Krispy Kreme wasn't at the top of many lists of companies most likely to get caught in the accounting fallout from Enron's collapse. But its experience in mid-February offered a near-perfect demonstration of Enronitis at work.
The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based doughnut maker is an all-American success story. It has been selling its popular range, headed by the signature Hot Original Glazed, to the snackers and dunkers of north America since 1937. It sells 5 million doughnuts a day and is busily opening new stores in the US and Canada to satisfy burgeoning demand: 48 last year, an estimated 59 this year.
In the past two years the company has become a Wall Street favourite as well - with its shares rising 400% since its IPO in May 2000 to just under $40.
Little seemed to be clouding management's outlook until February 11, when the tabloid New York Post published a full-page...
