Enron: Smartest Guy in the Room
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room I. Review of the documentary
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a documentary that was produced in 2005 as a reflection of the 2003, bestselling book with the same name. The documentary was written by Bethany Mclean and Peter Elkind. The film, produced by Alex Gibney is an explicit demonstration of how reputable corporations can tumble down because of illicit financial management. The film is about the Enron Company, which experienced enormous financial drains because of the scandals elicited by its top managerial team. Two years after the inception of the company, two traders engage in betting activities on the lucrative oil markets. This eventually leads to suspicious profits for the company, a phenomenon that raises eyebrows on the financial stand of the company. It is also discovered that Enron’s Chief Executive Officer is redirecting the company’s finances to different accounts. In demonstrating the poor financial management of Kenneth Lay, he encourages the traders to keep on making money for the company, yet he understood clearly that betting is a risky activity that could cause the company a lot of its assets. Lay finally realizes his mistakes when he sacks the traders because of wasting the company’s reserves through gambling. Their actions virtually damaged the image of Enron. When the facts about what happened to the company are exposed, Lay argues that he had no knowledge of the illicit financial endeavors. Jeffrey Skilling is brought in as the new CEO and immediately imposes his own principles about handling profits and projects. Skilling adopts a management practice that engages the company in projects without examining whether the projects have the capacity to be successful or not. This is indeed, a trait that has the capacity to taunt the image of the company in respect to the management of its assets and resources. In essence, this portrays Enron as a profit making company, even if it is not
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a documentary that was produced in 2005 as a reflection of the 2003, bestselling book with the same name. The documentary was written by Bethany Mclean and Peter Elkind. The film, produced by Alex Gibney is an explicit demonstration of how reputable corporations can tumble down because of illicit financial management. The film is about the Enron Company, which experienced enormous financial drains because of the scandals elicited by its top managerial team. Two years after the inception of the company, two traders engage in betting activities on the lucrative oil markets. This eventually leads to suspicious profits for the company, a phenomenon that raises eyebrows on the financial stand of the company. It is also discovered that Enron’s Chief Executive Officer is redirecting the company’s finances to different accounts. In demonstrating the poor financial management of Kenneth Lay, he encourages the traders to keep on making money for the company, yet he understood clearly that betting is a risky activity that could cause the company a lot of its assets. Lay finally realizes his mistakes when he sacks the traders because of wasting the company’s reserves through gambling. Their actions virtually damaged the image of Enron. When the facts about what happened to the company are exposed, Lay argues that he had no knowledge of the illicit financial endeavors. Jeffrey Skilling is brought in as the new CEO and immediately imposes his own principles about handling profits and projects. Skilling adopts a management practice that engages the company in projects without examining whether the projects have the capacity to be successful or not. This is indeed, a trait that has the capacity to taunt the image of the company in respect to the management of its assets and resources. In essence, this portrays Enron as a profit making company, even if it is not
References: Baker, J. C. (2008). The International Finance Corporation; origin, operations, and evaluation New York: Praeger. Bhat, S. (2008) Financial Management: principles and Practice (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Ex