Advance Create booked ¥8bn of ad revenue early and fed its auditors scripted answers

Advance Create (TSE Prime: 8798) runs Hoken Ichiba, one of Japan's largest insurance comparison sites, and an Osaka ad agency of the same name that sells placements on it to insurers. In May 2026 it formed a third-party committee over irregular accounting in those ad transactions. Its report, published on August 4, 2026, found officers had booked ad payments from insurers in full before any ads ran, from at least December 2018 — about ¥8bn of improper accounting over seven years, ¥7.5bn of it revenue recognised ahead of delivery between December 2018 and September 2025.

The scheme survived audits through coordination. Sakura Bridge, the auditor, had flagged the gap between booking dates and actual placement periods as early as 2020 and later took confirmations directly to insurers. Advance Create officers then arranged answers in advance: insurers were asked to reply that there was 'no discrepancy', some were emailed draft wording, and an Excel file summarising the agreed answers was found during the investigation.

The committee did not certify that founder-president Hamada ordered the fraud, but concluded it thrived in a corporate culture that treated him as 'an absolute presence'. On August 13 the company announced he would step down as president after the December 2026 shareholders' meeting — while remaining a board member — and the Financial Services Agency has begun interviewing the insurers, about ten of which are suspected of helping conceal the scheme.

About ¥8bn of improper accounting at the ad arm from December 2018, ¥7.5bn of it revenue booked before ads ran; quarterly results delayed; FSA now probing 10 insurers.

Officers needed to hit performance targets, so ad payments were recognised as revenue in a lump sum before the placements ever ran.

The scheme defeated external audit because the counterparties who should have exposed it — the insurers — had been enlisted to confirm the false numbers.

A culture that treated the founder as 'an absolute presence', in the committee's words, meant nobody inside could stop a practice that anyone could see was wrong.

Earlier warnings stayed isolated: the auditor's 2020 doubts and a 2024 restatement of commission revenue were handled as one-off cleanups, not read as evidence of a deeper pattern.

When revenue recognition depends on counterparties, auditors must hear from those counterparties independently. A vendor who emails customers the audit answers will always pass its own test.

The committee report was published on August 4, 2026, with parts withheld for privacy. Hamada's exit as president was announced on August 13, effective after the December 2026 AGM; the company said he stays on the board to minimise business-continuity risk. Quarterly results were delayed and the semi-annual report deadline extended. The FSA has begun interviewing insurers that traded with the ad arm; Toyokeizai reported about ten are suspected of coordinating answers. The company is implementing the committee's preventive recommendations.