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From the start PlayStation boss Kazuo Hirai, has faced his fair share of issues. To make matters worse, earlier today Sony announced it’s $6.4 billion dollar loss for the year. Now, before everyone starts to comment, as hard as it is to believe, it’s not as bad as it seems.
As of March 31st 2012, Sony has reported a loss of $520 billion Yen, about $6.4 billion, for the fiscal year. The thing that most news sources are not reporting is that the money never existed. The accounting behind this figure is a bit complicated and the specifics are not known at this time.
In short, Sony basically had what the United States calls deferred tax assets. These are agreements with the government that would give Sony tax credits at some point in the future. Now these credits are no longer usable. Even though it was only a credited amount, it still returns a loss when Sony is not allowed to cash in on them.
Even though this loss can be explained, things still aren’t all good for Hirai and Sony. The question remains, why isn’t Sony allowed to use these credits?
