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

[CL <az.4tlug@example.com>]

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