Sony and Pioneer, the Japanese consumer electronics groups, both today joined a growing list of companies having to delay their results to comply with onerous new US accounting rules.

The two companies said that they would have to delay publication by a few weeks to give themselves more time for the paperwork needed under the Sarbanes-Oxley rules that come into force for foreign companies this business year for the first time.

Shares in both companies fell on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Sony, which has been hit by delays to the Playstation 3, its new gaming console, and by an embarrassing recall of its laptop battery parts, said that results would be reported on May 16 instead of about the end of April.

“We have a lot more paperwork to do in order to deal with the rules,” said Sony's spokeswoman, Mami Imada.

Pioneer, which makes plasma TVs and car eletronics and is facing fierce competition in the market for flat screen TVs, said that its delay would be similar. Although it is not listed in the US, it compiles results based on US accounting standards.

Two other Japanese electronics groups, Hitachi and NEC, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq respectively, have both also said in recent weeks they will have to postpone their results.

NEC is dogged by its own accounting problems since it is having to recalculate earnings after an independent auditor demanded more details.

The Sarbanes-Oxley act was introduced by US Congress to combat corporate fraud in the wake of accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom but it has run into criticism from some US business groups who say that it is too burdensome and is driving foreign listing from New York to London.

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