recording the prior years’ effects of changes in accounting policies  in the income statement where retrospective adjustments to the  financial statements have been incorporated; and (6) exclusion of  minority interests from net income, if included. This standard is  applicable to the equity method of accounting for fiscal years  beginning on or after April 1, 2010 with early adoption permitted for  fiscal years beginning on or after April 1, 2009. When an error in prior period financial statements is discovered,  those statements are restated. This accounting standard and the guidance are applicable to  accounting changes and corrections of prior period errors which  are made from the beginning of the fiscal year that begins on or  after April 1, 2011. Segment Information Disclosures —In March 2008, the ASBJ  revised ASBJ Statement No. 17, “Accounting Standard for Seg- ment Information Disclosures,” and issued ASBJ Guidance No. 20,  “Guidance on Accounting Standard for Segment Information Dis- closures.” Under the standard and guidance, an entity is required to  report financial and descriptive information about its reportable  segments. Reportable segments are operating segments or aggre- gations of operating segments that meet specified criteria. Operat- ing segments are components of an entity about which separate  financial information is available and such information is evaluated  regularly by the chief operating decision maker in deciding how to  allocate resources and in assessing performance. Generally, seg- ment information is required to be reported on the same basis as is  used internally for evaluating operating segment performance and  deciding how to allocate resources to operating segments. This  accounting standard and the guidance are applicable to segment  information disclosures for the fiscal years beginning on or after  April 1, 2010. Asset Retirement Obligations —In March 2008, the ASBJ pub- lished a new accounting standard for asset retirement obligations,  ASBJ Statement No. 18, “Accounting Standard for Asset Retire- ment Obligations,” and ASBJ Guidance No. 21, “Guidance on  Accounting Standard for Asset Retirement Obligations.” Under this  accounting standard, an asset retirement obligation is defined as a  legal obligation imposed either by law or contract that results from  the acquisition, construction, development and the normal opera- tion of a tangible fixed asset and is associated with the retirement  of such tangible fixed asset. The asset retirement obligation is  recognized as the sum of the discounted cash flows required for  the future asset retirement and is recorded in the period in which  the obligation is incurred if a reasonable estimate can be made. If a  reasonable estimate of the asset retirement obligation cannot be  made in the period the asset retirement obligation is incurred, the  liability should be recognized when a reasonable estimate of the  asset retirement obligation can be made. Upon initial recognition of  a liability for an asset retirement obligation, an asset retirement cost  is capitalized by increasing the carrying amount of the related fixed  asset by the amount of the liability. The asset retirement cost is  subsequently allocated to expense through depreciation over the  remaining useful life of the asset. Over time, the liability is accreted  to its present value each period. Any subsequent revisions to the  timing or the amount of the original estimate of undiscounted cash  flows are reflected as an increase or a decrease in the carrying  amount of the liability and the capitalized amount of the related  asset retirement cost. This standard is effective for fiscal years  beginning on or after April 1, 2010 with early adoption permitted for  fiscal years beginning on or before March 31, 2010. Accounting Changes and Error Corrections —In December  2009, ASBJ issued ASBJ Statement No. 24, “Accounting Standard  for Accounting Changes and Error Corrections,” and ASBJ Guid- ance No. 24, “Guidance on Accounting Standard for Accounting  Changes and Error Corrections.” Accounting treatments under this  standard and guidance are as follows: When a new accounting policy is applied with revision of account- ing standards, a new policy is applied retrospectively unless the  revised accounting standards include specific transitional provi- sions. When the revised accounting standards include specific  transitional provisions, an entity shall comply with the specific tran- sitional provisions. When the presentation of financial statements is changed, prior  period financial statements are reclassified in accordance with the  new presentation. (1) Changes in accounting policies (2) Changes in presentation (3) Changes in accounting estimates A change in an accounting estimate is accounted for in the period  of the change if the change affects that period only, and is  accounted for prospectively if the change affects both the period of  the change and future periods. Major Business Plumbing fixtures business *1 denotes subsidiaries of A-S CHINA PLUMBING PRODUCTS Ltd. *2 denotes subsidiaries of CERAMIC SANITARYWARE Pte. Ltd. (1) Names of the companies acquired and their major business (a) Names of the companies acquired, their major businesses,  major reasons for the acquisition, the date of the acquisition,  legal form of the acquisition, names of the companies after the  acquisition, and the ownership ratios acquired, are as follows: Names of the Companies Acquired A-S CHINA PLUMBING PRODUCTS Ltd. A-S CHINA Co., Ltd.* 1 AMERICAN STANDARD JIANGMEN FITTINGS Co., Ltd.* 1 A-S (SHANGHAI) POTTERY Co., Ltd.* 1 A-S (GUANGZHOU) ENAMELWARE Co., Ltd.* 1 HUA MEI SANITARY WARE Co., Ltd.* 1 A-S (TIANJIN) POTTERY Co., Ltd.* 1 AMERICAN STANDARD B&K (THAILAND) PUBLIC Co., Ltd. IDEAL STANDARD (THAILAND) Ltd. CERAMIC SANITARYWARE Pte. Ltd. AMERICAN STANDARD VIETNAM, Inc.* 2 AMERICAN STANDARD KOREA, Inc. PT AMERICAN STANDARD INDONESIA AMERICAN STANDARD PHILIPPINES LIMITED, Co. AMERICAN STANDARD BATH&KITCHEN INDIA Pte. Ltd. JS Group Corporation Annual Report 2010 66 Share Acquisition of Overseas Operating Companies by Inax Corporation 3. Business Combinations (4) Corrections of prior period errors