1. Accounting (Source: Keiei Zaimu Magazine)
The headquarters for Japan’s Economic Revitalization agency in the Liberal Democratic Party set it as one of the most important political themes “to become the most entrepreneurial country in Asia” and they included “permission for a one-time amortization of Goodwill” within it. On that point, they opined that “Japanese companies are at a disadvantage in M&A” because there is a difference in accounting methods for Goodwill between J-GAAP and IFRS or US GAAP. Consequently, they are requesting Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) to “either consider classifying non-depreciable assets as Goodwill in following IFRS or to permit a one-time amortization of Goodwill and record it as an extraordinary loss,” and so on.
According to the current Japanese accounting standards, Goodwill is regularly amortized within 20 years. On the other hand, in IFRS and US GAAP, Goodwill in non-depreciable assets and their value is annually evaluated by Testing for Goodwill Impairment. It is said that Japanese companies are disadvantaged because “the amortization of Goodwill decreases their profit” when compared with other companies internationally. However, as Goodwill is often deducted by businesses on a practical level, specialists are divided in their opinion on the accounting of Goodwill.
2. Taxation (Source: “Zeimu Tsushin Magazine”)
In May 2013, the National Tax Agency (NTA) announced that they received from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) information obtained by the latter agency about entities located in so-called tax haven countries and areas. Specifically, it is about offshore structures in Singapore, BVI, the Cayman Islands, etc. used by the wealthy, including lawyers, accountants, and advisors. In keeping with exchange of information agreements with tax haven countries, the NTA recently reached a basic accord on Tax Information Exchange with Liechtenstein last December, and with Macau and BVI last April.
3. This Week’s Words of Wisdom (Source: Knowledge of Words of Wisdom, Knowledge of Life)
When you make a mistake caused by blindly believing what your people say without verifying their information yourself, do not blame your staff and take it out on them because of your own carelessness.
(10 directions of managerial level, Uniden Corporation)
Beside the above, comprehensive descriptions of useful attitudes that managers should know are included in the 10 directions of managerial level from Uniden Corporation. It is important to put them in writing and repeat them. Managers also need to make an effort to learn them.