New OfficeMax CFO resigns

After just two months on the job, Brian Anderson, the chief financial officer of OfficeMax, resigned Wednesday, less than a month after the company announced that it had uncovered improprieties in the way it accounted for rebates from a large supplier. Analysts said the resignation was voluntary.

OfficeMax also said Wednesday that it would delay the release of its fourth-quarter earnings, scheduled for Jan. 20, and that it expected to complete an internal inquiry into its accounting by the third week of February. The company has also said it would delay a planned buyback of about $800 million of its stock.

OfficeMax, based in Itasca, Ill., said an internal investigation has already confirmed that employees fabricated supporting documentation for about $3.3 million in rebates charged to a vendor in 2003 and 2004. The company would not identify the vendor but said that four OfficeMax employees had been fired as a result of the investigation so far.

Gary Peterson, the president of OfficeMax's retail division, resigned last week. OfficeMax warned investors last month that its fourth-quarter sales and earnings would be disappointing, and most analysts said Peterson's departure was related to sluggish retail sales rather than accounting issues.

Still, "they really look like they're cleaning house, trying to start with a fresh slate," said Michael Souers, a specialty retail analyst at Standard & Poor's, who has a "hold" recommendation on OfficeMax stock.

Anderson will be replaced on an interim basis by Theodore Crumley, the company's former chief financial officer and a 34-year veteran of the Boise Cascade Corp., until recently OfficeMax's parent company. Neither he nor Anderson could be reached Wednesday.

Investors took a dim view of the latest news and sent OfficeMax shares down $1.42, or 4.7 percent, to close at $28.88.

"It's more than a little disconcerting," Souers said. "They're delaying the share repurchases, there may be more negative findings — they've really lost credibility on the Street."

The accounting problems come just as OfficeMax, which had sales of $6.6 billion for the first nine months of 2004, seemed to be finding its niche in the office supply retail area that is currently dominated by Staples.

OfficeMax has been struggling to do that since 2003, when it was acquired by Boise Cascade. Last July, Boise Cascade sold its paper-making assets and adopted the OfficeMax name. It held onto Boise Office Solutions, a direct-sales distribution business, and made Chris Milliken, the unit's chief executive, the head of OfficeMax.