15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific reporting on an important story, September 8, 2003
This is a terrific book. It should be read by anyone who invests because it will give you a better understanding of not only the Enron case, but of the problem of corrupt executives playing fast and loose with their responsibilities to the investors who employ them. Remember, the investors own the company, not the executives. They are hired help who are supposed to look after the interests of those who have put up hard cash for stock in the corporation and who are taking the financial risk as residual claimants. (Of course, those taking risks include the employees who probably have retirement investments in the company). It is a lively read and provides a great deal of valuable information along with the intrigue and outrageous revelations.
There are three story lines that flow like counterpoint. I found them riveting, but I enjoy reading about business. (You probably do as well, or why are you reading about this book?)
First, we follow Rebecca Smith and John Emshwiller as they track down leads in developing news stories about the sudden resignation of Enron's young CEO, Jeff Skilling. This seemingly minor story develops into the amazing and unexpected collapse of Enron as its corrupt financial dealings and improper accounting practices are exposed. We also follow the race between the authors as reporters for the Wall Street Journal racing against the New York Times, the LA Times, and the national TV news programs to get the story out first.
Second, we get the story of Enron and how Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and especially Andy Fastow worked hard to keep the true state of the company hidden from investors and regulators. We see how they drew others into their plans and punished those who wouldn't go along. The story makes clear how Andersen was brought down by an account team that allowed their lust for tens of millions of dollars in consulting fees to corrupt their accounting responsibilities.
Third, we see how both the climb and collapse of Enron affected average and honest people just trying to do their jobs. It was easy to get caught up in the rise of Enron and to believe in what was going on because the sickeningly corrupt practices were kept hidden for so long. Some of these executives, who reaped untold millions in personal rewards, might argue that everything was disclosed as required by letter of the regulations. But it seems to me that it was all just a way of lying while going to the right up to the edge of violating the letter of the law and then slipping over. Enron and Andersen management ended up not being as slick as they thought and ended up destroying both companies and hurting tens of thousands of innocent folks.
Another virtue of this books is that it is straight reporting. Rather than being advocacy journalism, it reports the facts of the case as they unfolded. I like this approach a great deal and think it strengthens the message of the book. You are free to make your own interpretation of the events presented. The authors do express their own reactions to certain events and revelations, but do not draw final conclusions of guilt or innocence. Nor do they try to apportion blame, although they do report comments and judgments of others who do.
Really, I wish this book would be read widely because it would help potential investors realize the need they have to pay close attention to the management team of companies they choose to invest in. They also need to educate themselves as much as possible on the industries and accounting practices of not only the companies they invest in, but also their competitors. Such awareness can help set off the "something isn't right" detector. Unfortunately, when things appear to be going well hard questions are usually not asked and when things fall apart it is usually too late to start asking.
This is a fine book that will have a permanent place on your shelf of business books.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful and Disturbing, June 22, 2004
By A Customer
24 Days reads like a John Grisham novel with the (naturally) two journalists as the protaginists sifting through the piles of obfuscation to get to the truth. Ultimately, the book shows that those who raided Enron were nothing more than common crooks, con men and money grubbing amoralists whose only interest was lining their own pockets. Sadly, justice has yet to be (if it ever will) served against many who were involved and the connections between Enron and current Administration remain woefully underreported.
What I can say is that the two journalists have done a great job of showing how the house of cards fell down. My only criticism, and it's a minor one, is that to the layperson, many of the financial terms will be hard to understand and the complex transactions that hid the billions in debt Enron had can be difficult to follow. Otherwise, this is highly recommended reading for people who want to know what crony capitalism is all about.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Stick to your knitting, August 17, 2003
The authors, both Wall Street Journal beat reporters, found themselves in the middle of the paper's coverage of the demise of Enron at the end of 2001. They do an admirable job of retelling the story of Enron's 24 day death spiral - from October 16, 2002 when Enron announced big losses associated with two partnerships to December 3rd when Enron filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. If you missed any of the daily installments in this big-business soap opera, this work will fill in most of the gaps.
There's also the story of what it's like to cover a big on-going economic event for the nation's leading business daily. The Journal's reporters can be confident that media sensitive business people are going to respond to their calls first. However, the writers give the impression that they were pretty much on their own after that and that all the Journal editors in New York do is decide on how much space to devote to each article.
I had two complaints about this otherwise solid book. First, after 381 pages, I'm still not sure how the villainous partnerships worked. The authors spent lots of time in 2001 trying to figure them out. It would have been nice if they had used this book to tell in a clear way what they discovered. How were they set up? How did they enrich Enron employees and how did they contribute to Enron's destruction? The second complaint comes form the author's attempt to personalize their coverage. Each time I read about their gulps of coffee in the morning and hints of bad feeling between the two of them I cringed. Smith and Emshwiller are solid business reporters - they and we would be better served if they stuck to their knitting.
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