The coronavirus crisis has spawned “ebitdac”, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation — and coronavirus — where companies are adding back profits they say they would have made but for the pandemic. This type of financial reporting is misleading and dangerous. Companies should not use outside events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, to adjust their earnings to “what-if” scenarios. Earnings are a concrete number and they must be presented in a true and clear form to shareholders