Sanyo's Chairwoman Steps Down

Ms Nonaka, one of the most senior businesswomen in Japan and dubbed the country's answer to Carly Fiorina, was appointed chief executive and chairwoman in 2005 in a surprise move.
A former TV news anchor, Ms Nonaka had no hands-on experience in the electronics business or in corporate management.

Sanyo said last night she had resigned for "personal reasons" not directly related to internal disagreements over how the struggling electronics maker should handle its recent accounting problems.

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is probing whether the lossmaking company mis-stated its accounts.

Sanyo has said it could restate historical earnings for a three-year period before Ms Nonaka joined the company. "There have been internal debates as to how we should handle the problem, but her departure is not directly related to these debates," said a Sanyo spokesman at the time. Ms Nonaka could not be reached.

Sanyo revealed the investigation after local media reports suggested the group had exploited a grey area of Japanese accounting to conceal over $1bn of losses accrued in fiscal 2003.
Ms Nonaka's appointment came as a ground-breaking move in a male-dominated industry.
Observers questioned the appointment of an industry outsider with no management experience at a time when turning around the company's finances was critical.

Ms Nonaka soon made a splash with the public presentation of a bold restructuring programme to increase profitability, revive Sanyo's brand and overhaul its corporate culture of autonomous business units.

Critics applauded her verve and ambition, but held out for more detail. The strategy has yet to bear much fruit. The company's financial woes led to a Y300bn ($2.5bn) bail-out in January last year under which it issued preferred shares to Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

The company is plagued by a falling competitiveness. Its main profit-earners, including digital cameras, mobile phones and batteries, have suffered sharp price falls and Sanyo has lost customers to rivals in each category.

During the accounting period under scrutiny, Sanyo accounts were audited by Chuo Aoyama, the accountancy firm punished in the wake of the Kanebo accountancy scandal and which handled the accounts of Nikko Cordial, the brokerage under fire for its accounting.