Carrefour, a French retailer, publishes financial statements under IFRS, denominated in euros. Sony, the Japanese electronics giant, publishes financial statements under U.S. GAAP, denominated in yen. Excerpts taken directly from their 2014 income statements are provided in the following table. Note that the items are in the order in which they appeared on the income statement.

Carrefour (million euros):
Operating income ..............................................................2,387
Finance costs ......................................................................(563)
Net income from equity method companies ...........................37
Sony (million yen):
Equity in net income of affiliates ......................................(7,374)
Operating income ............................................................26,495
Interest expense ..............................................................23,460

REQUIRED:
a. Identify differences in the definitions of operations used by the companies.
b. Comment on possible reasons for these differences.
c. How might an analyst handle these differences?