Nidec unable to obtain auditor’s opinion on fiscal 2025 report by end of October

Motor manufacturer Nidec, mired in an accounting scandal, said Wednesday that it will miss its target of obtaining an audit firm’s “unqualified opinion” on its fiscal 2025 securities report by the end of this month.

Nidec is unable to complete procedures sought by audit firm PwC Japan Group, including confirming whether its executives or employees were involved in irregularities.

The company plans to submit an internal control-related document to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday, despite the lack of an unqualified opinion for its securities report for the year that ended in March. An unqualified opinion is given when corporate financial statements are produced appropriately based on accounting standards.

Based on the internal control document, the TSE will decide whether to keep Nidec listed on the exchange or delist it. The process for making the decision is expected to take several months.

In September 2025, Nidec said it had found evidence of systemic accounting problems. The following month, the TSE designated the company’s stock as an issue on special alert, an action that is taken against a firm with internal control system flaws. The stock exchange urged Nidec to submit an internal control report.

Nidec said it will continue efforts to obtain an unqualified opinion from PwC Japan. It plans to submit a report to the audit company within November.

Nidec said it remains unclear when the auditing process will be completed.

At a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Nidec President Michio Kaida offered an apology over the company’s inability to obtain an unqualified opinion. He vowed to do everything in his power to speed up the process, saying, “We will take necessary steps to resolve challenges.”

A PwC executive who joined the news conference said, “We will conduct the auditing procedures as fast as we can.”

Nidec is considering legal action against former company executives after discovering the value of buybacks of the company’s own shares and dividend payments exceeded statutory limits.

Individual shareholders of Nidec have urged the company to sue former executives.

Outside board director Hiroshi Yoshii said, “To recover losses, we will consider filing lawsuits for a necessary and sufficient amount of compensation after investigating the extent of the impact (of the accounting irregularities) following the end of work to correct the company’s earnings reports.”