Macy’s is demanding its executives return bonuses they received last year that were linked to an accounting scandal caused by a rogue employee, the company said in a filing on Monday.
The department store overpaid an undisclosed number of executives by $609,613 before it discovered that an employee had concealed as much as $154 million in delivery expenses over the past few years – a sum that artificially inflated the executives’ pay.
The employees received their bonuses a year ago and the retailer has already recovered $257,520 of the funds, according to the securities filing.
The company is still seeking to “recover the remaining amount [$352,093] of the erroneously awarded compensation from the covered officers in accordance with the clawback policy during fiscal 2025,” according a Securities Exchange Commission filing.
Macy’s declined to comment.
Macy’s did not identify the executives who received the funds.
In December, Macy’s said its investigation found that a rogue employee hid the expenses to cover up a bookkeeping mistake and wasn’t motivated by personal or financial gain.
News of the accounting coverup in late November delayed the company’s quarterly earnings report and sent its shares tumbling.
The employee, who was not identified, was fired.
The ex-employee hid delivery expenses over a three-year period, intentionally making “erroneous accounting entries and [falsifying] underlying documentation, to understate delivery expenses,” the company said last year.
The employee “acted alone and did not pursue these acts for personal gains,” Macy’s CEO Tony Spring told analysts on a conference call after the fraud was discovered.
The clawback comes as Macy’s is closing 150 underperforming stores by 2027. Last month, its guidance for sales and profits for the year fell short of Wall Street’s expectations as the largest department store in the world pointed to inflation and tariff uncertainty.
