Macy’s has postponed the release of its final third-quarter earnings report following the discovery of fraudulent activity involving an employee who allegedly concealed $132 million to $154 million in delivery expenses.
The Investigation Unveiled
The discrepancies surfaced as the company prepared its earnings results for the quarter ending November 2, 2024. Macy’s launched an independent investigation after detecting unusual activity in one of its accrual accounts related to delivery expenses.
According to a statement on Monday, the investigation revealed that a single employee, responsible for small-package delivery expense accounting, had deliberately manipulated accounting accrual entries. These actions concealed millions in delivery expenses incurred from Q4 2021 through Q3 2024.
The Financial Impact
Macy’s reported that it spent $4.36 billion on delivery expenses during this period. Despite the scandal, preliminary earnings results show:
- Sales fell by 2.4% year on year to $4.74 billion.
- Comparable-store sales (including owned and licensed locations open for at least a year) declined 1.3%.
The company plans to release its full earnings report on December 11, 2024.