Auditors Cleared in Olympus Investigation

AUDITORS KPMG and Ernst & Young have been cleared of any responsibility for the accounting black hole discovered at Olympus.

A report by Olympus' lawyers absolved the Japanese firms of blame, but claimed that current and former individual accountants - providing oversight within the business - were responsible for 8.3bn Yen (£70.4m) in damages, reported Reuters.

The technology business used accounting to hide the losses over a 13-year period. KPMG's Japanese firm KPMG AZSA was auditor until 2009, replaced by Ernst & Young ShinNihon.