Macy's chain reveals that an employee hid up to $154 million in expenses

Department store chain Macy's revealed that an employee concealed up to $154 million in expenses through false accounting records for more than three years.

Macy's, which will hold its traditional annual Thanksgiving Day parade later this week in Manhattan, delayed the complete release of third-quarter results in the wake of the disclosure.

Following an independent investigation and special audit, Macy's "the company identified that a single employee with responsibility for small package delivery expense accounting intentionally made erroneous accounting accrual entries to hide approximately $132 to $154 million of cumulative delivery expenses from the fourth quarter of 2021 through fiscal quarter ended November 2, 2024," Macy's said in a press release.

Macy's noted that there is no evidence that the erroneous records affected payments to vendors or the company's cash drawer and that the employee responsible is no longer with the firm.

"The investigation has not identified the involvement of any other employees" in the accounting failures, said the company, which added that the company is delaying the release of its findings until the independent investigation is completed.

Macy's did not immediately respond to AFP's requests on the matter.

The chain, which closed hundreds of stores in recent years due to changes in consumer behavior, said overall sales declined 2.4% to 4.7 billion dollars in the third quarter, according to preliminary data.