Subject: re : research sign off
steve ,
sign - off from the research group is something that requires defining formal
rules going forward .
my concern over the last few years was that we were asked on many occasions
to sign - off on partial results of valuation , without the benefits of a full
picture .
sometimes , we were asked to sign - off on trade ideas , over which we have no
control long - term .
i shall talk to rick buy and david port about setting up more formal rules
for the research sign - off .
vince
steven leppard
01 / 24 / 2001 03 : 42 am
to : sharad agnihotri / lon / ect @ ect
cc : tani nath / lon / ect @ ect , ted murphy / lon / ect @ ect , james new / lon / ect @ ect ,
vince j kaminski / hou / ect @ ect
subject : research sign off
hi sharad
i note from our discussion earlier this morning that you ' ve been asked to
sign off a calculation from another group , which is something we ' re asked to
do from time to time .
i take the view that we in research can assess a computation in terms of what
it achieves with respect to its requirements , what its shortfalls are , and
therefore what the risks associated with using this method are . we cannot
provide an opinion on whether these risks are acceptable to enron , which i
feel falls firmly within rac territory .
this then raises the question of can research sign off anything for other
groups after all ? to " sign off " means to accept something , which our opinion
in itself cannot do . it is most appropriate for us to provide a technical
note outlining the methodology , risks and shortcomings of a method , leaving
the formal " sign off " to those best placed to assess these risks for our
company . the alternative is for multiple groups each to have their own view
on what is acceptable risk for the company .
steve