It took one phone call from auditor Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to convince Daiei Inc. to accept help from the state-backed Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan and end a lengthy standoff between the retailer and major banks.
The auditor told Daiei on Wednesday that it would not approve Daiei's April-September earnings report, due out Friday, because the company was facing threats from creditor banks to stop extending financial assistance.
But why it took so long to figure out the fate of the giant retailer is not as easy to unravel.