Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka remained cautious Tuesday about a Liberal Democratic Party proposal to freeze the mark-to-market accounting method on corporate securities holdings to limit the damage from stock market falls.
"We should place importance on an accounting practice generally considered fair and adequate," he said.
"We want to see what the experts say," Takenaka said, indicating he wants to respect the conclusion of the ongoing discussion at the Financial Accounting Standards Foundation, a private accounting body.
Taro Aso, chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council, and Hideyuki Aizawa, chairman of the LDP's ad hoc committee in charge of measures to fight deflation, made the proposal Monday in a meeting with Takenaka.
In an attempt to limit damage on corporate earnings from falls in share prices, Aso and other LDP lawmakers are preparing a bill designed to temporarily suspend the mark-to-market accounting method, under which companies must book their cross-held shares at market value.
According to Aizawa, Takenaka called for patience, saying he wants to wait for the Financial Accounting Standards Foundation's conclusion.
However, Aizawa said he and Aso urged Takenaka to make a decision as quickly as possible to make it easier for companies closing their books for the business year that ended March 31.