Auditors have different rules for banks' deferred tax assets

Japan's four major auditing firms use different guidelines and standards to calculate banks' deferred tax assets, tax credits they might get in the future that they count as part of their capital today, according to a Kyodo News survey.

Deferred tax assets came under the spotlight when the government decided to infuse 1.96 trillion yen in taxpayer money into Resona Bank following its capital ratio's sharp drop below the required 4 percent.

Asahi & Co. has taken a stricter stance on the issue of how much deferred tax assets could be counted as capital, while the remaining three auditing firms -- Shin Nihon & Co., Tohmatsu & Co. and ChuoAoyama Audit Corp. -- are more generous, according to the Kyodo survey, which was released Sunday.