Companies do so pretty terrible things in the name of the almighty dollar, but it’s not often when one goes above and beyond. The president of Toshiba, Hisao Tanaka is stepping down from his position after word came out that an investigative committee found that several company heads were deeply involved with an account scandal.
The report that was made public stated that Toshiba intentionally exaggerated earnings. We are talking a few thousand dollars here or there, rather company heads exaggerated earning by $1.2 billion dollars. Yes, that’s billion with a B. The $1.2 billion comes from a review of six years worth of company records.
Investigators noted that:
“Within Toshiba, there was a corporate culture in which one could not go against the wishes of superiors… Therefore, when top management presented ‘challenges,’ division presidents, line managers, and employees below them continually carried out inappropriate accounting practices to meet targets in line with the wishes of their superiors.”
This isn’t the first issue in recent years of Japanese mega-corporations playing fast and loose with their books as camera giant Olympus had their own troubles in 2011 to the tune of $1.7 billion. Japan’s finance minister, Taro Aso said that, “If [Japan] fails to implement appropriate corporate governance, it could lose market trust.”
Via: (TheVerge)
About Author
