W&L Professor Quoted in Article About the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority Megan Hess offers perspective on the importance of determining the scope of inventory shrinkage.

By Brian Laubscher
July 6, 2023

Megan Hess ‘97, associate professor of accounting at Washington and Lee University, was recently quoted in an article by The Virginia Mercury which focuses on the uncertainty of potential inventory losses by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (Virginia ABC).

The story cites a press release issued by Virginia ABC which indicates that retail shrinkage (theft and damages) compares favorably with the overall retail market. However, inaccuracies in reporting inventory losses have caused some to question not only the size of the problem, but also whether it is happening in retail stores or in the authority’s distribution centers.

“If you’re trying to solve the problem, you need to know why it is happening. Where is it happening? How much is it happening?” said Hess in the Virginia Mercury article. Hess noted that knowing where the shrink is coming from is important from a managerial perspective for considering what controls are needed to mitigate losses.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Prior to joining the W&L faculty in 2013, Hess spent several years working as a forensic accountant with Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. She received a B.A. in politics from W&L, an M.B.A. from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Virginia.

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