  We compare the characteristics of flare-accelerated energetic electrons at
the Sun with those injected into interplanetary space. We have identified 17
energetic electron events well-observed with the SEPT instrument aboard STEREO
which show a clear association with a hard X-ray (HXR) flare observed with the
RHESSI spacecraft. We compare the spectral indices of the RHESSI HXR spectra
with those of the interplanetary electrons. Because of the frequent
double-power-law shape of the in situ electron spectra, we paid special
attention to the choice of the spectral index used for comparison. The time
difference between the electron onsets and the associated type III and
microwave bursts suggests that the electron events are detected at 1 AU with
apparent delays ranging from 9 to 41 minutes. While the parent solar activity
is clearly impulsive, also showing a high correlation with extreme ultraviolet
jets, most of the studied events occur in temporal coincidence with coronal
mass ejections (CMEs). In spite of the observed onset delays and presence of
CMEs in the low corona, we find a significant correlation of about 0.8 between
the spectral indices of the HXR flare and the in situ electrons. The
correlations increase if only events with significant anisotropy are
considered. This suggests that transport effects can alter the injected spectra
leading to a strongly reduced imprint of the flare acceleration. We conclude
that interplanetary transport effects must be taken into account when inferring
the initial acceleration of solar energetic electron events. Although our
results suggest a clear imprint of flare acceleration for the analyzed event
sample, a secondary acceleration might be present which could account for the
observed delays. However, the limited and variable pitch-angle coverage of SEPT
could also be the reason for the observed delays.
