Toshiba accounting scandal to cost the company up to $3B

Toshiba's accounting irregularities is the biggest accounting scandal in Japan lately, leading the conglomerate expects to book charges worth 300 billion to 400 billion yen or about $2 - $3 billion.

An independent panel probing Toshiba found six years of overstated profits from the giant tech corporation. There are no exact amount as to how much will be booked for this business year, which ended in March 2015.

Toshiba can't close its books for the latest business year after being in the center of the controversy. It has also suspended its year-end dividend payout. The corporation will be filing its earnings this August.

This scandal forced its Chef Executive Hisao Tanak to step down.

Toshiba Corp recently announced that it appointed a third-party committee to probe the accounting scandals that overstated the conglomerate's operating profits by $420 million in the past several years. A former prosecutor will head the third-party probe.

The irregularities may lead to marking down three years of its profit by about 7 percent. The company hasn't determined how long the third-party investigation will take. Toshiba will not report earnings for this year until the probe is finished. It, however, said that it will disclose any information found in the probe.

Last fiscal year, Toshiba's net income was 51 billion yen.

According to other reports, the investigators are looking at the role that top officials played in the financial irregularities, who allegedly encouraged wrong doings. The investigating committee is expected to report its findings next week.

The investigating committee may recommend a governance overhaul for Toshiba and half of its board is more likely to be replaced. But Toshiba will not be making any move until the third-party investigators are finished with their job. The corporation's shares dropped by 2.6 percent last Thursday.

The Toshiba scandal could also mean that Japan Inc's campaign to improve corporate governance is still in its early stages despite the support given by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.