Research on Application of Non-GAAP Financial Measures to Overseas Listed Companies

Abstract

Listed companies publish financial reports in accordance with the general accounting standards quarterly or annually. Some companies, while disclosing their financial statements, will conduct non-GAAP financial measures, believing that non-GAAP measures can more accurately reflect the company's operating results and financial conditions to help investors to evaluate the company's performance. However, such measures may be used in adjusting profits to mislead the stakeholders. This paper aims to analyze non-GAAP financial measures, and illustrate the findings with the example of JD.com. The findings are that non-GAAP financial measures can reflect companies operating outcomes more accurately unless the regulators strengthen and standardize the disclosure and measurement of non-GAAP financial measures.