gaap vs. cash ebitda? What?? confused.

if ebitda is a non-gaap metric, why do i sometimes see "gaap vs. cash ebitda"? very confused here. how can there be a "gaap" ebitda? and then what's cash ebitda? 

thanks team! appreciate all the help 

12 Comments
 

Simple answer. EBITDA is under GAAP principles/ what you are used to.

Cash EBITDA includes the change in deferred revenue. So GAAP EBITDA is what you are used to but doesn’t account for bookings made that you have received cash for that aren't yet able to be recognized as revenue. People often like to use cash ebitda for businesses that are growing with lots of paying upfront/ deferred revenue because they might be more cash efficient than fully realized just looking at ebitda.

 

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