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Re: [tlug] (OT) The enigma of Japan



Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
JC Helary writes:

> I think Kerr would have been more credible if he had not singled out > Japan as being peculiarly unique in its way to mess with the > environment, accounting rules, people etc.

Dunno about messing with environment and people, but its accounting
rules *are* unique, and they are uniquely obfuscatory.  Japanese
accountants admit this is so, and I'm told that accounting academia in
Japan is currently about equally divided on whether this is a good
thing or not (the rationale for obfuscatory accounting being that it
prevents good companies in temporary difficulty from becoming targets
of the hagetaka).

Sorry to flog this again so late in the day, but one of the things I do for a "living" is trying to explain to foreign clients and foreign criminal investigators the "unique" differences between Japan and US GAAP. About 90% of all conversations end up at "Yes, it may /look/ like money laundering to you, but it is merely an on ramp for cash to re-enter the international banking system ..."

Which reminds me, I have "strangle the person who started the myth that Japan is basically a cash society" on my to-do list ... but, I don't know who was first in line with that one.

Even in the international arena, the rules that apply to Japan are
different from *all* other coutnries: Japan is the only nation whose
banks are permitted by the Bank for International Settlements to count
shares in joint-stock corporations (and some other instruments) in
their capital adequacy levels.

It is the "some other instruments" that can cause hours, if not weeks or years, of fun for forensic accountants and prosecutors in foreign jurisdictions. I know several Japanese gentlemen who have built large, comfortable houses and have sent their children to exclusive schools by spending their entire careers defending one specific type of bearer note or bond ...

--
CL




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