A former employee of the iconic Macy’s store chain allegedly hid more than $215 million in expenses over three years.
The American company, which was to reveal the financial results of its most recent quarter on Tuesday, decided to postpone the exercise after discovering the disturbing practices of a former employee, CNN reported on Monday.
Macy’s mentions that the individual, whose identity it does not reveal, “intentionally made erroneous accounting entries” to disguise expenses related to small package deliveries. The possible motivations of this former employee were not mentioned either.
Currently, the total bill for these hideouts amounts to $215 million (154 USD). They would have taken place from the last quarter of 2021 to the most recent.
The American retail giant has therefore launched an independent forensic accounting investigation. At this time, the investigation does not suggest the participation of accomplices in this scheme.
Analysis of the file would also suggest that these maneuvers “had no impact on the administration of the company’s finances or on payments to suppliers.”
“At Macy’s, we promote a culture of ethical conduct,” said company CEO Tony Spring.
Despite the postponement of the unveiling of financial results, the company saw its sales fall by 2.4% to 6.57 billion dollars (4.7 billion USD) in the last quarter, we can read in a report preliminary.
