For an analysis of specific aspects of corporate operations several more specific terms are used as EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).
Many alternative terms for earnings are in common use, such as income and profit.
These terms in turn have a variety of definitions, depending on their context and the objectives of the authors.
[2] Non-routine profits are essential to warrant the high investments needed for high-technology industries.
Some statistical models (e.g. based on Benford's law or Beneish M-score) are used in order to detect possible earnings manipulations (fraud).