The Auditor

The setting is Japan. After the bursting of its asset-inflated "bubble economy" in 1990, the country is suffering an economic hangover. Foreign capital is flooding in, and great transformations are underway. Accountant Kenji Wakasugi's auditing firm is divided into two camps. The "doves" favor overlooking what are called "window-dressed accounts" so as to allow businesses to recover their financial footing. The "hawks" won't ignore the slightest infraction, holding that inferior firms should be allowed to perish. Wakasugi himself believes in strict accounting practices -- until he is brought face-to-face with the distress and even deaths of employees of companies forced to go under. This is a fictionalized report from the economic front lines, replete with human interest.