With just two weeks until Christmas, Macy’s has been operating under a cloud.

It lifted, in part, when the retailer on Wednesday gave more details about how an employee had hidden more than $150 million in expenses over the past few years. The company said the effect was not “material,” but it had to revise its previous accounts and lower its forecast for profits this year. That was unwelcome news as it enters the most important selling season.

Macy’s said in a filing that a single employee, who is no longer with the company, “intentionally made erroneous accounting entries and falsified underlying documentation, to understate delivery expenses” from late 2021 through the third quarter of this year. On a call with analysts, Adrian Mitchell, Macy’s finance chief, said the error was not made for personal financial gain.

“This was not theft,” he said. “There was no impact to revenues, and there was no impact to cash or inventories as all vendors were fully paid.” The company said it was taking measures to improve its financial controls.

But concerns still remain about how the retailer will turn around weak sales and fend off activist investors pushing for major changes.

Macy’s slightly raised its full-year forecast for revenue, but still expected a slight decline in comparable sales. After making adjustments for the accounting error, it also cut its forecast for profitability, hitting its already beleaguered stock, which fell 6 percent.

Macy’s said its operating income last quarter fell 23 percent from the previous year. Inventory increased, a sign of adding new merchandise that the company hoped to sell as it prepared for its biggest quarter of the year.

The New York Times