One way to achieve this accounting effect, the documents indicate, was to set up an off-balance-sheet partnership.

All of those played some role in helping Enron create a series of off-balance-sheet partnerships.

In certain industries, including entertainment and energy, off-balance-sheet partnerships are common.

The company was sharply assailed earlier this year for its growing reliance on a series of deals with off-balance-sheet partnerships.

I am the one who said, five years ago, the public authorities are to state government what the off-balance-sheet partnerships were to Enron.

And he created some of the off-balance-sheet partnerships that seemed to make Enron's debt magically disappear.

What was the relationship between Enron and the web of off-balance-sheet partnerships it created to finance its investments?

Some companies use off-balance-sheet partnerships to raise money or to buy assets without ever telling their shareholders in their financial statements.

Red flags went up, he said, when he read about an array of off-balance-sheet partnerships.

Nor did the company disclose to average investors that cash flows were increased by selling bonds through the off-balance-sheet partnerships, he said.