Amortization of intangible assets: We do not acquire businesses and assets on a predictable cycle. The amount of purchase price allocated to intangible assets and the term of amortization can vary significantly and are unique to each acquisition or purchase. We believe that excluding amortization of intangible assets allows the users of our financial statements to better review and understand the historic and current results of our operations, and also facilitates comparisons to peer companies.

Acquisition-related expenses and benefits: We incur expenses or benefits with respect to certain items associated with our acquisitions, such as transaction costs, changes in the fair value of contingent consideration liabilities, gain or expense on settlement of pre-existing relationships, etc. We exclude such expenses or benefits as they are related to acquisitions and have no direct correlation to the operation of our on-going business.


Restructuring and impairment charges: We incur restructuring and impairment charges that result from events, which arise from unforeseen circumstances and/or often occur outside of the ordinary course of our on-going business. Although these events are reflected in our GAAP financials, these unique transactions may limit the comparability of our on-going operations with prior and future periods.

Significant effects of tax legislation: We may incur significant effects of tax legislation that are generally unrelated to the level of business activity in the period in which the effects of such legislation are reported. We exclude such expenses, because we believe this does not accurately reflect the underlying performance of our continuing business operations. This exclusion is applicable to non-GAAP net earnings only.

Significant litigation charges or benefits and legal costs: We may incur charges or benefits as well as legal costs from time to time related to litigation and other contingencies. We exclude these charges or benefits, when significant, as well as legal costs associated with significant legal matters, because we do not believe they are reflective of on-going business and operating results.

We apply our GAAP consolidated effective tax rate to our non-GAAP financial measures, other than when the underlying item has a materially different tax treatment.

From time to time in the future, there may be other items that we may exclude if we believe that doing so is consistent with the goal of providing useful information to investors and management. Non-GAAP items are generally included in selling, general and administrative expenses, except for significant effects of tax legislation and unless otherwise specified.

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