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The Olympus scandal was precipitated on 14 October 2011 when British-born Michael Woodford was suddenly ousted as chief executive of international optical equipment manufacturer, Olympus Corporation. He had been company president for six months, and two weeks prior had been promoted to chief executive officer, when he exposed "one of the biggest and longest-running loss-hiding arrangements in Japanese corporate history", according to ''the Wall Street Journal''.〔 Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the board chairman, who had appointed Woodford to these positions, again assumed the title of CEO and president.〔〔 The incident raised concern about the endurance of tobashi schemes, and the strength of corporate governance in Japan. Apparently irregular payments for acquisitions had resulted in very significant asset impairment charges in the company's accounts, and this was exposed in an article in the Japanese financial magazine ''FACTA'' and had come to Woodford's attention. Japanese press speculated on a connection to Yakuza (Japanese organised crime syndicates).〔〔 Olympus defended itself against allegations of impropriety. Despite Olympus' denials, the matter quickly snowballed into a corporate corruption scandal〔 over concealment (called ''tobashi'') of more than 117.7 billion yen ($1.5 billion) of investment losses and other dubious fees and other payments dating back to the late 1980s and suspicion of covert payments to criminal organisations.〔〔〔〔 On 26 October, Kikukawa was replaced by Shuichi Takayama as chairman, president, and CEO. On 8 November 2011, the company admitted that the company's accounting practice was "inappropriate" and that money had been used to cover losses on investments dating to the 1990s. The company blamed the inappropriate accounting on former president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, auditor Hideo Yamada and executive vice-president Hisashi Mori. By 2012 the scandal had developed into one of the biggest and longest-lived loss-concealing financial scandals in the history of corporate Japan;〔 it had wiped 75–80% off the company's stock market valuation,〔 led to the resignation of much of the board, investigations across Japan, the UK and US, the arrest of 11 past or present Japanese directors, senior managers, auditors and bankers of Olympus for alleged criminal activities or cover-up,〔 and raised considerable turmoil and concern over Japan's prevailing corporate governance and transparency 〔 and the Japanese financial markets. Woodford received a reported £10 million ($16 m) in damages from Olympus for defamation and wrongful dismissal in 2012;〔〔 around the same time, Olympus also announced it would shed 2,700 jobs (7% of its workforce)〔 and around 40 percent of its 30 manufacturing plants by 2015 to reduce its cost base.〔 == Background == Olympus Corporation, a major Japanese manufacturer of optical equipment listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange had, according to its accounts for the year ended 31 March 2011, consolidated net sales of ¥847.1 billion (US$10.6 billion) in the year, and total shareholders' equity of ¥262.5 billion (US$3.3 billion). The group employs close to 40,000 people around the world.〔 Its assets of ¥1 trillion (US$13.3 billion) as at 31 March 2011 included ¥175.5 billion (US$2.2 billion) of goodwill, an intangible asset.〔 Under the leadership of Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who became president in 2001, the company's revenues increased from ¥467 billion to ¥847 billion while the profits were a relatively constant ¥35 billion.〔 During the 1980s, many Japanese corporations relied on investments to bolster dwindling profits, particularly in its exports which had been eroded by a strong yen. Toshiro Shimoyama, Olympus president from 1984 to 1993, admitted to the Nikkei industrial daily newspaper in 1986: "When the main business is struggling, we need to earn through ''zaitech''"〔 (meaning financial engineering). Olympus invested in financial derivatives and other risky investments to boost profits.〔 However, Shimoyama said he "does not remember" any attempt to conceal losses (''tobashi'') during his tenure as president: "As president it wasn't the case where all financial reports would come to me, so I have no memory. During that time Masatoshi Kishimoto was the treasurer ... I wouldn't have heard financial details."〔 Kishimoto, Olympus president from 1993 to 2001, in turn denied involvement in ''tobashi'', and instead suggested possible implication of Hideo Yamada, whom he said he supervised poorly.〔 In 1991 Olympus had to take losses of ¥2.1 billion on the value of its investments after the investment bonanza ended. In June 1998, Olympus was subject of market rumours that it had suffered sizeable trading losses on derivatives which caused its shares to plunge by 11 percent. The rumours were emphatically denied by Olympus, which subsequently announced record profits. In September 2011, Olympus announced that it had written off part of a ¥45 billion investment in emerging market bonds. The company further disclosed during its interim results in October 1999, that it had lost nearly ¥17 billion from interest rate and currency swaps. The company also reported that it had lost ¥2.9 billion in the Princeton Economics International Ponzi scheme.〔 According to Bloomberg, the annual report of Olympus Corporation for the year ended 31 March 2010 showed a ¥15.5 billion ($201 million) prior period adjustment for "loss related to the purchase of preference shares from (unnamed ) third party"; goodwill on its balance sheet also increased by ¥13.5 billion yen to account for the purchase.〔 ''BusinessWeek'' noted that ratio of a company's debt relative to its equity ranks Olympus among the top 2 percent most highly geared of Japan's largest companies,〔 while ''The Financial Times'' commented that its capital base – an equity ratio in 2011 of below 14 percent – is the weakest among its peer group. Olympus is the only Nikkei 225 constituent whose intangible assets – principally goodwill of around ¥168 billion – exceeds net assets (¥151 billion).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Olympus scandal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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