Sure...
And if, like you say, it is a number shareholders would like, I can't imagine WHO might bring up the fact that it is a "un-audited number" that "Urbie could pull out of thin air..."
You make it sound like the delay in releasing the O/S until after the audit is complete is a bad thing. The beauty of it is that it simply removes one crack in the information that "non-touters" could stick a pry bar into and work. With an audit, the accuracy of the numbers cannot be, intelligently, broached.
If it's high, well, that is another kettle of fish but I for one am glad that once the O/S is released, at least we won't have to defend the accuracy of the numbers.