Toshiba accounting errors may be over US$1 billion: report

[TOKYO] Toshiba Corp may need to mark down past earnings by over 150 billion yen (S$1.64 billion), nearly triple an earlier estimate, after an ongoing investigation into past accounting practices found more irregularities, a report said on Saturday.

The Nikkei business daily, citing unspecified sources, said the newly discovered errors were related to computer parts procurement. Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

The industrial conglomerate previously said inappropriate bookkeeping in areas such as highway electronic toll collection systems, power meters and semiconductors likely led to profits being overstated by nearly 55 billion yen in recent years.

Toshiba has not been able to close its books for the year that ended in March while a third-party committee probes its bookkeeping practices. It has also skipped its year-end dividend to shareholders.

The investigation is expected to conclude in mid-July.

Previous accounting investigations in Japan have included camera and medical equipment maker Olympus Corp's 13-year cover-up of US$1.7 billion in losses.

REUTERS