The board of WANdisco has approached its former CEO and CFO requesting repayment of performance bonuses.
A WANdisco spokesperson told B&F: “In line with shareholder sentiment, and as simply the right thing to do, the Board of WANdisco confirms that it has written to former executives of the Company requesting that bonuses paid for FY 2022 are returned. It is clear that the bonuses paid are significantly at odds with the realities the Company has faced.”
The replication biz, according to filings, discovered in early 2023 that an as-yet-unnamed single senior sales rep had grossly inflated their 2022 sales, leading the company to erroneously report sales of $24 million instead of the actual $9.7 million. Sales bookings of $127 million turned out to be $11.4 million. WANdisco then paid its CEO and CFO bonus awards based on these inaccuraries. It also expanded operations to handle the purported increased business volume. However, reality struck when auditors were unable to reconcile the reported customer orders with the real ones.
CEO Dave Richards and CFO Erik Miller subsequently resigned. WANdisco was suspended from the stock market and interim executive roles were filled. The company also commenced a forensic accounting investigation and laid off some staff.
Last month WANdisco managed to secure fresh capital from shareholders just before its cash reserves depleted. The company has since been reinstated to the stock market under a new, permanent leadership team.
The 2022 annual report revealed that Richards and Miller had received bonuses of $588,000 and $244,000 respectively, on top of their salaries of $514,000 and $269,000. The report indicated that these bonuses were awarded “based on the achievement of corporate financial performance measures, including revenue and overheads targets.”
We have asked Richards and Miller to comment.
