Nearly 25% of companies are using sketchy adjusted numbers to paint a rosy earnings picture

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

AT&T cited "adjusted Ebidta" in an earnings filing this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

US corporations increasingly adjust to mind the GAAP (Wall Street Journal)

Adjusted net income, adjusted sales, and adjusted Ebitda are showing up in earnings reports at hundreds of US companies.

Without those adjusted numbers, "third-quarter earnings per share fell 13% for the biggest US companies," The Wall Street Journal reports.

It cites research from Deutsche Bank, which found that one in 10 major securities filings included the term "adjusted Ebidta." Ebidta refers to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

"About a quarter of earnings-related filings this year included figures that don't comply with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, as well as more standard measures," according to an analysis by The Journal.

The brilliant strategy Michelin uses to keep its best employees from quitting (Business Insider)

If Michelin employees don't like their jobs, they can talk to one of the company's 400 "career managers" to find a new position at the intersection of their passion and skills.

The company's efforts at career development have had amazing results, including an incredibly high 97% employee retention rate.

"Our managers look at three key areas - passion, proven history, and an employee's willingness and ability to adapt to change and take on new things," David Stafford, chief human resources officer and executive vice president of personnel for Michelin North America, told Business Insider.

For finance nerds, Merriam-Webster's word of the year - "ism" - is more than just a suffix (Business Insider)

The most-searched term on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary in 2015 was "ism," as in communism, socialism, fascism, and feminism, among others.

For finance workers the term has another meaning - ISM manufacturing.

"All year this reading has been in focus as activity in the US manufacturing sector, particularly driven by a decline in oil-related activity and the strengthening of the US dollar, has slowed," Business Insider markets editor Myles Udland reports.

"And while the index hit highs of 53.5 - readings over 50 indicate expansion in activity while readings below indicate contraction - in both January and June, the index has been on a steady march lower through the summer," he adds.

Udland argues that Merriam-Webster's word of the year might rightfully translate into the "chart of the year" for market watchers.