They do, and they frequently release the numbers (often calling it non-GAAP). The issue is that accounting is very complicated. Like really, really complicated

They do, and they frequently release the numbers (often calling it non-GAAP). The issue is that accounting is very complicated. Like really, really complicated. And that's because you're trying to make a lot of very different companies follow the same rules on how to recognize revenue, costs, investments, etc. For example, here's a real world problem I came across once: how do you recognize the revenue of selling virtual tractors on FarmVille? - When the sale takes place? - Over a pre-set period of time, determined by the average lifetime of an user? - Over a pre-set schedule that follows depreciation schedules of real tractors? Economic is even more complicated. Economic profit takes in account the cost of opportunity, so a company might have accounting profit but no economic profit. It gets even worse when you're talking about cross-border accounting. In other words, companies usually have managerial accounting using their own internal rules, and standards-based accounting (GAAP, IFRS, etc.), to report operations to the government and to the owners.