Alta Equipment Group Inc. (ALTG), a lift truck and materials handling equipment dealer, says it recently discovered a “multi-year error” that resulted in the company reporting overstated cash flows for years.

Since 2021, Alta has incorrectly included proceeds from the sale of rent-to-rent equipment as operating cash flow rather than investing cash flow

The errors resulted in Alta:

—Overstating operating cash flow $6.6 million, or 27.38% in 2021
—Overstating operating cash flow $7.5 million, or 40.54% in 2022
—Overstating operating cash flow $5.4 million, or 9.24% in 2023

Ultimately, Alta says the misstatement resulted in the understatement of net cash used in operating activities by $3.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, with a corresponding overstatement of net cash used in investing activities, plus:

“Further, in the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the Company recorded an out-of-period adjustment for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and six months ended June 30, 2024 of $1.7 million and $3.2 million, respectively, for this same error.”

Alta’s management concluded the misstatements were not material to the prior periods.

The company’s Chairman & CEO Ryan Greenawalt received bonuses totaling nearly $6 million during the three years Alta reported inflated operating cash flow.