Seminar: Non-GAAP Performance Reporting and Financial Markets: Information, Deception or Confusion?

CIRANO

Wednesday 21 Mar 2018
From 8:30AM To 10:30AM

In the context of their investor relations, an increasing number of firms report so-called non-GAAP earnings, i.e., performance numbers which are not consistent with financial reporting standards. Such a practice has recently attracted considerable attention from regulators, investors and various financial markets’ participants such as analysts who must decode such numbers to unveil a firm’s underlying economic reality. Such a state of affairs raises several questions:

What are the issues raised by the increasing use of non-GAAP reporting by listed entities?
What are the drivers underlying top management’s increasing reliance on non-GAAP performance measures for their investor relations?
What are the challenges that arise for analysts and investors from the use of non-GAAP reporting?
What are the concerns or issues faced by audit committees from mthe simultaneous use of both GAAP and non-GAAP performance measures?
What are the governance implications from the use of non-GAAP reporting (e.g., executive compensation)?

This CIRANO Seminar addressed these questions. The seminar started with a brief overview of the current academic knowledge on the costs and benefits of using non-GAAP reporting. Then, a panel discussion between experts from various perspectives debated the merits and implications of non-GAAP reporting.

David Clément

David Clément is a partner in the Audit and Assurance Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP working in the Montreal office. He is a member of the Professional, Technical, Risk and Quality national group.

David specializes in Canadian, U.S. and international accounting and auditing standards, as well as Canadian and U.S. securities matters. He is a member of the firm’s worldwide Global Accounting Consulting Services team specializing in topics related to Financial Instruments.

David is heavily involved in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) transition engagements, particularly in the financial services industry. He helps clients benefit from PwC’s IFRS experience in other countries by collaborating with colleagues around the world.

David graduated with a BCom in 1993 and a graduate diploma in public accounting in 1994, both from McGill University in Montreal. He received his CA designation from the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec in 1997. David joined the firm as a summer student in 1993 and became a full-time employee the following year.

David was a panelist on a fair value accounting seminar held by the Chaire d’information financière et organisationnelle of the Université du Québec à Montréal in October 2008.

David is the founding director and treasurer of the Québec Floorball Association since 2005 and director and treasurer of Floorball Canada since 2008.

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Denis Cormier

Denis Cormier is Professor in the Department of Accounting Sciences at the École des sciences de la gestion of the Université du Québec à Montréal.

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Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin

A CIRANO Researcher and Fellow since 2003, Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin has been President and Chief Executive Officer of CIRANO since 2016, has been leading the Baromètre CIRANO project on risk perception in Quebec, which annually collects data on Quebecers' concerns on 47 social issues since 2011, is responsible of the CIRANO Pole on the Socio-economic Impacts of Digital Intelligence and Main Researcher of the theme Innovation and Digital Transformation. Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin is Full Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal. She is also a Visiting Scientist at Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health and an associate researcher at the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO).

Holding a Ph.D. in Management Science (in risks and insurance management) from École normale supérieure de Cachan, her research interests focus on risk management and decision-making in different risks and uncertainty contexts as well as public policies. Her research combines economic analysis, cost-benefit analysis, survey data analysis, and more recently massive unstructured data analysis.

In 2008 she created the RISQH network to raise awareness and share experiences on risks management, and patient safety and quality of care in health care facilities.

She participated in the creation of the Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of AI.

She is also co-PI of the "Monitoring and Surveys" function at the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technology.

She has published numerous scientific articles, several books and more than 30 reports for government and other organizations. She has given more than a hundred conferences and is regularly solicited to speak in the media.

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Michel Magnan

A CIRANO Researcher and Fellow since 2003, Michel Magnan is Professor at the John Molson School of Business of Concordia University.

Holding a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Washington, his research, teaching and professional interests encompass financial reporting, financial statement analysis, governance, executive compensation, ethics and the environment, and corporate disclosure.

His academic career spans over 30 years. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 papers that have been published in academic and professional journals and has presented his work at several conferences in America, Europe and Asia. He is currently Consulting Editor of Contemporary Accounting Research, Section Editor of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences and Associate Chief Editor of Revue française de gouvernance d’entreprise. He is a member of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board.

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Constantino Malatesta

Constantino Malatesta is Vice President and Corporate Controller at CAE.

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Anthony Scilipoti

Mr. Anthony Scilipoti, CPA, is President & Chief Executive Officer at Veritas Investment Research Corp. Prior to co-founding Veritas in 2000, Mr. Scilipoti was previously employed by Arthur Andersen LLP.He received his undergraduate degree in Accounting and Economics from the University of Toronto. He is a fellow Chartered Accountant.

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