You could practically hear readers hocking up un-chewed corn kernels reading our sister Street Talk column this week. It pointed to the hidden nasty in the Guzman y Gomez IPO prospectus: management’s “pro forma” exclusion of its second-highest cost in its lease liabilities.

Sure, almost all companies try to hold the hands of investors as they lead them on some type of circuitous journey into the non-generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) promised land. Who could forget WeWork messiah Adam Neumann’s delivery of a pre-IPO profit on a “community-adjusted EBITDA” basis, which scrubbed some costs associated with rent, tenancy, building and operations? Legendary accounting.