Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
by Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bethany McLean, Peter ElkindEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2003-10-13
ISBN: 1591840082
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Book Reviews of Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
Book Review: Advanced accounting shenanigans don't create value
Summary: 4 Stars
Very well researched account of the rise and downfall of Enron. It chronicles the start and the ultimate demise of this company, which never really had a great business model - (sorry Jeff Skilling). It is amazing that so many "smart" people did not understand basic business skills and the simple difference between economic and accounting gains. Jeff Skilling, a former McKinsey partner, should have stayed with the consulting firm where theory is safely differentiated from real world. Skillings' first mistake was not understanding his own limitations first and foremost. He breaks out a bottle of champagne to celebrate SEC's acceptance of a change in Enron's accounting system. Accounting does not create value - it does not appear that many Enron executives (especially Skillings who should have known better) understood this.
McLean and Elkind do a nice job presenting some of the schemes and scams that Enron executives used to make themselves look good to investors, analysts, bankers and the general public. There are some scams that I had a hard time following, but the reader will grasp the general idea behind them. In light of recent accounting scandals, this is an important book to read for any investors and the public in general. Unfortunately the book ends around summer of 2002 and we do not find out what happens to some of the key characters. My interest was sparked enough that I researched some of the more recent findings after reading the book. Despite its difficulty to read at times I highly recommend it.
Summary of Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
Like its subject, The Smartest Guys in the Room is ambitious, grand in scope, and ruthless in its dealings. Unlike Enron, the Texas-based energy giant that has come to represent the post-millennium collapse of 1990s go-go corporate culture, it's also ultimately successful. Penned by Fortune scribes Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, the 400-page-plus chronicle of the scandal digs deep inside the numbers while, wisely, maintaining focus on the "smart guys" deep-frying the books. The likes of paternal but disengaged CEO Ken Lay (dubbed "Kenny Boy" by George W. Bush, one of many prominent public figures with whom he rubbed shoulders), cutthroat man-behind-the-curtain Jeff Skilling, and ethically blind numbers whiz Andy Fastow vividly come to life as they make a mockery of conventional accounting practices and grow increasingly arrogant and bind to their collective hubris. They're not a likable lot, and the writers find it difficult to suppress their astonishment and revulsion with the crew who rapidly went from golden boys and girls of the financial world to pariahs when the bill finally came due. The authors' unrepressed sarcasms are more than often unnecessarily given the scope of the outrage. Enron's leading lights were or a time celebrated for their ability to concoct nearly unfathomable business schemes to hide mounting shortfalls and keeping track on their machinations can be a chore, but, by sticking hard to the story behind the fall, McLean and Elkind have reported and written the definitive account of the Enron debacle. --Steven StolderThe definitive volume on Enron's amazing rise and scandalous fall, from an award-winning team of Fortune investigative reporters.
There were dozens of books about Watergate, but only All the President's Men gave readers the full story, with all the drama and nuance and exclusive reporting. And thirty years later, if you're going to read only one book on Watergate, that's still the one. Today, Enron is the biggest business story of our time, and Fortune senior writers Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind are the new Woodward and Bernstein.
Remarkably, it was just two years ago that Enron was thought to epitomize a great New Economy company, with its skyrocketing profits and share price. But that was before Fortune published an article by McLean that asked a seemingly innocent question: How exactly does Enron make money? From that point on, Enron's house of cards began to crumble. Now, McLean and Elkind have investigated much deeper, to offer the definitive book about the Enron scandal and the fascinating people behind it.
Meticulously researched and character driven, Smartest Guys in the Room takes the reader deep into Enron's past-and behind the closed doors of private meetings. Drawing on a wide range of unique sources, the book follows Enron's rise from obscurity to the top of the business world to its disastrous demise. It reveals as never before major characters such as Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow, as well as lesser known players like Cliff Baxter and Rebecca Mark. Smartest Guys in the Room is a story of greed, arrogance, and deceit-a microcosm of all that is wrong with American business today. Above all, it's a fascinating human drama that will prove to be the authoritative account of the Enron scandal.
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