Earlier today, Macy’s announced that an employee was “responsible for so many accounting irregularities that the company was forced to delay its quarterly earnings report” (CNN Business). The report was set to be released tomorrow and will be released on December 11.
In the news release, Macy’s stated that an investigation had been completed due to issues with delivery expenses found during Macy’s preparation for its third-quarter results. As of now, the preliminary third-quarter results for this year have been released.
The employee is no longer part of the company, as it has yet to be confirmed when the employee was let go or left. It is not yet clear why the employee had hidden expenses. Still, it was said that “Macy’s found that the errors were significant enough to delay reporting its full quarterly earnings until December 11” (CNN Business).
“The company found through an independent investigation that one employee who handled small package delivery expense accounting made erroneous entries to hide about $132 million to $154 million in delivery expenses from the fourth quarter of 2021 through this year’s fiscal third quarter. The company said it had about $4.36 billion in delivery expenses during that time” (CNBC).
This has come at a time when the market is dropping, with companies like Target even seeing low numbers. Their stock dropped a whopping 21% this year. Macy’s has joined the merchandise store, with its stock dropping 20% this year.
Macy’s CEO Tony Spring has expressed that Macy’s is looking for business as usual; in a statement, he stated, “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” (FOX Business). With the holiday season around the corner, Macy’s is looking to make this year festive season count even with, “nearly a third” (CNBC), of their locations planning to close by 2027.
Speaking of the holiday season, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is back again for the 98th time in New York City. Cold weather looks to stop the parade, but the parade will still go on.
