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When does forecasting GAAP earnings entail unreasonable effort?

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  • Laurion, Henry
  • Sloan, Richard

Abstract

SEC rules require managers to reconcile their non-GAAP earnings forecasts with the most directly comparable GAAP forecasts unless doing so would entail ‘unreasonable effort.’ A significant number of managers rely on the unreasonable efforts exception to justify the omission of comparable GAAP forecasts. We analyze firms that rely on the unreasonable efforts exception and find that their non-GAAP earnings forecasts are more likely to exclude significant recurring expenses that are not excluded by analysts. Our results suggest that almost a third of managers exploit the unreasonable efforts exception to exclude significant recurring expenses from their earnings guidance.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurion, Henry & Sloan, Richard, 2022. "When does forecasting GAAP earnings entail unreasonable effort?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:73:y:2022:i:1:s0165410121000525
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2021.101437
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Non-GAAP earnings; Earnings guidance; Opportunistic behavior; Unreasonable effort;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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