A Macy’s employee is being accused of hiding $151 million in delivery outgoings over a nearly three-year period, but despite this, the retailer avoided any solemn impact on its monetary act, the business says.

In late November, Macy’s announced that an employee “with responsibility for tiny package delivery outlay bookkeeping intentionally made erroneous bookkeeping accrual entries” to hide between $132 million to $154 million of total delivery outgoings from the fourth quarter of 2021 through the financial quarter that ended Nov. 2, according to the department store chain’s press release.

Throughout the alleged conduct, Macy’s recorded about $4.36 billion in delivery outgoings, the business said, adding that there was no indication that “the erroneous bookkeeping accrual entries had any impact on the business’s liquid assets management activities or vendor payments.”

The person accused of hiding millions of dollars is no longer employed with the business, according to the release. Also, an independent investigation has not identified any other employee involved in the alleged misconduct, the retailer said.

Macy’s confirmed in November that the employee’s action, along with early sales figures, drove shares down 3.5%, Reuters reported. This incident occurred months after Macy’s laid off more than 2,000 employees and closed five stores to cut costs and redirect spending to enhance the customer encounter.

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It is ambiguous if the unidentified former employee will face any criminal charges for their alleged actions.

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CEO: bookkeeping errors not done for ‘personal earnings’

During an returns call on Wednesday, Macy’s Chairman and CEO Tony Spring said the investigation found the employee “acted alone and did not pursue these acts for personal earnings.”

A divide unidentified employee told investigators the alleged mismanagement began after a mistake was made in bookkeeping for tiny parcel delivery outgoings, which prompted the accused person to make intentional errors to hide the mistake, sources familiar with the investigation told NBC information.

According to Macy’s Dec. 11 regulatory filing, the business has begun to implement changes aimed at improving its “internal control over monetary reporting and to remediate material weakness.” One of the changes includes better re-evaluating employees’ ability to intentionally bypass established business procedures and policies for delivery outgoings and sure other non-merchandise outgoings, the filing reads.

Macy’s: ‘The errors identified did not impact net sales’

The former employee’s alleged bookkeeping errors affected the first half of financial 2024 by $9 million, but this was adjusted in total during the third quarter of 2024, according to the regulatory filing.

After the investigation, Macy’s “evaluated the errors” and determined the impact of the person’s alleged actions did not affect the business’s “operations or monetary position for any historical annual or interim period,” the filing reads.

“Specifically, the errors identified did not impact net sales which the business believes is a key monetary metric of the users of the monetary statements and do not impact trends in profitability or key monetary statement operating metrics,” according to the filing.

“The errors also did not impact the business’s liquid assets management activities or vendor payments, net liquid assets flows from operating activities or the business’s regulatory adherence with its obligation covenants.”

To correct the errors, Macy’s will adjust prior period monetary statements, the filing reads.

The business said it would record a packed-year estimated delivery outlay impact of $79 million and also cut its annual returns approximate – reducing annual adjusted returns per distribute of $2.25 to $2.50, compared with prior expectation of $2.34 to $2.69.

Shares of the business fell more than 10% on Wednesday but were down just 1.4% near the economy’s close as it ended the market activity day at $16.58 per distribute. Shares are down about 16% for the year.

Contributing: Reuters