ASX grills Smiles on CFO saga

EMBATTLED Gold Coast dental group Smiles Inclusive took four days to tell shareholders its chief finance officer had resigned – and another half-week to realise its cashflow had dropped by $1.1 million.

The admissions are contained within a response to questions the ASX put to the company this month and released on Monday.

ASX says Smiles’ joint-venture partners were told on May 12 that CFO Emma Corcoran had resigned. It was officially announced three days later on May 15.

In response, Smiles said Ms Corcoran advised of her resignation on May 11, but it had not told ASX until May 15 because that was her “final formal day”.

“The company (SIL) received Ms Corcoran’s resignation by email on 11 May 2020,” the Smiles statement reads. “Ms Corcoran continued to work for SIL after this date to assist with the half-year audit review and other handover matters.

“Her final formal day was 15 May 2020.”

Smiles said the resignation was voluntary.

The Smiles letter to the ASX reiterated the company position that it only became aware of the errors in its past cashflow reports on May 18.

Smiles lodged its March cashflow report on June 1, showing positive cashflow of $500,000.

However, the company later released a revised cashflow report showing it actually had negative cashflow of $614,000 – a difference of more than $1.1 million.

The company said the mistakes were a result of “transposition and flow through errors” made when the original reports were lodged.

The Bulletin has made multiple attempts to contact Ms Corcoran, but she has declined to comment.

The Bulletin is not suggesting Ms Corcoran is responsible for the errors in the March cashflow report.