The company also launches a public relations campaign to make it look profit-making and stable, this despite the fact that its overall performance is quite poor worldwide. Profiting from the bull market situation, Enron attempts to deceive stock market experts by increasing share prices and then cashing in on multi-million dollar options. Pai invests his money in a ranch in Colorado and becomes the state’s second largest owner.

Pai then resigns from the company fetching $250 million after selling his shares (Simons 174). Pai has the reputation of misappropriating shareholder funds on strip clubs as well as inviting strippers to Enron offices. They include Lou Pai, Enron’s Energy Services president and Cliford Baxter, a smart but highly depressed executive. Skiling hires lieutenants to enforce his policies within the organization. As a result, a very competitive and aggressive working environment is created. Skilling enforces his “only the strongest survives” philosophy on Enron by putting in place a review committee charged with grading workers and dismissing the bottom 15 percent on an annual basis (Simons 172). The move also enables Enron to create an illusion of being profitable, though it is far from the truth. This would enable the company to guarantee profits on some projects, once the deals are concluded, irrespective of whether they are successful or not. Lay hires Jeffrey Skilling, a new CEO, who agrees to be in charge of Enron but makes his appointment conditional upon using mark-to-market-accounting. However, Lay denies being aware of any fraudulent activities. The traders are sacked after it becomes known that they embezzled Enron’s reserves, causing the company to nearly go down (Simons 171). Enron’s president, Louis Borget, is found to be transferring company’s funds to overseas accounts, too. After two years, the corporation becomes entangled in scandal when two traders start betting on oil markets, a move that resulted in consistently high profits and gave rise to suspicion. The documentary starts with Kenneth Lay’s profile, the person who established Enron in the year 1985. Aided by Peter Coyote’s detailed coverage, they appear on the film to expound on what happened. Peter Elkind and McLan were the authors of the book on which the documentary was based. The documentary retells the story in clear terms. The documentary is useful in explaining intricate issues in simple terms. However, the film is crucial in revealing the accounting manipulation at Enron where earnings were largely overstated.

The film makes it clear that Enron was a scheme aimed at defrauding the various stakeholders of their funds. The film is targeted at potential investors to caution them of risky ventures taken by company officials. The film is informational in that it depicts the corporate arrogance prevalent in major American corporations that eventually leads into financial crisis. The documentary gives a deep insight into the happenings at Enron hence making it relevant for academic review. The film is relevant to the course because it analyzes the various aspects relevant for academic review in films. It features interviews with Elkind and McLean along with former senior executives, the California Governor among other stakeholders (Simons 170). The film also examines Enron traders’ involvement in the 2000-2001 California electric power crises. Directed by Alex Gibney, the film looks into the collapse of Enron Corporation that led to criminal trials of the company’s top directors.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2006 documentary based on the identically named bestselling book written by Fortune Magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind.

The smartest guys in the room summary