Japan Cuts Investor Access With Less Frequent Corporate Reports

Japanese companies won’t need to produce auditable securities reports as frequently starting in April, prompting concern that regulators will have a harder time finding and penalizing businesses that provide faulty financial information.

Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act requires publicly listed companies to produce details on their business, risks they face, and measures such as sales and cash flow in reports that are subject to an audit firm’s review. Those reports to the Financial Services Agency, which oversees Japan’s banking, securities and insurance sectors, have been mandated on a quarterly basis since 2008. But in November 2023, Japan’s parliament passed ...