Wall Street Journal (September 24)
“Finance chiefs and investors are trying to figure out how to account for coronavirus-related expenses as the pandemic transforms how companies operate in ways that may become a permanent cost of doing business.” The effects of COVID-19 are now expected to last for months, if not years, but “some companies continue to treat virus-related costs as special, one-time items, which can give the impression that a business’s costs are lower than they actually are,” boosting, for example, adjusted Ebitda. Some professionals believe it is now time for “treating these items as regular costs of doing business as they close the books for the third quarter and not adjust their non-GAAP earnings.”
Tags: Account, Adjusted Ebitda, Coronavirus-related expenses, COVID-19, Finance, Investors, Non-GAAP earnings, One-time items, Pandemic, Permanent cost, Q3
