Steinhoff's CFO, Ben la Grange, has stepped down from the South African company's board, reportedly to "focus on the preservation and procurement of liquidity in the group, in addition to the finalisation of the company’s audited 2017 consolidated financial statements and comparative statements".
It has been revealed that financial irregularities at the company stretch back to earlier than 2015, promoting the need to restate a number of its accounts.
Philip Dieperink will replace Ben as acting CFO, pending formal appointment to the board. Philip has been with the group in various CFO positions since 2001, and will remain as the CFO of Steinhoff UK.
Steinhoff also intends to contract an external independent debt restructuring expert to assist with these matters.
The change is the latest in series of personnel shuffles that have taken place at Steinhoff since the financial irregularities came to light last month. On 19th December, Danie van der Merwe was appointed the group's acting CEO, while Alexandre Nodale was nominated as Deputy CEO, and Louis Du Preez as commercial director.
