Catherine Ide, senior director of professional practice at the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), joined REIT.com for a video interview at REITWise 2017: NAREIT’s Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in La Quinta, California.
CAQ was established in 2007 with a mission to enhance investor confidence and public trust in the capital markets.
Ide noted that regulators have been focused on information that companies provide outside of the financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At the same time, companies are having internal debates about what information they can provide to investors that is relevant, reliable and timely, she said.
Ide stressed that when used appropriately, non- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial information provides useful insights about companies. She noted that CAQ released a publication in December 2016 calling for a conversation among the financial reporting supply chain regarding the preparation, presentation and use of these measures.
“We believe the auditing profession is uniquely positioned to foster this dialog because we have a lens into many facets of those stakeholders in this process,” Ide said.