Deloitte is urging companies to be upfront about their financial performance as the reporting of alternative profit measures grows.
The accounting firm surveyed the 2011 annual reports of 100 firms and found 89 of them referred to different underlying profit measures in addition to the standard net profit after tax.
That's two more than the year before.
More than half of the firms provided three or more alternative measures of profit.
Deloitte says that contrary to guidance from the Financial Markets Authority, 27 of the companies discussed underlying profit more prominently than their statutory profit.
The FMA is finalising its position on what information should be disclosed in reports.
It is attempting to address concern from analysts that the use of alternative profit descriptions is misleading investors.
