--- title: Japan: Toshiba Bosses Accused of Padding Profits by $1.2 Billion description: Bosses at tech giant Toshiba systematically betrayed the trust of the stakeholders by embellishing earnings by $1.2 billion. canonical: https://time.com/3965428/toshiba-accounts-scandal/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-21T03:55:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T04:13:04.000Z article:section: Business og:title: Toshiba Bosses Accused of Padding Profits by $1.2 Billion og:description: Massive accounting fraud alleged to have taken place since 2008. og:url: https://time.com/3965428/toshiba-accounts-scandal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63da45dd4b30d79e/69885bb25f570f0b35b1c879/rtr4yugd.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pedestrians walk past a logo of Toshiba Corp outside an electronics retailer in Tokyo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Toshiba Bosses Accused of Padding Profits by $1.2 Billion twitter:description: Massive accounting fraud alleged to have taken place since 2008. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63da45dd4b30d79e/69885bb25f570f0b35b1c879/rtr4yugd.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Toshiba Bosses Accused of Padding Profits by $1.2 Billion ## Video: Watch: Apple's Hardware and Software ad [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: Apple's Hardware and Software ad](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DaYNBQkI.m3u8) (0:30)  _Published 2015-07-10. Watch: Apple's Hardware and Software ad_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:13 AM CUTPublished: Jul 21, 2015 3:55 AM CUT  Pedestrians walk past a logo of Toshiba Corp outside an electronics retailer in Tokyo, Japan, June 25, 2015 Pedestrians walk past a logo of Toshiba Corp outside an electronics retailer in Tokyo, Japan, June 25, 2015Yuya Shino—Reuters by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:13 AM CUTPublished: Jul 21, 2015 3:55 AM CUT In one of the Japan’s largest ever accounting scandals, investigators found that bosses at tech giant Toshiba had systematically betrayed the trust of the stakeholders by fudging the firm’s accounting for more than seven years, [embellishing earnings by $1.2 billion.](http://news.yahoo.com/toshiba-bosses-responsible-overstating-profits-1-2-bn-132435034--finance.html "undefined") The underpinnings of corporate corruption at Toshiba were exposed after an investigation by a former Tokyo prosecutor on Monday, finding top executives wrapped up in a culture of deceit. Toshiba President Hisao Tanaka quit Wednesday over the affair, while his predecessor, Norio Sasaki, is also expected to step down from his current role as vice chairman, reports AFP. “Toshiba had a corporate culture in which management decisions could not be challenged,” said a summary of the investigator’s report. “Employees were pressured into inappropriate accounting by postponing loss reports or moving certain costs into later years.” Securities regulators first discovered irregularities on the company’s balance sheet earlier this year, causing Toshiba shares to drop more than 20% since May. In light of the scandal, the company will have to restate its earnings by 151.8 billion yen ($1.2 billion) for the period between April 2008 and March 2014. The affair comes only two years after a handful of Olympus executives were accused of orchestrating a $1.7 billion accounting fraud scheme, which left the company to pay a fine of 700 million yen ($5.6 million). \[[AFP](http://news.yahoo.com/toshiba-bosses-responsible-overstating-profits-1-2-bn-132435034--finance.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3965428/toshiba-accounts-scandal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3965428/toshiba-accounts-scandal/"},"headline":"Toshiba Bosses Accused of Padding Profits by $1.2 Billion","datePublished":"2015-07-21T03:55:41.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T04:13:04.000Z","description":"Hisao Tanaka, company president and chief executive, resigned on Wednesday","url":"https://time.com/3965428/toshiba-accounts-scandal/","keywords":["Companies","Tech","Japan","Scandal","fraud"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63da45dd4b30d79e/69885bb25f570f0b35b1c879/rtr4yugd.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63da45dd4b30d79e/69885bb25f570f0b35b1c879/rtr4yugd.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pedestrians walk past a logo of Toshiba Corp outside an electronics retailer in Tokyo","caption":"Pedestrians walk past a logo of Toshiba Corp outside an electronics retailer in Tokyo","creditText":"Yuya Shino—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3965428/toshiba-accounts-scandal/","name":"Toshiba Bosses Accused of Padding Profits by $1.2 Billion"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: Apple's Hardware and Software ad","description":"Watch: Apple's Hardware and Software ad","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DaYNBQkI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-10T16:29:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DaYNBQkI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3965428/toshiba-accounts-scandal/","duration":"PT30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3965428/toshiba-accounts-scandal/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```