The major banks failed to meet their obligations for reporting non-statutory earnings figures in the half-year results presentations they have issued over the past few weeks.In December, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission issued updated guidance (RG 230) for the use of information not prepared in accordance with the IFRS accounting standard in financial reports and other corporate documents.ASIC said that in the past few years many companies have supplemented IFRS reporting with alternative profit measures, such as cash earnings, core earnings and underlying profit, to help explain their performance and strategies to investors. ASIC said: "This information is presented on a different basis for different entities and this can reduce the comparability of the information between entities."There is a risk that non-IFRS financial information will be misleading unless it is appropriately presented and explained."The problem with the banks' recent communication is not with their financial reports but with the presentation documents they use in briefings for investors, analysts and the media.ASIC's key requirement is that IFRS and non-IFRS financial information be given equal prominence in these documents. This was not apparent in the presentation documents used over the last two weeks by ANZ, Westpac and National Australia Bank.In the presentation document Westpac used for its analysts' briefing, the bank stated ratios (such as return on equity and expense to income) on a cash basis only. The reconciliation between cash earnings and statutory profit appears on page 32 of the document, a page that was not presented during the briefing. It did not disclose whether the cash earnings figure was audited or unaudited.In ANZ's results presentation and investor discussion pack all the figures other than the statutory net profit and dividend numbers were presented on an underlying basis. This included all information about return on equity, earnings per share, margins and cost to income.Nowhere in the 132-page pack did ANZ provide a reconciliation between underlying earnings and statutory profit, nor did it disclose whether its underlying earnings figures had been audited.NAB's investor presentation document refers readers to its financial report for a definition of the cash earnings figures that it uses. The document reports cash earnings and underlying earnings in addition to statutory profit.NAB reported all the standard metrics based on cash earnings only. The Corporations Act places limitations on the use of non-IFRS financial information in financial reports.The use of non-IFRS financial information in other documents is governed by general statutory obligations, such as requirements that the information not be misleading.  RG 230 says: "Disclosure in other documents, such as market announcements, presentations to investors and prospectuses, that does not follow ASIC guidelines will not necessarily breach the law. However, following them will reduce the potential that they breach the law."When it comes to other documents, RG 230 says that IFRS financial information should be presented with equal or greater prominence or emphasis or authority compared with corresponding non-IFRS financial information.Where financial ratios are adjusted, at least equal prominence should be given to the ratio calculated on an IFRS