THE VALUE RELEVANCE OF NON-GAAP EARNINGS AND IFRS´S ADOPTION
Non-GAAP earnings. Value relevance. EBITDA. IFRS´s adoption.
This research has the general objective of investigating the relative and incremental value relevance of the alternative measure non-GAAP earning EBITDA in comparison to the GAAP disclosures (net income), and the value relevance of the adoption of IFRS's, of the companies listed in [B]3 – Brazil, Bolsa, Balcão, from 2005 to 2018. The metric EBITDA was chosen, calculated according to CVM Instruction 527/2012, because it was the non-GAAP measure most publicized by Brazilian companies (KPMG, 2016), what made econometric analysis possible. The survey data were collected through the Bloomberg® database and the standardized financial statements available on the CVM and companies' website, the EBITDA variable was collected in the press releases released and filed on the investor relations website. Companies that make up the financial sector and companies that did not present the necessary variables for the analysis were excluded from the study. To achieve the proposed objective, the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method was used in a panel with fixed effects. Based on the results found, it appears that in relation to the relative value relevance, EBITDA was shown to be value relevant only when the stock price three months after the annual balance sheets was the dependent variable. However, when analyzed individually in relation to net income, non-GAAP measures could not be considered more value relevant than GAAP measures, showing that the market prefers to evaluate the share price based on net incomes prepared according to the accounting principles to the detriment of non-standard metrics. Based on a robustness analysis of incremental value relevance, it was ratified in the findings the non-relevance of EBITDA, neither compared to the net income. Finally, from the measured results, it is concluded that GAAP measures are more relevant than non-GAAP measures for the analyzed sample. This research, in addition to contributing to the discussion in the national literature, assists the various users who seek to evaluate stock prices. In addition, the study subsidizes regulatory and normative bodies providing evidence, at the national level, in relation to the informational capacity of such companies' performance measures.