Toshiba accounting errors may be over Y100 bil

"Do they still use local GAAP?"

Many are in a process of converging with IFRS, if they haven't done so already.

Japan isn't worse than other countries, despite many people usual "only in Japan" bashing attitude.

Thank you My point exactly. Japan's moral standard, at least as it applies to business, is to be "no worse than other countries". Now there's leadership if I've ever seen it.

Japan isn't worse than other countries, despite many people usual "only in Japan" bashing attitude.

Good thing no companies in any other countries are doing it.

And that kind of attitude does what exactly to make Japan better?

@darname: I guess you are ironic, or you read only news about Japan.

Good thing no companies in any other countries are doing it.

Wow... Japanese companies committing fraud for years, after being warned previously and promising to fix such 'errors'. Who's surprised?

" irregularities"? I'd rather call it accounting fraud.

This from the Nikkei on June 5 (the scandal has obviously ballooned quite a lot since then):

Toshiba's internal probe [by Toshiba's financial department and EY ShinNihon] of accounting irregularities has reportedly found nothing more of note, meaning the problems are likely limited to four business areas covered by a parallel third-party investigation.

@Kronos

Still Toshiba's auditor is Ernst & Young. After Lehman, Olympus, and Noble there is this. Serious questions should be asked as to how they are conducting their audits.

The big four auditors (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY) all have laundry lists of clients whose fraud they failed to detect, even in the wake of Arthur Andersen's demise following the Enron scandal.

Still, EY in particular seems willing to overlook dubious reporting. It will be interesting to see if Japan's accounting oversight board takes a closer look at EY after this.

I made an accounting error that increased the profit by 1,576 yen. I guess I have a long ways to go.

It may be the best time to invest in Toshiba now. Olympus stock dropped to 424 yen in November 2011 when the scandal was revealed and now it is 4,400 yen on Friday. Toshiba will not go bankrupt. It was 423 yen on Friday. It is a bargain price!

Japan's yen printing will come to an inevitable end. When that happens, expect Toshiba to go bankrupt just like Sharp and Sony. Sony used to be one of the biggest electronics companies in the world. Now it's not even one twentieth the size of Samsung.

Toshiba and Sony are the most vulnerable to becoming bankrupt in the next few years as the camera and nuclear industries (especially in Japan) are on a downward trend.

It may be the best time to invest in Toshiba now. Olympus stock dropped to 424 yen in November 2011 when the scandal was revealed and now it is 4,400 yen on Friday. Toshiba will not go bankrupt. It was 423 yen on Friday. It is a bargain price!

Toshiba accounting errors may be over Y1 bil

"Errors" is apparently the Japanese accounting equivalent term to "comfort women". It takes a dishonorable act, and makes it sound like a simple mistake. As proof, there has been no mention in any article I've read on this subject of any investigation by any outside authority such as the Financial Services Ageny. These "errors" falsely led people to invest in Toshiba stock, and kept senior executives in high-paying jobs, based on fraudulent earnings statements. Sad.

Not much comment if anyone is also looking into whether the auditors had any fault or not. Booking of revenues and expenses should have been vigorously checked by the auditors.

Still Toshiba's auditor is Ernst & Young. After Lehman, Olympus, and Noble there is this. Serious questions should be asked as to how they are conducting their audits.

And with over 300 subsidiaries, domestic and foreign, you can bet that there are lots of executives crossing their fingers that this "probe" doesn't wander outside the confines of the parent company...

Yes, Yubaru, I am pretty sure you are right. But cases of corruption and fabrication are mostly presented in isolation and the question is avoided about whether this is a sign of systemic problems until the evidence becomes so overwhelming or there is a mass confession.

.."errors" ...not available for comment

Sounds very familiar.

Do they still use local GAAP?

I'll bet that if anyone opens the books on other major Japanese corps. they would find similar "mistakes".