Groupon alters its accounting

Groupon Inc., the biggest provider of online coupons, backed away from a controversial accounting method in an amended initial public offering filing last week and reported a second-quarter loss.
Groupon’s updated filing didn’t include figures for adjusted consolidated segment operating income, or adjusted CSOI, the financial metric it used previously. The company’s operating-income accounting was being studied by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a routine review of its IPO registration, a person familiar with the matter said on July 27.
Based on new accounting using CSOI, Groupon said it had a loss of $181 million last year, compared with adjusted CSOI of $60.6 million in a filing last month.
The company, which filed for a $750 million IPO on June 2, reported a second-quarter loss of $102.7 million in the period ended June 30, compared with a loss of $35.9 million a year earlier. Second-quarter sales increased 10-fold to $878 million.
Groupon’s unusual approach to accounting may have caused “digestive problems” with the SEC, possibly delaying the initial public offering by one month, Richard Sauer, a former official at the government agency, said last month. &#8226