Shares in the company have crashed over 20% since April.

Toshiba’s chief executive and president, Hisao Tanaka has resigned after the company admitted it has overstated profits for the last six years by 151.8bn Yen ($1.22Bn or £780m).

Current Chairman Masashi Muromachi will be Tanaka’s successor and a further eight board members including the vice-chairman Norio Sasaki have stepped down from their positions in order to allow the company to reform their management structure.

Tanaka stated in his earlier press conference that “We are taking what has happened very seriously and we would like to apologize from our hearts to, starting with the shareholders and to all the stakeholders”.

Toshiba’s accounting nightmare came to light in April when security regulators made an inquiry into the balance sheets of the company. The findings of the investigation will mean that Toshiba will have to re-declare its earnings between the months of April 2008 and March 2014.

The investigation states that the accounting scandal stems from the imposing of unrealistic targets by senior management after the financial crash seven years ago and the corporate culture which legitimised inappropriate accounting practises at the wishes of superiors.

This scandal serves as another blow to global investor confidence in Japan since the scandal of Olympus in 2011 in which the country’s corporate governance practices were similarly undermined.

The future of Toshiba is uncertain as it will face challenges with its customers and partners and the threat of consequent fines. The share price has dropped by 20% since April and continues to drop. The company’s full-year earnings are due to be released on August 31^st.