SEC tells Groupon to disclose more financial data

SAN FRANCISCO — Chicago-based Groupon Inc. said it will disclose more detail about its financial performance after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked the largest daily-deal website to revise some of its accounting practices.

The agency urged the company in May to more clearly define metrics such as gross billings and take rates, and better explain factors that led to declines in coupon sales overseas, according to documents made available today on the SEC’s website.

Groupon has been repeatedly scrutinized by the financial regulator since filing for an initial public offering in 2011. The daily deal site said last year it was working with an accounting firm after restating results and disclosing a “material weakness” in its financial controls. Chief Financial Officer Jason Child said in a June 26 letter disclosed today that the company will provide more detail in future filings.

“The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance is required to review all public companies periodically, and this was a routine examination of our recent 10-K filing,” Bill Roberts, a spokesman for Groupon, wrote in an e-mailed statement. “We responded to their comments, and they’ve since let us know that their review is complete.”

Groupon’s shares fell 1.5 percent to $9.47 at 1:39 p.m. EDT. The stock has almost doubled this year, compared with a 16 percent rise in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.