Chemicals manufacturer Chemours said that an internal review found that its top three executives, who were placed on administrative leave last week, had violated the firm’s code of ethics, particularly regarding financial disclosures.

The firm, which placed its CFO, CEO and Financial Controller on leave in late-February, informed that the three executives worked to delay payments to certain vendors that were due in the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024. They had also attempted to accelerate the collection of certain receivables into Q4 2023, which were only due in Q1 2024.

“The Audit Committee found that these individuals engaged in these efforts in part to meet free cash flow targets that the Company had communicated publicly, and which also would be part of a key metric for determining incentive compensation applicable to executive officers. As noted above, there was a lack of transparency with the Company’s Board of Directors by the members of senior management who were placed on administrative leave with respect to these actions,” Chemours said in a press statement.

The Audit Committee review also determined that similar actions, though to a lesser extent, were taken in the fourth quarter of 2022, resulting in a significant increase in these cash flow measures for the quarter ended December 31, 2022, and a decrease in these measures in the first quarter of 2023, the release adds.

According to the company, as previously disclosed, as of December 31, 2023, the company’s cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents totalled approximately US$ 1.8 billion, of which US $1.2 billion was unrestricted.

The company continues to work on assessing the net impact on cash flow measures of the working capital timing actions, which had the effect of significantly increasing the cash flow measures, including free cash flow, for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, with a corresponding anticipated decrease in these measures in the first quarter of 2024.