Microsoft Corp. announced on a conference call Thursday afternoon that it will move to all GAAP reporting in its new fiscal year, a move that fellow tech giants like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have also made recently. Microsoft conducted the earnings call to go over the changes to its financial reporting that will result from new revenue-recognition rules, which Microsoft is adopting earlier than most companies. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been cracking down on companies’ use of non-GAAP earnings, and tech companies appear to be moving away from those metrics, which typically strip out stock-based compensation and other effects to present healthier profit numbers. Microsoft also restated financial performance for the 2017 and 2016 fiscal years with the changes that the new revenue-recognition rules will bring in order for easier comparisons. Microsoft stock was unchanged in late trading, and has gained 16.1% so far this year, outperforming the 10.7% gain for the S&P 500 index.
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