Two former executives of Sigma Pharmaceuticals have been fined but avoided immediate jail time for falsifying company accounts.

Former chief executive Elmo de Alwis and former chief financial officer Mark Smith were both sentenced to a year in prison on each of two charges.

They were hit with another nine-month sentence on each of two charges of falsifying company documents.

Sigma is the owner of Amcal pharmacies and operates as a pharmaceutical wholesaler as well.

De Alwis and Smith organised for the purchase of wholesale drugs by Sigma at inflated prices.

They then returned the money and used it to inflate the bottom line.

It meant that Sigma's income was overstated by more than $15 million in 2010, and its after-tax profit was swollen to the tune of $9 million.

The judge in the case allowed the pair to be released on a good behaviour bond, and fined them $25,000.