For the past three years, a Macy's employee hid over $100 million in delivery expenses from the company.
Macy's was scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, but said in a press release on Monday that it has decided to postpone the publication and accompanying conference call until December 11 to complete an independent investigation into the matter.
In a statement, Macy's said the employee handled accounting for small package delivery expenses and “intentionally” made incorrect accounting entries for delivery expenses spanning the fourth quarter of 2021 through Nov. 2, 2024. The errors totaled $132 million. dollars up to $154 million while overall delivery costs were about $4.36 billion.
“At Macy's, Inc., we promote a culture of ethical behavior,” said Tony Spring, chairman and CEO. “While we work diligently to complete the investigation as quickly as possible and ensure this matter is handled appropriately, our colleagues across the company are focused on serving our customers and implementing our strategy for a happy holiday season.”
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It is unclear at this time what the employee's motives were for these errors, but Macy's stated that the person's actions did not affect payments to vendors and did not involve other staff members. The employee is no longer with the company, and Macy's did not say when they left the position.
Macy's store in Manhattan. Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Macy's said it discovered the errors while preparing its financial statement for the quarter ending Nov. 2. He discovered who the employee was through an independent investigation and forensic analysis.
However, Macy's on Monday reported preliminary financial results for the third quarter of 2024. The company as a whole, including Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury, saw net sales fall 2.4% to about $4.7 billion compared to the third quarter of 2023.
Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury individually saw sales increase 1.4% and 3.2%, respectively, while Macy's faced sales that fell 3.1% compared to the same period last year.