What Went Wrong at Enron: Everyone's Guide to the Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History [Paperback]

Peter C. Fusaro (Author), Ross M. Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2002

An easy answer guide to the difficult questions surrounding Enron
What Went Wrong at Enron explains the critical steps, transactions, and events that led to the demise of a company that was once considered one of the most innovative corporations in the United States. Energy risk management expert Peter Fusaro gets inside Enron and provides a coherent account of the who, why, where, and when of this corporate debacle, without sacrificing the complexity of what has happened. Enron has been front-page news for months, but confusion still remains about what actually happened. What Went Wrong at Enron is written for readers who find themselves wondering what exactly is an energy trading company, what was the sequence of events that caused the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history, and what does this all mean for me.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...first book to address the difficult questions surrounding Enron..." (Lloyd's List, 5 July 2002)

"Here come the Enron books...The best offering...is What Went Wrong at Enron." (The New York Times, Sunday, July 28, 2002)

"...a new book on the Enron debacle..." (The Sunday Business Post, 28 July 2002)

"...the gripping drama de jour..." (Business Eye, 1 August 2002)

"...the book chronicles the deception, back stabbing and eventual whistle-blowing that toppled the Houston-based company..." (Moneywise, September 2002)

"...the end result is quite gripping...it gave out information without even trying and it readily soaked into the consciousness..." (M2 Best Books, 15 August 2002)

"...ideal reading for a train journey or flight..." (Mortgage Finance Gazette, October 2002)

"...compelling and very clearly written book draws the right lessons from the Enron debacle" (Christopher Faille, HedgeWorld)

"...Fusaro and miller have provided an excellent primer to whet our appetites for the scurrilous revelations to come..." (Times Higher Educational Supplement, 22 November 2002)

"...a fascinating, highly readable blow-by-blow account of what led to a company?s dramatic collapse..." (IEE Review, Janauary 2003)

"...a truly fascinating read." (Financial Adviser, 26 September 2002)

Review

"Do not put another dime into the stock market before reading this book. In all the millions of words that have been written about the Enron scandal, these are the first that really explain, in a way anyone can understand, what actually happened in the greatest stock swindle of modern times. You'll learn what Enron's business really consisted of, how the accounting for it really worked, and who the key executives really were? in particular chairman Kenneth Lay, the proselytizing son of a Missouri preacher, and Lay's prot?g?, Jeffrey Skilling, who earned the nickname of Darth Vader for his ruthless behavior. You'll follow Enron's forays into everything from the Internet to the California energy market, learning how Skilling and Lay influenced Wall Street analysts to say only favorable things about the company, and what happened to the analysts who didn't oblige. And you'll behold the inevitable doom that eventually comes to shareholders who believe that rising stock prices are proof of increasing value. In the end they may be proof of nothing more than what the world has now come to know as "Enronitis." This is the book that explains what that word really means." —Christopher Byron, author, Martha Inc.

"The Enron story, for most of us, is a monster. Fusaro and Miller clarify what went wrong in a manner that allows anyone to get their arms around the beast quickly, without killing oneself." —Bill Crawford, former Chicago Tribune financial writer and Pulitzer Prize winner

"The authors' sharp insights into Enron's self-destructive culture provide a clear road map into its massive failure." —Peter Behr, Washington Post financial writer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471265748
• ISBN-13: 978-0471265740
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Law > Business > Bankruptcy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Thin, July 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: What Went Wrong at Enron: Everyone's Guide to the Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History (Paperback)

Let's start with the positives:
- the book is easy to read and reasonably well written;
- the basic facts of the story are covered;
- the book starts the story way back before the problems emerged so that you get a feel for what the business was up to.

But
- it is very short book for such a complex subject
- the "unravelling" - the investigations into "what went wrong" are (ironically) not well covered
- there is almost no coverage of the Andersen issues

So save your dollar, pound, euro or yen - don't waste it on this book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Enron Autopsy Report, July 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: What Went Wrong at Enron: Everyone's Guide to the Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History (Paperback)

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick, Easy and Informative, July 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: What Went Wrong at Enron: Everyone's Guide to the Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History (Paperback)

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.