Jane Wilson, CEO, CIPR

“A perfect storm of a new business model, a fast growing company, a seemingly weak audit process and a leadership team unused to the rigours of communicating to the financial markets, compounded by the fact that Groupon itself couldn’t provide a date for a solution, created uncertainty. My advice would be to say all of this publicly. Make a virtue of leading a new business model but also, get the most experienced financial hands to publicly steer a course back to stability and set clear targets for success.”

Andrew Jaques, head of financial and investor communications, MHP Communications

“A mistake is a mistake and in these instances, attempting to downplay the error or making excuses is never a suitable reaction, particularly in relation to financial statements. In such situations, communications must acknowledge the error then swiftly focus on restoring investor confidence in management, internal systems and the company as a whole. The strategy must demonstrate that management is proactively taking steps to address the issues in internal systems by communicating a clear, structured plan of action to the relevant audiences. Of course, the real test comes in the accuracy of subsequent financial statements.”

Caroline Cecil, director, Caroline Cecil Associates

“Walking the talk would be a good start. Markets hate surprises and Groupon has had rather too many of those even for a company whose growth has been amazing by any standards – they only had five employees three and a half years ago and now they have around 10,000 covering 48 countries. Making a company acceptable to the markets sometimes means that the founding entrepreneur or some of his team have to be replaced by people experienced in running large listed companies. Groupon has already taken steps to bolster the financial team and the CEO has been explaining their strategy. Will that be enough?”

Julian Rea, account director, CitySavvy

“Groupon’s detractors have long criticised its eye-catching valuation and questioned its management’s readiness to shoulder the responsibilities of leading a publically traded company. This latest gaffe suggests the critics are right and Groupon must convince investors otherwise if it is to regain control of its waning share price. Adding two financial heavyweights to the board was a step in the right direction but concerns still remain over the company’s CFO and accounting practices. If the market sees strong results over the next few quarters all could be forgiven, but any more blunders will surely see heads roll.”

And on the company’s other issues...

Gideon Lask, CEO and founder of BuyaPowa

“The struggle Groupon faces in going beyond discounts is immense, and I don’t think the new Rewards programme is the golden ticket. It may offer a way for brands to track consumer purchases, going some way to allaying the problem of the lack of customer loyalty, but the question is how Groupon plans to make money from this? When investors are worried about how Groupon can evolve its business model, surely the time is right to create a more personalised and social experience? The issue is building loyalty: it needs to work more closely with brands to evolve and engage their individual communities, rather than rely on its existing community of deal-seekers.”