Macy's says staffer hid up to $154m in delivery expenses

(Sharecast News) - US retail store chain Macy's has been forced to delay publication of its third-quarter results, after an employee hid up to $154m in delivery expenses, while preliminary results showed sales missed expectations. The company on Monday said a single employee "intentionally made erroneous accounting accrual entries" to hide about $132m - $154m of cumulative delivery expenses from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of 2024.

Macy's had recorded about $4.36bn as delivery expenses in this period. It said the employee was no longer with the company.

It said there was no indication that the accounting error had any impact on the cash management activities or vendor payments. Shares of the company were down 3% in premarket trading.

Macy's expects to report its full third-quarter financial results by December 11.

"While we work diligently to complete the investigation as soon as practicable and ensure this matter is handled appropriately, our colleagues across the company are focused on serving our customers and executing our strategy for a successful holiday season," said Macy's chief executive Tony Spring.

According to the preliminary results, net sales fell 2.4% to $4.74bn compared to analysts' average estimate of $4.77bn, as deep discounts failed to improve customer footfall.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com