Macy's probe reveals employee hid $151 million in delivery expenses

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Retail giant Macy's said on Wednesday said it concluded an independent investigation into an employee who purposely hid $151 million in delivery expenses over nearly three years, forcing it to revise its historical financial reports.

The revelation, first announced by Macy's last month, caused the iconic department store to delay its third-quarter report as shares tumbled in the process.

"We've concluded our investigation and are strengthening our existing controls and implementing additional changes designed to prevent this from happening again and demonstrate our strong commitment to corporate governance," Macy's CEO Tony Spring said in a statement.

"Our focus is on ensuring that ethical conduct and integrity are upheld across the entire organization.

Macy's said in an earlier statement that a single employee overseeing small package delivery expense accounting "made erroneous accounting accrual entities," enabling them to hide millions from the fourth quarter of 2021 through Nov. 2, when it drew the suspicions of auditors.

Macy's said the employee, who told the investigators they made the errors to hide an initial accounting mistake that drew, is no longer with the company.

In the report, Macy's increased its full-year sales forecast, but it continued to predict a decline in sales from the previous year. The company predicts sales from $22.3billion to 22.5 billion by the end of its fiscal year, compared to $23.09 billion in 2023