Rating: 
Summary: THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH JAIL CELLS-GOOD READ
Review: "The Smartest Guys in the Room" is very well written, with great biographical backgrounds and telling anecdotes that will give you everything you should know and then some about the major players whose greed and egos led to their demise and Enron's collapse like a classic greek tragedy. McLean and Elkind were able to translate Faustow's complex special purpose entities into laymen's terms. The Enron story also shows the shocking lack of moral character of Arthur Anderson and the investment banks who enabled and profited by Enrons obscene techniques of literally making up its numbers and "earnings". This book was an eye-opener for me. I had never heard of "mark to marketing" accounting which allowed (and perhaps still allows) corporations to book "earnings" now on assumed future income, that it has not received and might never receive. It makes you completely mistrustful of corporate quarterly earnings reports, which Enron and others so easily manipulate. There should be a lot more criminal prosecutions, not just of the Enron people who profited by sham earnings statements, but also JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, and Citibank executives who enabled and profited by the Enron shenanigans. The wall street analysts who pumped up Enron stock with near complete ignorance of Enron's actual business should also be prosecuted for criminal impersonation-that is pretending to be "analysts". There was certainly enough unanswered questions in Enron's own public filings to raise 100 red flags--
There are a lot more reforms that should be made-particularly on the accounting end, to force corporate disclosure to somehow truly explain a company's actual cash, actual earnings and actual debt and obligations. I will never assume that a company's alleged "earnings" disclosure statements means the company actually has real cash from current revenue,and that its debt/obligation disclosure is remotely truthful.
Unfortunately, the Enron story is all to familiar- Appearances are more important than reality in the world of
corporate governance and finance-- After all, We have a President who brags about Values who should have been prosecuted for inside trading on His Harkness Energy stock sales years ago- and he gets a pass- I'm sure a lot of other big shots at the investment banks who helped Enron scam investors in Enron stock will also get pass
This book will and/or should get you mad--yet i'm not particulary sympathetic to Enron's former employees, many, if not most of whom, had to be aware that this company could not lose so much real money and spend so much real money if it was making real money in an honest way--- and its seems like guys like Pai and most of his associates will probably keep their ill gotten gains
There will be other Enrons as long as Wall Street trades on
"virtual" earnings and undistributed earnings-hopefully "mark
to marketing" accounting and its accounting brethren will be declared illegal, but that would probably be a naive hope
I would highly recommend this book, just to see how dumb and how amoral the smartest guys in the room were and often still are ---- (...) the question may be asked , how could such smart men (and women)be so stupid ......
Rating: 
Summary: Warren Buffet's recommendation
Review: picked this book up after reading Buffet's recommendation in his annual letter. The book definitely makes the bile rise, but it does not delve sufficiently into social and business context of the 90s that allowed such excesses.
Good documentation and references to the failure of oversight bodies like SEC, accounting firms (Arthur Andersen audited Enron, PWC audited some subsidiaries). It was revealing to read the glorious predictions of analysts who fail to distinguish between aspirations and business reality. The Enron staffers reminded me of a story about a footballer intent on scoring a goal but is incapable of stopping him/herself from scoring into his/her own team's goal because the desire to score a goal was overarching and maniacal.
The last 150 pages of the book is sheer torture to read, page after page repetition of same problem, i.e.,'monetizing' future revenue and not recognizing losses in subsidiary, but then Repetition is the mother of learning, I suppose.
Rating:
Summary: Best book on Enron
Review: I've read everything I can find on Enron and this is by far the best. It covers all the nefarious dealings (to the extent possible for such complicated concoctions), and goes into the background of all the principals, which I enjoyed. The writing style is great. The definitive book on Enron's downfall. I hope they write a sequel about the stuff that happens to everyone when they all start going through their trials.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and well-written
Review: Although much of what is disclosed here could have been gleaned from the WSJ and other financial publications during Enron's downfall, this is very well-organized and insightful play-by-play analysis of Enron's rise and subsequent fall to earth.Many of the most interesting sequences involve quotes from former insiders and the chapter that discusses Wall Street's compliance and subsidy of Enron's misdeeds. There was so much financial wrong-doing going on in the markets those days, that few people resisted the urge to see Enron for the fraud that it was. Investment bankers, auditors, the nation's best credit agencies and even the SEC were all privy to Enron's wild machinations and few of those involved ever called them on it. The authors do a great job of developing the characters, mainly: Lay, Skilling, Mark, Fastow, Kopper, Pai and Baxter. They also do well describing the arrogance and hubris of the managers, traders and deal makers. These people thought they were smarter and craftier that everyone. In the end, it was their arrogance that cemented their destruction.
Rating:
Summary: A Brillant Book
Review: This book was EXCELLENT! It was extremely well written and researched. It told an incredibly complex story in a way that read like a drama. I could not put this book down. Upon reflection the parallels between Enron Senior Management and Saddam (and his Baathist party) are striking. Both relied on compromising the principles of those around it (Enron via bribery, Saddam via terror and bribery) in order to perpetuate their power and self enrichment. In the end, when confronted with skeptical short sellers (in the case of Enron) and with the US Armed Forces (in the case of Iraq), both entities fell with incredible and unexpected speed.
Rating:
Summary: Must reading for anyone who throws out the term
Review: We hear politicans and amateur spinners throw out the word "Enron" as a smear against capitalists and Republicans in general. Anyone who uses that term in a derogatory political sense would be well served to read this book. Michael Kopper... and the very socially liberal Andy Fastow come across as the brains of this scam, while Ken "Kenny Boy" Lay comes across as a happy-go-lucky public face without a clue Very easy read for those with modicum of business/finance/accounting background and still a worthwhile and concise read for those who don't have such a background.
Rating:
Summary: Smartest Book in the Store
Review: We've all probably had our fill of the sickening sagas of one corporate scandal after another. But The Smartest Guys in the Room is definitely worth the time. It reads like a thriller. The characters seem like they are out of a novel, and the story, when revealed in its putrid detail, reads like a thriller. This a very accessible read. There are a few tough bits where accounting shenanigans are described, but the authors do a good job of explaining everything. A whole new layer of the scandal is revealed here, one that would only be uncovered by a person reading countless news stories over a two year period. Other than the obvious story line of a multi billion dollar company gone bad, there is an undercurrent here--the amazing tale of how long the Enron lies, half truths, manipulation and subterfuge went undetected by the SEC, the big brokerage houses and the banks. Stories of the banks forking over a billion here, a billion there, brazenly encouraging and enabling Enron to feed the beast of its addiction to accounting tricks, corporate jets and hundreds of millions of stock options drained off by shady executive suite characters. Over and above being a great read, this is will also serve as an introduction to the characters who you will read about who will go to jail over the nest couple of years. News stories won't provide the depth of insight into their actions and character--this book will.
Rating:
Summary: When the Other Shoe Dropped
Review: Bethany McLean is the logical writer to pen a lengthy book detailing the tragedies of Enron, and how they impacted on the nation's economy, not to mention reeking tragedy in the lives of those who worked there in innocent circumstances. As someone born and raised in California I was naturally interested in the energy crisis perpetrated in the Golden State by Enron policies designed to achieve total control. McLean was the writer whose Fortune article questioned the value of Enron during its artificially inflated boom period. This was happening at a time when mountains were being moved to maintain stock at a high level which was beyond bloating, but entered into the realm of the highest scale of fraud. When the California tragedy surfaced it was none other than former Halliburton CEO and current vice president, Dick Cheney, who exclaimed that the California energy crisis revealed the need of developing more independent energy sources, i.e. drilling in Alaska. McLean and fellow Fortune writer Peter Elkind demonstrate that the tragedy was internally induced, and not a product of external circumstances, as Cheney and other Bush administration figures asserted. A massive effort such as that unleashed by the Fortune team was necessary to even scratch the surface in a string of machinations which are sought to be performed in the most complex way to create a huge smokescreen and avoid detection. From both an economic and sociological standpoint the mammoth undertaking of the authors proves that such efforts on the part of top management at companies like Enron will ultimately collapse like a house of cards. As well as providing the essential factual details on how the Enron brigade unleashed their corrupt trickery, McLean and Elkind create visible portraits of the main characters involved in this history of swindles perpetrated on an unsuspecting American public. Ken Lay, referred to by George W. Bush as "Kenny boy", is revealed as a feel good CEO who purposely sees and hears no evil, while Skilling and Fastow are repesented as anything but, operating as consummate forces of power maniacal greed with total control the object that never departs from their corporate radar screens. With this much information revealed abaout the Enron demolition crew as vigilant forces in such a sleazy and rapacious enterprise, the question arises as to how much Enron will figure in the presidential campaign. McLean and Elkind provide a wealth of material from which a constructive national debate could be launched. Let this effort begin!
Rating:
Summary: The "Exorcist" for Business Readers
Review: This book scared the hell out of me. With the scandals at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, etc., one has to ask - "Where Else?" While it focuses on the people and personalities directing Enron, the book very rightly points out that this Ponzi-Scheme of a company could never have existed if not for the complicity, corruption and willful ignorance of individuals and organizations who were supposed to act as checks and balances. Simply put, Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling & Andrew Fastow were able to bully, buy or dupe the following: 1. The Enron Board, who questioned almost nothing.
2. Arthur Andersen, who was corrupted by large consulting fees, and the "glamor" that was Enron.
3. Wall Street Equity Analysts, who were long ago compromised.
4. Large commercial banks, who allowed themselves to be played like violins by Fastow.
5. The business press, who with rare exception, acted as cheerleaders for Enron.
6. Debt-Rating agencies such as Moody's and S&P for shallow due dilligence. Make no mistake, this is a horror story. So much loss and pain due to extremely bright folks with no moral compass! Throughout the book, I found myself asking "can an organization this unethical, cutthroat and STUPID have really existed?" I didn't know if I should be outraged or horribly depressed (BOTH!). If I had a critisim of the book, it would be that it should have contained an appendix that illustrated the financial position (on-balance sheet & total) to help readers fully comprehend the magnitude of what went on. I recommend this book to anyone who owns more than $10 in stock.
Rating:
Summary: One of the years best.
Review: This is a very readable, compelling, well investigated, timely book. If you have any interest in Enron at all, you will like this book. The main question I had - What the hell was going on? - was well explained in this book. I learned about 'Mark to Market' accounting, 3 billion dollar white elephant power plants, expense account $ at strip clubs (Lou Pai thats you!), 45 million dollar corporate jets, the Wall Street analysts who were didn't know what they were talking about, the pushover of Arthur Anderson, what went on during California's rolling blackouts, and Fastow & Co and their off the books Cayman island shenanigans. Enron thought of itself as the coolest company in the world. It was Fortune magazine's most innovative company for several years. Way to go Fortune! Aside from the entertainment value of the book, I feel that I have gained a healthy skepticism. For example, when a company executive tells you they're doing fine, undervalued even, they might be selling their own stock. Big companies aren't as well led, as rigorously audited, closely analyzed, and regulated, as I would have thought in 1999. The whole of American business has been besmirched if you ask me. Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia, etc. There should be a lesson here somewhere.... I highly recommend this book.
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