7:20min We hear how the Enron chairman Kenneth Lay and his coterie of executives lost billions of dollars through dodgy deals. “How would you get rid of all that?” Sarah wonders, “Shoes?”
19:30min It emerges that Enron’s accountants, Arthur Andersen, signed off the deals. “It sounds to me like they just believed everything they were told,” Shilpa thinks. “Because the Enron guys were good at talking the talk.”
25:40min Cue another raucous rock song. “I’m enjoying the soundtrack to this accountancy film!” Sarah says.
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45:40min “I am not an accountant,” Enron CEO Jeff Skilling insists at his trial. “No s***!” Sarah snorts.
55:10min “There are supposed to be checks and balances to prevent this kind of thing from happening,” says one observer. “Now there are more procedures that we have to follow,” Tracey points out. “Our auditors grill us a lot more because of what happened with Andersens,” Shilpa adds. “It has taken away trust.”
55:29min Arthur Andersen was receiving $1 million a week from Enron. More gasps. “That’s why they went along with it,” Sarah sighs.
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56:24min A favourite trick was doing deals without balance sheets. An audible gasp from Tracey. “How did they get away without a balance sheet?” Sarah asks.
64:15min Details emerge of how Enron traders drove up energy prices during California blackouts. “It feels to me like it was a government failure,” Annette thinks. “Things were too deregulated. That’s why it happened in the US — everything’s a market.”
90:01min The wheels start to come off. “I want to know if you’re on crack,” an under-fire Lay spits at one of his accusers. We cut to a boggle-eyed former Enron trader. “I want to know if he’s on crack!” Kelly sniggers.
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100:20min Enron goes under, dragging Arthur Andersen down with it. “People still talk about it,” Tracey says. “I had a friend at Andersen whose whole career just disappeared.”
VERDICT All of our acccountants enjoyed the film, although Annette wasn’t sure how well the complexities were explained. It wasn’t a great advert for the accountancy profession, Tracey thought, while Sarah admitted to “quite aggressive” feelings towards the finance heads and accountants, whom she felt could have done more to prevent the disaster.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is out to buy on DVD on Sept 11. Interview by Ed Potton