Press Conference by Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of State for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Friday, November 20, 2015, 10:59 am to 11:16 am)

[Questions and answers:]

Q.

I asked you about this at last week’s press conference, but please let me ask you again about certified public accountants (CPAs) and audit firms. Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC, the auditors of Toshiba during its period of inappropriate accounting, is under suspicion in the markets over the issue of whether it conducted its audits properly. In addition, the Advisory Council on the Systems of Accounting and Auditing, a panel set up by the FSA to look at accounting auditing is engaged in heated discussions on the subject, but Minister Aso, please tell me what you think about the question of whether CPAs and audit firms are, at present, properly fulfilling their roles of stepping in and preventing fraud as soon as signs of it emerge?

A.

I know media has reported the news, but I cannot make comment here and now on specific matters being deliberated on by the Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board. But whatever the case, if there is a legal problem concerning the certifying of a company’s accounts by an audit firm, the FSA imposes severe administrative actions. A conclusion has yet to be reached on whether this incident will be subject to that, so I cannot say anything at this stage.