By Christopher Meyer

 History  Baseline Profits  Gas Accounts in 1990  Determination of Entry-Level Management Salaries  Hedge Fund  Female Accountant Salary Dispute  Summary

 Merger in 1985  Deregulation of Natural Gas Industry Purchase costs and sales prices swung wildly  New CEO vision to use derivatives and hedges to absorb risk of cost/price swings Very questionable methods  Accounting writes letter with concerns about derivatives model CEO ignores warnings

 Unrealistic profits  Corporation furnished analyst in New York incomplete data Could not estimate gas accounts for 1990  Discrimination charges by female accountant on basis of salary  Handful of gas accounts moved to dummy hedge fund to stave off bankruptcy  Bankrupt in 1994

 Cumulative 1987: $1,087 million  Cumulative 1988: $803 million  Total: $1,890 million  Mean: $ million  Standard Dev. of Mean: $ million  Std. Dev. calculated because accounting unsure that numbers reported in media were accurate

 1988: 32 Nat. Gas Accts, 64 Oil Accts  1990: 43 Nat. Gas Accts, 86 Oil Accts Ratio

 On surface: Regular step rates  Gender discrimination suite in Accounting department Female accountant making $32,000 while male accountants doing same work made $50,000, $55,000, and $52,000  Gender discrimination most likely pervaded throughout organization

 500 Gas Accounts Maintain cash flow for 30 days  6 days before CEO made decision  400 Gas Accounts transferred to maintain cash flow for 26 days Ratio  Ultimately failed

 Male accountant salaries: $50,000; $55,000; $52,000  Mean: $52,  Standard deviation: $2,  Two standard deviations from the mean salary of top three other employees: $5,  Appropriate raise: $16,000  New salary: $48,000

 History  Baseline Profits  Gas Accounts in 1990  Determination of Entry-Level Management Salaries  Hedge Fund  Female Accountant Salary Dispute