Workers process beef at the Tyson Foods plant in Pasco, Wash.

A beef supplier misrepresented the number of cattle it bought on behalf of Tyson Foods, causing the meat processor to overstate its year-ending live cattle inventory by $285 million, the company reported Monday.

In a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, the Arkansas-based company did not name the supplier or the state where the shortfall occurred. The company did not immediately respond Tuesday to requests for comment.

Tyson stated to the SEC that it was continuing to investigate what it called a “misappropriation of company funds by the supplier” and that it will seek restitution.

The unidentified supplier provided about 2% of the company’s beef for the past four fiscal years, Tyson said.

Tyson has meat processing plants across the country, including a beef plant in the Pasco area in Eastern Washington.

The company doesn’t own or operate feedlots, but employs buyers in beef-producing areas who visit independent feed yards and public auctions and buy cattle for plants in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and South. The company has 12 beef processing plants.

Tyson reported Oct. 3 year-end inventories of $4.1 billon and revised that figure down Monday by $285 million, or 6.9%, to roughly $3.8 billion.

The company did not report how it discovered the misrepresentations. Tyson managers and outside advisers identified a “weakness” in the company’s financial reporting, according to the SEC filing.

Tyson said it has taken steps to ensure live cattle are counted accurately.