TOKYO - Japanese Financial Services Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday urged the audit firm of Toshiba Corp. to fulfill its own accountability to investors.

It is important for the audit firm, Pricewaterhouse Coopers Aarata LLC, to explain why it gave a disclaimer on Toshiba's business performance for April-December last year, Aso told a House of Representatives committee meeting.

On Tuesday, Toshiba released the results for the three quarters without the audit firm's endorsement, including a net loss of 532.5 billion yen. Nuclear business-related losses totaled 716.6 billion yen. (Jiji Press)