Murata Manufacturing Names KPMG AZSA as New Auditor Starting June 2026

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has audited Murata Manufacturing since 1968. That relationship, spanning nearly six decades and 89 ordinary general meetings, is ending. Murata plans to appoint KPMG AZSA as its new external auditor in June 2026, replacing Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu after a tenure dating back to 1968.

At a meeting of the Audit and Supervisory Committee held on March 24, 2026, Murata resolved to change its certified public accountant who conducts audit certifications pursuant to Article 193-2, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. KPMG AZSA LLC is set to become Murata's new external auditor following shareholder approval at the 90th Ordinary General Meeting scheduled for June 2026.

The Audit and Supervisory Committee cited the long tenure of current auditor Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC, in place since 1968, and the desire for a fresh audit perspective, while confirming KPMG's independence, expertise and global audit capabilities and noting no disputes or adverse opinions with the outgoing auditor. For a committee that had to run a competitive process, the clean exit matters: a contested auditor departure would have introduced complexity into the transition itself.

The Audit and Supervisory Committee conducted a comparative evaluation based on proposals received from multiple audit firms, including the current auditor, before landing on KPMG AZSA. That process reflects a broader shift in Japanese corporate governance toward periodic auditor review, even where the incumbent relationship is long and uncontested.

The firm inheriting the mandate is no small operation. KPMG AZSA LLC, a member firm of KPMG International, comprises approximately 7,000 people in major cities in Japan, providing audit, other assurance, and advisory services, such as accounting advisory services, internal control services, ESG advisory services, risk, regulatory compliance services, IT advisory service and startup related services. KPMG AZSA LLC was formed in January 2004 with the merger of Asahi & Co. and AZSA & Co.

The depth of KPMG AZSA's leadership on the audit side is illustrated by the career of Takuji Kanai, the firm's Representative Partner and its Head of Audit and Assurance for KPMG Asia Pacific. Kanai joined what was then Asahi & Co. in April 1981, registered as a Certified Public Accountant in March 1984, and spent five years in KPMG AZSA's New York office between 1985 and 1990. He made Partner in August 1996, became Representative Partner in 2001, chaired the firm's Senior Review Board from 2009, and was named Deputy Managing Partner in June 2019. He has held the KPMG Asia Pacific audit and assurance leadership role since April 2016.

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a Japan-based electronics components maker listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market. The company focuses on developing and supplying electronic components and modules used in a wide range of applications across global markets, positioning it as a key player in the electronics and technology supply chain.

For KPMG AZSA professionals who work on or aspire to global manufacturing mandates, the Murata win is a meaningful signal. Murata is not a transition client someone picks up mid-cycle; it is a full-scope audit of a global industrial company with operations across multiple jurisdictions. Winning it through a competitive RFP, after the incumbent had held the relationship since before the moon landing, reflects the kind of client development that shapes practice trajectories at the partner level and defines what KPMG AZSA's audit brand looks like in Tokyo's capital markets for years to come.