The Financial Markets Authority is seeking submissions on the growing use of irregular earnings measures in preference to statutory profit.
The market watchdog has published a draft guidance note on the disclosure of non-Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial information.
That is in response to the growing number of companies using underlying earnings measures to strip out the 'noise' of unrealised movements in fair value that have to be recognised under International Financial Reporting Standards.
"These measures can provide useful information to investors, but they also have the potential to be misleading if used to mask bad news," FMA head of compliance Elaine
Campbell said in a statement.
"It is important for both issuers and investors to have greater clarity on the use of non-GAAP financial information, which will contribute to increasing confidence in our markets."