Non-GAAP figures

Figures a company calculates its own way, leaving out items it sees as unusual or non-cash, such as stock-based compensation. GAAP is the official US accounting rulebook, and companies must show how their non-GAAP figures connect back to it.

Simple example

Under the official rules, a company earns $10. It adds back $6 of stock-based compensation and $4 of acquisition costs, and reports non-GAAP profit of $20: twice as much.

$10Official (GAAP)+$6Stock-basedpay+$4Acquisitioncosts$20Non-GAAP
Made-up numbers, for illustration only.