Y Ventures financial controller resigns but will assist in misstatement probe

THE financial controller of Y Ventures has resigned to pursue other career opportunities, but she will continue to assist in the ongoing independent review to assess lapses in the Catalist-listed e-commerce startup's internal controls, the group said on Sunday.

In January last year, Y Ventures announced that it had mistakenly overstated its net profit by S$1.3 million in the first half of 2018, and was in fact loss-making. Following queries from Singapore Exchange Regulation, Deloitte and Touche Enterprise Risk Services was hired to scrutinise the "adequacy and effectiveness" of Y Ventures' internal controls for the financial period of Jan 1, 2014 to Dec 31, 2018.

Y Ventures said in an exchange filing on Sunday: "Ms Goh (Lay Lan, the financial controller) has confirmed that she is not aware of any concerns with regard to the financial reporting of the company and the ongoing independent review that might have led to her resignation."

Ms Goh was appointed as financial controller in July last year, after Y Ventures' chief financial officer at the time resigned after holding the position for less than a year. Prior to that, Ms Goh had been assisting Y Ventures in its financial and accounting matters as a consultant since April 2019.

Ms Goh is serving her notice period and will step down with effect from May 18. She will be replaced by Lam May Yih, who will assume the post of chief financial officer on May 9. Ms Lam is joining Y Ventures from Falcon Energy Group, where she had been chief financial officer since Feb 2017.

Y Ventures was listed on the Catalist board under the sponsorship of RHT Capital in July 2017.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

As part of the independent review, Deloitte will specify any misstatements in Y Ventures' prior years' financial statements as disclosed in its initial public offering documents as a result of internal control lapses.

The review will also investigate the circumstances and responsible parties involved in the internal control lapses and misstatements, as well as any possible breaches of the listing rules, and either or both of the Companies Act and the Securities and Futures Act.

Y Ventures shares rose 0.2 Singapore cent or 2.94 per cent to S$0.07 on Friday.