JSE-listed communications and advertising company Adcorp has initiated a further investigation into fresh allegations of financial irregularity.

"This investigation is to be conducted by KPMG," it said in a statement on Monday.

It said the new allegations were made by the same people whose complaints brought about the first probe.

The first investigation found allegations of financial irregularity against certain senior staff members were "vicarious and devoid of any evidence of wrong doing," Adcorp said.

On Friday, Adcorp announced that it had suspended its chief financial officer Faunce Burd and five other managers pending a hearing relating to actions leading to a breakdown in relations with some other directors.

Chief executive officer Richard Pike described Burd's allegations as "false and without any foundation whatsoever" and said they would be challenged.

"The plot to besmirch and tarnish the reputation of the company ? even resorting to acts bordering on blackmail and extortion ? stems from a personal vendetta that has been waged between Burd and [chief operating officer] Nelis Swart with the intention of getting the latter dismissed," Pike said.

He said that despite protracted efforts to convince Burd that her allegations were baseless and stemmed from her inability to sometimes grasp the fundamental basis of financial transactions, "she and her cohorts pursued their destructive agenda to impugn the integrity of the company and its leadership."

The board had to reveal to shareholders the facts surrounding Burd's suspension, "so that confidence in the management of the company is reaffirmed".

Pike said Swart had for some time been extremely critical of the performance and tardiness of Burd and her finance department. he claimed that, in response, she and others actively launched a campaign against him and a fellow colleague, Kobus Pienaar.

"It would appear that the disgruntled group operated on the basis that the more people they got to make numerous allegations, the better the chance of getting a dismissal."

Pike said there had been wave after wave of allegations made against Swart and Pienaar which, when systematically disproven, were then substituted by new allegations.

"We are now onto the fifth wave of allegations," he said.

Pike said that as Adcorp chief executive officer he had a responsibility to the more than 2000 people the company employed and a duty to ensure that fairness prevailed.

In response to the allegations of financial irregularity, an independent investigation could find no evidence to support any allegations of financial impropriety, he said.

"I have done my own due diligences in terms of each and every one of these many allegations and am satisfied that there is no merit whatsoever to any of them but will obviously be comforted by the independence of a forensic investigation ordered to be conducted by KPMG."