When I founded Kyocera, I was just a 27-year-old engineer with no management experience. I did not know the first thing about 'accounting.' Yet I was the person everyone looked to for decisions on all kinds of company matters.

On what basis should I make decisions? How should I approach management? These questions put me in a state of anxiety that kept me awake at night. However, on thinking about it, I began to see that the business could not possibly do well if my actions in management were irrational or contrary to basic morality and ethics. I therefore decided to make all decisions in the light of fundamental rules and principles. I would strive to confront each new issue that arose from a thorough understanding. In determining to take this path in all aspects of management, I began to reconsider what management should be. I deliberated constantly about the essence of management.

The exact same thinking applied to accounting. I was constantly thinking about the essence of accounting. Whenever my expectations differed from the numbers in the actual accounts, I immediately had the person in charge of accounting give me a detailed explanation. I did not want a textbook-style reply. I wanted answers relating to the true nature of accounting and the principles it reflected. The person in charge of accounting was often unable to give that kind of response, so I just kept asking questions until I was convinced.

In the process of Kyocera's growth and development, I encountered continual problems relating to accounting and taxation. I tackled each one directly, based on my personal management philosophy. Eventually, I arrived at a way of thinking that I considered reasonable, concerning the state of accounting and finances, the ideal form of management accounting, and so on. That way of thinking permeated the company alongside the management control system I began to refer to as Amoeba Management.

Kyocera Management Studies Course at Kagoshima University, Faculty of Engineering (December 11, 2002 & July 7, 2003) Summary