Honda takes $180M quarterly earnings hit due to... fishy seafood dealings?

Huh, who knew....
Honda just slapped itself on the wrist due to some inappropriate activity in a relatively unknown area of its business dealings. The Japanese automaker is involved in the seafood business and, although we're fairly certain it's not working with Matsumura Fishworks, it's active in the shrimp and shellfish trade. The "slap on the wrist" is of the monetary kind, and Honda owes $180 million due to misguided activity.

Employees involved in the seafod trading business are tasked with securing wholesale seafood then reselling it to supermarkets, restaurants and other interested parties. However, Honda had been paying well above market price for some of the transactions then failed to find a buyer for the overly-expensive seafood. To make the books look clear, the traders listed that they returned the purchased items yet then managed to find an interested third party to buy the overflowing inventory.

The resulting $180 million charges are necessary to adjust for a reduced inventory value and to clean up accounts receivable.

Source;
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/01/27/honda-takes-180m-quarterly-earnings-hit-due-to-fishy-seafood/