Toshiba scandal continues as more accounting errors found

Company said the problems included incorrect impairment charges on fixed assets at several subsidiaries

Masashi Muromachi, chairman and president of Toshiba Corp, at  a news conference in Tokyo, Japan. Toshiba delayed release of its fiscal 2014 earnings after discovering additional accounting issues that required further investigation. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
Masashi Muromachi, chairman and president of Toshiba Corp, at a news conference in Tokyo, Japan. Toshiba delayed release of its fiscal 2014 earnings after discovering additional accounting issues that required further investigation. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Toshiba again delayed announcing its annual financial results on Monday, as new accounting errors prevented the company from drawing a line under Japan's worst corporate scandal in four years.

Toshiba, which was scheduled to post its earnings for the business year ended in March, said the newly discovered problems included incorrect impairment charges on fixed assets at several subsidiaries and improperly timed booking of loss provisions at a US subsidiary.

"We deeply apologise for the situation we are in yet again, and for the inconvenience and concern we have caused to our stakeholders including shareholders and investors," chief executive Masashi Muromachi said before making a deep bow of contrition to a packed, late-night news conference.

The laptops-to-nuclear conglomerate had already delayed announcing its results by around three months due to an independent investigation over its past accounting practices.

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That probe found Toshiba had overstated past results by around $1.2 billion over several years, prompting its then-CEO and several other executives to step down last month.

Toshiba said government regulators accepted its request for extension and that it plans to submit the results by September 7th. – Reuters