Rating: 
Summary: Quick, Easy and Informative
Review: This book is intended for the lay person. For a quick and easy to understand version of what happened at Enron, read this book. The authors do a good job at summarizing the management personalities, company culture, use of special purpose entities and deception that ultimately led to Enron's debacle.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but not as good as expected
Review: This book is okay and certainly worth reading, but not as good as I expected after seeing all those "5-star ratings". Some of the key issues are not covered in enough detail, according to my opinion. The book tells the story of Enron, but should give more concrete examples which explain in detail what went wrong. It all remains rather vague. Also, I would've loved to read an interview with some of Enron's customers for example. Or some of their (former) employees.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Enron Autopsy Report
Review: This books lays out all the gory details of the greed and incompetence that killed Enron. The book works because of the understated and slyly entertaining way that it goes about unraveling the Enron bankruptcy. It is particularly effective because rather than being all preachy and sanctimonious, it presents all the necessary facts and background material to let the reader reach her own conclusions.The real clue to what the book is about is in the section at the end of the book called "The Enron Files," which contains copies of everything from deal approval sheets that are missing Jeffrey Skilling's signature to the "suicide note" left by Cliff Baxter. These exhibits, though some of them are difficult to read given that they were reduced to fit on a single page, give the whole Enron case a certain X-Files quality. Indeed, the book reads a lot like what Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder might have written about the case--combining Scully's scientific objectivity with Mulder's talent for psychological profiling of the major perps--in this case Lay, Skilling, and Fastow. Like any good X-Files episode, it raises more questions that it answers. What is truly scary about the whole affair is that there is no alien conspiracy to blame it on, just the lax governmental oversight that Enron bought and paid for with its campaign contributions. What Went Wrong at Enron is certainly not the last word on this scandal and deals only tangentially with the other scandals that are popping up all around it. Given that story on these scandals is only just beginning, it may be a long time (if ever) until the complete story can be written. Until then, this book provides the important first step in solving the mystery that is Enron.
Rating: 
Summary: Thin
Review: What really went wrong at Enron? A question that cannot be answered easily due to its nature of complexity. Thousands and hundreds investors, including Enron??s employees who vested their retirement benefits in the s401k plan solely with Enron shares?K..The horrible downfall alarmed the investment community, hurt the professional society (accountant, lawyer, underwriter etc.) and credibility of the monitoring commission?K. The U.S. government reacted with the new legislation (Sabanes-Oxley Act) as an ??attempt?? to tackle the problem, trying to put the company??s management back on track to shoulder its fiduciary duty to the company??s shareholder. But, does it work? The extent to which the various parties?? responsibilities is still clouded. If we do not really analyze the root causes which led to the Enron??s downfall, we never know the answer. This book, written with the targeted general audience, is published at the right time to give the public a good chance to find the ashes in the smoke. At least for the moment. According to this book, the tragedy was played by an arrogant CEO, greedy senior executive, loyal whistleblower, with the backdrop of a wrongly conceived free economy principle. The book is well written and gives insightful analyses based on the available evidence and traces. Some of the factors leading to the tragedy noted by the authors are: *?X The use of SPE (Special Purpose Vehicles) in accounting to keep off the accounting profits as well as to hide the potential liabilities
*?X The constantly fearing environment built by the Corporate Culture emphasizing on a sense of urgency
*?X Over-extension of operations in the deregulated energy and telecommunication market
*?X Mark-to-market accounting principles
*?X Less than full company??s disclosure tendency
*?X Valuation problem of customized contracts
* Making commitment as a counter-party to every trade in arbitrage markets
*?X Trading from natural gas to electricity to bandwidth to 1800 different products in the Enron online
*?X Conflicting company??s strategy: asset-lite vs. debt heavy financed investments
*?X Manipulated earning estimated to meet expectations
*?X Deals financed by high Enron??s stock price
*?X Excessive investment in optic fibre networks The list could go on and on. In fact, Enron went to the extent that deals were made just for the sake of making them. The more you read about the book, the more you feel it is a Shakespearean tragedy ?V things are certain to get worse with all of these interrelated factors playing on stage. The general audience, those who believed that the play had a good ending, bought the tickets but found that the play was ultimately turn out to be a tragic one. They suffered. However, the director said: ??You bought the tickets because you believed in the play had a good ending. I didn??t say that it would end in that way.?? Refund? No. The investigation into Enron??s alleged sham trading and potential fraud scheme is still in progress as of this writing?K..I highly recommend the book to the general readers, although it is better if you are financially literate. It is a thought-provoking and interesting read, especially to the CPAs.
Rating:
Summary: A Shakespearean tragedy
Review: What really went wrong at Enron? A question that cannot be answered easily due to its nature of complexity. Thousands and hundreds investors, including Enron¡¦s employees who vested their retirement benefits in the s401k plan solely with Enron shares¡K..The horrible downfall alarmed the investment community, hurt the professional society (accountant, lawyer, underwriter etc.) and credibility of the monitoring commission¡K. The U.S. government reacted with the new legislation (Sabanes-Oxley Act) as an ¡§attempt¡¨ to tackle the problem, trying to put the company¡¦s management back on track to shoulder its fiduciary duty to the company¡¦s shareholder. But, does it work? The extent to which the various parties¡¦ responsibilities is still clouded. If we do not really analyze the root causes which led to the Enron¡¦s downfall, we never know the answer. This book, written with the targeted general audience, is published at the right time to give the public a good chance to find the ashes in the smoke. At least for the moment. According to this book, the tragedy was played by an arrogant CEO, greedy senior executive, loyal whistleblower, with the backdrop of a wrongly conceived free economy principle. The book is well written and gives insightful analyses based on the available evidence and traces. Some of the factors leading to the tragedy noted by the authors are: *„X The use of SPE (Special Purpose Vehicles) in accounting to keep off the accounting profits as well as to hide the potential liabilities
*„X The constantly fearing environment built by the Corporate Culture emphasizing on a sense of urgency
*„X Over-extension of operations in the deregulated energy and telecommunication market
*„X Mark-to-market accounting principles
*„X Less than full company¡¦s disclosure tendency
*„X Valuation problem of customized contracts
* Making commitment as a counter-party to every trade in arbitrage markets
*„X Trading from natural gas to electricity to bandwidth to 1800 different products in the Enron online
*„X Conflicting company¡¦s strategy: asset-lite vs. debt heavy financed investments
*„X Manipulated earning estimated to meet expectations
*„X Deals financed by high Enron¡¦s stock price
*„X Excessive investment in optic fibre networks The list could go on and on. In fact, Enron went to the extent that deals were made just for the sake of making them. The more you read about the book, the more you feel it is a Shakespearean tragedy ¡V things are certain to get worse with all of these interrelated factors playing on stage. The general audience, those who believed that the play had a good ending, bought the tickets but found that the play was ultimately turn out to be a tragic one. They suffered. However, the director said: ¡§You bought the tickets because you believed in the play had a good ending. I didn¡¦t say that it would end in that way.¡¨ Refund? No. The investigation into Enron¡¦s alleged sham trading and potential fraud scheme is still in progress as of this writing¡K..I highly recommend the book to the general readers, although it is better if you are financially literate. It is a thought-provoking and interesting read, especially to the CPAs.
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