt and the world's largest electricity giant.]
DC
 Complex sentence

3. That apart, [the similarities between the former Texan powerhouse and
the Dutch retailer are striking], [from the very bad corporate governance,
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aggressive earnings management and accounting "irregularities" to
auditors whose role must be called into question.]
 Complex sentence

4. Now, at least, [Europeans should stop believing] [that corporate wrong-

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doing is a US problem that cannot occur in the old continent.]
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 Complex sentence
5. Instead, they should fix their own corporate governance and accounting
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problems.
 Simple sentence

6. On 24 February 2003 [Ahold announced the resignation of its chief

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executive and finance director] [after finding that it had overstated its
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profits by more than 463m ($500m).]
 Complex sentence

7. Its market value plunged by 63 per cent that day, to 3.3bn.

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 Simple sentence

8. In late 2001, it exceeded 30bn.

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 Simple sentence

9. [Ahold is now under investigation by various authorities], [including the

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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the USA.]
 Complex sentence
10. Rather like Kenneth Lay at Enron, and Dennis Kozlowski at Tyco,
another scandal-hit US firm, [Ahold's now-departing boss, Cees van der
Hoeven, won a huge reputation from turning a dull company into a growth
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machine.]
 Simple sentence

11. [Investors applauded long] after [they should have started asking hard
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questions.]
 Complex sentence

12. When eventually [they did ask them], [his anger and pride became
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quickly apparent] and [he refused to answer.]
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 Compound - Complex sentence

13. [The 463m overstatement is due primarily to Ahold's US Foodservice

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Unit], [which supplies food to schools, hospitals and restaurants],
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[although there are also issues over its Disco subsidiary in Argentina
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and several other units.]
 Complex sentence
14. [This has led some observers to say [that this is less a European
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problem than yet another US accounting failure].]
 Complex sentence

15. Such [a claim absolves Ahold's bosses of responsibility for their

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acquisitions and dishonesty and ignore the persistent, firm-wide tendency
to test the limits of acceptable accounting.]
 Simple sentence

16. [Most firms that buy in bulk - including such admired retailers as Wal-
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Mart and Tesco - get discounts from suppliers] [if they meet sales targets.]
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 Complex sentence

17. The issue is how those rebates are accounted for.

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 Simple sentence

18. [The accepted practice is to wait] [until the targets are met.]
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 Complex sentence
19. [Failing firms, such as nowbankrupt Kmart, food distributor Fleming,
and now Ahold appear to have booked these rebate payments] [before
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they were earned.]
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 Complex sentence

20. What of Ahold's auditor?

 Simple sentence

21. [Although the problems were uncovered, it should have done so much
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Earlier], [says Lynn Turner, a former chief accountant at the SEC.]

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 Complex sentence