Toshiba's accounting scandal

Toshiba, one of Japan's most storied industrial conglomerates spanning electronics, nuclear power and infrastructure, came under scrutiny in early 2015 after an internal tip prompted regulators to examine its accounting practices. An independent panel's investigation found that Toshiba had systematically overstated its operating profits by roughly 155 billion yen (about $1.2 billion) between 2008 and 2014, largely by pressuring divisional managers to book unrealistic future earnings targets that were then baked into current results under pressure from senior executives. The company's chief executive and seven other top managers resigned when the findings were made public in July 2015, and Toshiba was fined by Japan's securities regulator and forced to restate years of financial statements. The scandal deepened an already difficult period for the company, which was simultaneously grappling with heavy losses at its US nuclear business, Westinghouse, and it prompted broader questions in Japan about whether the country's traditionally deferential corporate culture made this kind of top-down pressure to falsify results more likely to go undetected.