Use of Non-GAAP Measures
The Company provides non-GAAP revenue, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating profit margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share as supplemental measures to GAAP regarding the Company's operational performance. These financial measures exclude the impact of certain items and, therefore, have not been calculated in accordance with GAAP. A detailed explanation and of each of the adjustments to such financial measures is described below. This press release also contains a reconciliation of each of these non-GAAP financial measures to its most comparable GAAP financial measure.
Management uses non-GAAP financial measures (a) to evaluate the Company's historical and prospective financial performance as well as its performance relative to its competitors, (b) to set internal sales targets and spending budgets, (c) to allocate resources, (d) to measure operational profitability and the accuracy of forecasting, (e) to assess financial discipline over operational expenditures and (f) as an important factor in determining variable compensation for management and its employees. In addition, many financial analysts that follow the Company focus on and publish both historical results and future projections based on non-GAAP financial measures. The Company believes that it is in the best interest of its investors to provide this information to analysts so that they accurately report the non-GAAP financial information. Moreover, investors have historically requested and the Company has historically reported these non-GAAP financial measures as a means of providing consistent and comparable information with past reports of financial results.
While management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information to investors, there are limitations associated with the use of these non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, are not reported by all of the Company's competitors and may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures of the Company's competitors due to potential differences in the exact method of calculation. The Company compensates for these limitations by using these non-GAAP financial measures as supplements to GAAP financial measures and by reviewing the reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP financial measures.
The adjustments to these non-GAAP financial measures, and the basis for such adjustments, are outlined below:
Acquisition accounting for deferred revenue and its related tax impact. Historically, the Company has consummated acquisitions in order to support its strategic and other business objectives. In accordance with the fair value provisions applicable to the accounting for business combinations, acquired deferred revenue is often recorded on the opening balance sheet at an amount that is lower than the historical carrying value. Although this acquisition accounting requirement has no impact on the Company's business or cash flow, it adversely impacts the Company's reported GAAP revenue in the reporting periods following an acquisition. In order to provide investors with financial information that facilitates comparison of both historical and future results, the Company provides non-GAAP financial measures which exclude the impact of the acquisition accounting adjustment. The Company believes that this non-GAAP financial adjustment is useful to investors because it allows investors to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of the methodology and information used by management in its financial and operational decision-making and (b) compare past and future reports of financial results of the Company as the revenue reduction related to acquired deferred revenue will not recur when related annual lease licenses and software maintenance contracts are renewed in future periods.
