Essay on Enron the Smartest Guys in the Room - 5209 Words

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room The Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the de facto dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time, Enron was attributed as the biggest audit failure. Enron was formed in 1985 by Kenneth Lay after merging Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth. Several years later, when Jeffrey Skilling was hired, he developed a staff of executives that, by the use of accounting loopholes, special purpose entities, and poor financial reporting,†¦show more content†¦However, the stock increased by 56% in 1999 and a further 87% in 2000, compared to a 20% increase and a 10% decrease for the index during the same years. By December 31, 2000, Enron’s stock was priced at $83.13 and its market capitalization exceeded $60 billion, 70 times earnings and six times book value, an indication of the stock market’s high expectations about its future prospects. In addition, Enron was rated the most innovative large company in America in Fortunes Most Admired Companies survey. Causes of downfall Enrons complex financial statements were confusing to shareholders and analysts. In addition, its complex business model and unethical practices required that the company use accounting limitations to misrepresent earnings and modify the balance sheet to indicate favorable performance. The combination of these issues later resulted in the bankruptcy of the company, and the majority of them were perpetuated by the indirect knowledge or direct actions of Lay,Jeffrey Skilling, Andrew Fastow, and other executives. Lay served as the chairman of the company in its last few years, and approved of the actions of Skilling and Fastow although he did not always inquire about the details. Skilling constantly focused on meeting Wall Street expectations, advocated the use of mark-to-market accounting (accounting based on market value, which was then inflated) and pressured Enron executives to find new ways to hide its debt.Show MoreRelatedEnron, the Smartest Guys in the Room.1229 Words   |  5 PagesEnron, the Smartest Guys in the Room. Enron was involved in American’s largest corporate bankruptcy. It is a story about people, and in reality it is a tragedy. Enron made their stock sky rocket through unethical means, and in reality this company kept losing money. The primary value operating among the traders was greed, money, and how to make profits under any circumstance. The traders thought that a good trader is a creative trader and the creative trader can find any arbitrage opportunityRead MoreEnron Smartest Guys On The Room1573 Words   |  7 PagesThe movie ENRON smartest guys in the room is about one of the biggest corporation corruptions in the United States. In 1985, ENRON Corporation, was a company that delivers pipeline for natural gas and electricity, while mergering with Houston Natural Gas and Internorth. ENRON quickly grew into a reputable company that generated enormous profits. In a short period of time ENRON was considered one of the top global trading company for natural gas, commodities, and electricity. According to the statistic;Read MoreEnron : The Smartest Guys Of The Room Essay1549 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Enron was a Houston based energy, commodities and services company. When people hear the name Enron they automatically associate their name with one of the biggest accounting and ethical scandals known to date. 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These executives placed their own agendas over the employees and public, and neglected to accept responsibility for ethical downfalls or use appropriate management. As a result, employees followed their unethical behavior (Johnson, 2015). Leaders have great influence in an organization, but policies will not be effectiveRead MoreEnron: the Smartest Guys in the Room Essay1834 Words   |  8 Pagesthis paper is consider three possible rationales for why Enron collapsed—that key individuals were flawed, that the organi zation was flawed, and that some factors larger than the organization (e.g., a trend toward deregulation) led to Enron’s collapse. In viewing â€Å"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room† it was clear that all three of these flaws contributed to the demise of Enron, but it was the synergy of their combination that truly let Enron to its ultimate path of destruction. As in any organizationRead MoreA Film Review of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room666 Words   |  3 PagesAbstract This is a review of the movie, Enron: The Smart Guys in the Room. The paper analyses the themes that contributed to the downfall of Enron. It also considers steps that Human Resources would have taken given the chance, in addressing the issues that contributed to the collapse of the Company. Factor That Led To Enrons Downfall According to the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, it seems that one major reasons that led to Enrons down fall was; unethical corporate behaviorRead MoreEssay about Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room1948 Words   |  8 Pages it took Enron 16 years to go from about $10 billion of assets to $65 billion of assets, and 24 days to go bankruptcy. Enron is also one of the most celebrated business ethics cases in the century. There are so many things that went wrong within the organization, from all personal (prescriptive and psychological approaches), managerial (group norms, reward system, etc.), and organizational (world-class culture) perspectives. This paper will focus on the business ethics issues at Enron that wereRead MoreThe Smartest Guys At The Room : The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron1654 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The Smartest Guys In the Room† the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron goes into great detail of what happens when a com pany has no ethics. It could be said that ethics was the last thing on the minds of the executives that worked at Enron. People employed at Enron cared about two things the stock price of the company, and the money they could put in their own pockets. This was what caused the fall of one of the biggest energy companies in the U.S†¦ Enron failing did not happen overnight it