Apple did not disclose their spending on advertising in 2016, according to the Vc, citing a report released by the Commission on securities and exchange Commission (SEC). Observers believe that the American computer electronics giant increased their effort to increase the overall profit.
In the section “expenditure on advertising” Apple has indicated that these costs are included in “selling, General and administrative expenses” (SG&A). Expenses SG&A in 2016 decreased by 1% to $14.1 billion, according to the report. In 2015, this figure, which includes including the salary of employees increased by 19%.
In the report, Apple explains the decline in SG&A expenses in 2016, “a reduction in discretionary costs (costs at the discretion of the owners — approx. ed.) and advertising costs”.
However, the share of revenue that Apple allocated to cover the costs SG&A, increased by one percentage point and amounted to 7%. Analysts at Wells Fargo expect that Apple decided to hide the cost of advertising, since increased them in the hope to increase the total profit.
In 2015, the Apple costs increased by 50% and reached a record $1.8 billion Now that the company has decided not to disclose this figure, harder to track what percentage of its revenues to cover these costs, said Wells Fargo.
Companies in the United States are not required to disclose their advertising costs costs in SG&A. Most do, not wanting to disclose this information to competitors. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the decision.