Groupon hires new accounting officer in wake of financial woes

Brian Stevens faces some challenges as Groupon's new chief accounting officer.

The daily deals site found itself in financial hot water earlier this year after admitting to an accounting error that triggered a higher fourth-quarter loss and lower sales than initially reported. This past April, the company was forced to restate results for last year's final quarter, increasing the net loss by $22.6 million and cutting revenue by $14.3 million.

The accounting snafu triggered shareholder lawsuits and concerns from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The "material weakness" in controls over its financial statement followed an earlier mistake in which accounting revisions from the SEC forced Groupon to revise its 2010 revenue from $713.4 million down to $312.9 million.

The company staged a financial comeback in the first quarter, reporting results higher than expected. But the stigma of the earlier accounting errors persists. Since the start of the year, Groupon ... [Read more]



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