Days before Macy's is set to take center stage for its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, the department store chain this week revealed a years-long accounting debacle unlikely to inspire gratitude among shoppers and shareholders.

The employee "intentionally made erroneous accounting accrual entries" to hide millions of dollars, Macy's said. The error forced the company to delay reporting its third-quarter results.

Macy's announced an employee has "hid" up to $154 million, prompting the U.S. department store chain to delay the release of its third-quarter earnings report.