TOKYO _ Companies like General Electric are known for zero-tolerance policies: Any wrongdoing results in immediate dismissal. Now Toshiba Corp., one of the icons of Japan Inc., is testing the other end of the scale.
President Masashi Muromachi Thursday said the company has identified 30 more executives who have been involved in an accounting scandal that spanned almost seven years and reduced reported profit by about $1.3 billion. While Muromachi said the people identified will be “punished,” they won’t be dismissed. Muromachi also disclosed that two of the directors who stepped down in a board reshuffle remain on the payroll as advisers.
Toshiba’s action risks making a mockery of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to improve corporate governance in a country that has long been known for paying scant attention to shareholder interests. Abe, speaking in New York this week, urged Japanese companies to scale back the practice of holding each other’s shares as part of the government’s target for expanding the economy by 20 percent.
“The rule at GE is one strike and you’re out,” said Nicholas Benes, representative director of the Board Director Training Institute of Japan. “What I’m seeing is something closer to 100 percent tolerance at Toshiba.”
Toshiba has lost about $6 billion of market value since it withdrew its earnings forecast in May and announced an accounting probe that was later expanded. The internal investigation showed that company operations, including personal-computer manufacturing and power plants, overstated profits and delayed booking losses.
Former presidents Hisao Tanaka, Norio Sasaki and Atsutoshi Nishida have since quit and the company has revamped the board, increasing the number of outside directors. For the past six years, Muromachi has overseen the chip business and served as its chairman. The 40-year company veteran said he will step down within three years.
“The repercussions need to be much more severe,” said Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “If there isn’t a fundamental change at the company, who’s to say this will not happen again 10, 20 years later?”
Muromachi on Wednesday won shareholder approval as Toshiba’s president at an extraordinary meeting that included calls for his resignation. Share owners angered by the damage done to the 140-year-old brand interrupted the proceedings several times, shouting over him.
One investor drew applause when he said Muromachi was unfit to lead regardless of whether he knew about the improprieties. “You were chairman when this happened,” another shareholder said during a question-and-answer session. “What in the world were you doing?”
