MN Med-Tech Co. Puts CFO On Leave Amid Internal Review

Uroplasty, which is investigating issues pertaining to how it paid sales commissions, put Mahedi Jiwani on administrative leave and delayed the filing of its annual report.

A publicly traded medical device manufacturer based in Minnetonka recently announced that it has put its chief financial officer (CFO) on administrative leave as it reviews issues related to employee payments and internal control over financial reporting.

Uroplasty, Inc.—which manufactures and markets products for treating bladder dysfunction and pelvic disorders—also said that it has delayed the filing of its financial report for the fiscal year that ended March 31. The move comes after the company announced in a press release that its loss for the year totaled $3.3 million.

Uroplasty said Friday that, while reviewing employee expense reimbursements, it initially discovered “limited issues” pertaining to its internal controls over the process of approving employee expense reimbursements.

But it subsequently “uncovered issues in internal control related to the recognition of orders and the payment of sales commissions at the end of fiscal quarters” and determined that it should conduct further investigation, the company said.

Based on the facts it has currently uncovered, Uroplasty said it does not believe that the issues will result in a “material revision” of its previously released earnings statements.

“However, the review of internal control issues has not been completed and the company is unable at this time to fully assess the potential impact on its financial statements,” Uroplasty said.

The review is being led by the audit committee of Uroplasty’s board of directors, “with the assistance of independent advisors,” the company said.

CFO Mahedi Jiwani has been “placed on administrative leave and relieved of duties” until the issues are resolved, the company wrote in a regulatory filing.

Shares of Uroplasty’s stock slid about 10.5 percent Friday after the company disclosed its internal review, closing at $2.22 per share. Shares were trading up about 0.5 percent late Monday morning at $2.23.

Uroplasty’s former president and CEO, David Kaysen, resigned in April. Robert Kill, who has served on Uroplasty’s board of directors since 2010, is currently serving as interim CEO.

Uroplasty is among Minnesota’s 15 largest publicly traded medical device manufacturers based on revenue, which totaled $20.6 million during the fiscal year that ended in March 2012. Prior to announcing that it would delay the official filing of its latest annual report, Uroplasty said in a press release that revenue for its most recently completed fiscal year totaled $22.4 million.