A Financial History of Modern U.S. Corporate Scandals: From Enron to Reform

by Jerry W. Markham

A definitive new reference on the major failures of American corporate governance at the start of the 21st century. Tracing the market boom and bust that preceded Enron's collapse, as well as the aftermath of that failure, the book chronicles the meltdown in the telecom sector that gave rise to accounting scandals globally. Featuring expert analysis of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation that was adopted in response to these scandals, the author also investigates the remarkable market recovery that followed the scandals. An exhaustive guide to the collapse of the Enron Corporation and other financial scandals that erupted in the wake of the market downturn of 2000, this book is an essential resource for students, teachers and professionals in corporate governance, finance, and law.

Genres: Business

770 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

While obviously well intentioned, I find it hard to take this book entirely seriously. Puting aside that this reads less like a history of anything than a very brief summary of financial crises that argue his point alone, or that the author's writing is reminiscent of a high school freshman given access to a thesaurus, there is ultimately little merit in this book. All but naming FDR the Antichrist, the SEC the new KGB, and anyone not on the board of a large corporation a would be socialist terrorist, the author argues that business forces alone will create the capitalist utopia. any regulation, he claims, hurts those who would profit, and only reluctantly admits that money laundering, fraud, etc are things that exist outside of lawbooks. A for effort, but C- for misunderstanding the basic principle of writing: to persuade your reader of your argument, not to turn yourself into a libertarian caricature.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ordinarily I would think it in poor taste to include a law school book here on goodreads, but this is the book for a class on corporate fraud that I'm taking right now, and the class is super awesome. We have a different guest speaker every week. The first week's lecturer was the lead prosecutor on Ken Lay's case. He was brilliant. In a few weeks, we'll be hearing from Jeffrey Skilling's defense team. And for next week: a real-life shackled white-collar criminal straight from federal prison. See, I can tell you're getting excited about this super-fun class of mine.