Eighty-one percent of S&P 500 companies that reported financial performance since July 1 included results that conform with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles at the top of news releases outlining their financials. That's up from 52 percent that did so when reporting financial performance for the first quarter, according to an Audit Analytics analysis conducted for The Wall Street Journal.
The change comes after the Securities and Exchange Commission clarified rules on this issue in May, stating that GAAP figures should be given prominence in financial reports and the use of adjustments should be kept to a minimum.
Complying with the new guidance will require CFOs to reevaluate figures they've been reporting for years, according to the report.
"There's little appetite at the SEC for companies who don't assess the guidance and self-correct," Paula Hamric, a partner in BDO USA's national SEC practice, told WSJ.
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