[traditionalist]

The idea that the SEC should ban companies from releasing EBITDA has got to be one of the stupidest regulatory ideas I have ever heard.

Most companies don't report it anyway, and even if it were banned, it takes about two seconds to calculate: all you have to do is add depreciation and amortization back to operating income. What are you going to do next, ban anyone looking at a company's financial statements from calculating it?

Or wait, maybe you plan on banning the reporting of operating income and depreciation and amortization? How about allowing companies to disclose net income and nothing more, cause that's what you would have to do to stop people from looking at EBITDA.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This doesn't make sense to me. EBITDA is a very useful measure. What the Worldcom accountants did was count spending as income.

[Timesink]

You want to base your investments on numbers produced through accounting chicanery (the article in post #1 on this thread is quite informative on that issue), be my guest. But companies should not be allowed to publicly BRAG about it as if it's anywhere near a legitimate statement as to their true financial condition. It makes suckers out of the little people who don't know anything but whatever the CEO is parroting on Squawk Box.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

I responded to timesink in a similar fashion. It is embarrasing how clear it is that timesink knows absolutely nothing about financial accounting/finance from his/her one post.