Fuji Xerox president vows NZ presence

Top executives from Fuji Xerox in Japan are in New Zealand to stress the company’s commitment to the local market.

A broad list of countermeasures has also been detailed to local staff as the office products firm looks to rebound from an ‘‘inappropriate accounting’’ scandal that caused losses of more than $350 million.

Last month, an 89-page independent report detailed how an accounting firm had reason to suspect fraud had occurred at Fuji Xerox New Zealand (FXNZ) and said a former managing director was paid more than $1m to leave.

It found inappropriate accounting had caused losses to shareholder equity at the parent company worth $230m in New Zealand, and $121m in Australia (FXA), after revenue was overstated by about $473m.

Yesterday, Fuji Xerox president and representative director Hiroshi Kurihara met with staff in Auckland.

He was there, along with the company’s Asia-Pacific operations president Isamu Sekine, AsiaPacific operations senior general manager marketing Takayuki Togo, and local chief operating officer Peter Thomas.

Kurihara wanted to reaffirm the Japan-based parent company’s commitment to the New Zealand market. ‘‘I am confident Fuji Xerox New Zealand is well positioned at the forefront of the document management industry and remains a valued partner to our many customers,’’ he said.

Yesterday, Kurihara updated staff on the countermeasures the company had taken since the independent investigation was established by Fujifilm.

These included appropriate accounting practices for contracts that had caused the issues, a strengthening of the finance and audit arms, strict new rules regarding performance evaluation and incentives, as well as the reorganisation of lease business units.

Compliance education, independence of audits, a stronger risk management structure, improved whistleblower systems, and better performance measures had also been introduced.