More accounting errors delay Toshiba's annual forecast

Toshiba Corporation once again delayed forecasting its yearly financial results due to new accounting errors which stopped the company from drawing a line under Japan's worst corporate scandal in four years.

The giant company was about to post its revenue for the business year that ended in March, however due to newly discovered issues that includes incorrect impairment charges on fixed assets at numerous subsidiaries and improperly times booking of loss provision at a U.S. subsidiary.

The head of Toshiba Corporation said on Monday that the company found a half decade's worth of new accounting problems that forced them to delay the closing of its books, but they do not expect a big effect on its projected results.

"We deeply apologize for the situation we are in yet again, and for the inconvenience and concern we have caused to our stakeholders including shareholders and investors," Chief Executive Masashi Muromachi said before making a deep bow of contrition to a packed, late-night news conference.

The laptops-to nuclear-conglomerate had discovered some 10 new cases of accounting errors dating back to around 2010, although these will not drastically affect Toshiba's forecast for an operating profit of 170 billion yen ($1.40 billion) for the year ended March 31, as told by Chief Executive Masashi Muromachi in a news conference after the company delayed again its book-closing.

That probe found Toshiba had overstated past results by around $1.2 billion over several years, prompting its then-CEO and several other executives to step down last month. Since 2011, it's Japan's largest accounting scandal when Olympus Corp was discovered to be involved in a $1.7 billion scheme to hide two decades of investment losses.

Toshiba said government regulators granted its request to extend and its plan to submit the results by September 7.

The CEO said Toshiba should be able to meet the new deadline for the closure of its books but if not, "I would have to consider taking responsibility, including resignation, if needed."