Hello, I need someone very kind to summarize, in about a paragraph, and connect the article content to what a student will learn in an introductory financial accounting class. It would be more helpful if the accounting terms are defined, and summarized by using the briefest grammar so even an elementary student could understand! Thank you so much :)

Article: Add another group to the list of those calling out companies for using adjusted earnings. Nearly 80% of firms in the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 use financial measures outside of generally accepted accounting principles, and that could mislead investors, according to a study by the CFA Institute in London.

Even though companies need to reconcile non-GAAP measures when they report results, their increasing use can lead to investors comparing apples with oranges, said Vincent Papa, acting head of financial reporting policy at the CFA Institute.

The like-for-like premise is often times undermined, he said, resulting in confusion on behalf of investors, especially retail investors.

Regulatory bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission, the European Securities and Markets Authority and the International Organization of Securities Commissions are stepping up their efforts to address these investor concerns.

Nevertheless, the question lingers as to whether their measures go far enough to ensure that companies communicate non-GAAP financial measures effectively, the study states.

When reconciling to GAAP figures, firms can obfuscate results, Mr. Papa said, independent of whether they reported under U.S. GAAP or under International Financial Reporting Standards. These are issues that occur on both reporting platforms and that are not limited to certain countries, he said.

Mr. Papa said accounting standards needed to be ramped up. Auditors and audit committees should be given more influence over non-GAAP reporting in order to improve transparency, he said, and investors should increase scrutiny over the use of these measures.

Non-GAAP measures should not undermine the application of GAAP and IFRS, Mr. Papa said.

The International Accounting Standards Board will on Wednesday set out the scope of a project to improve the statements of financial performance. How to define earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) could be part of the project, a spokeswoman of the IASB said.

In the U.S., the SEC in May issued new guidelines on the use of non-GAAP figures in an effort to rein in the practice. The guidelines targeted the prominence of non-GAAP figures in earnings releases and specifically prohibited certain adjustments to revenue. Last week officials there said it would allow the use of adjusted figures under special circumstances.