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ReportingFinancialInformationbySegment:

ACommentoftheAmericanAccountingAssociationontheIASCDraftStatementofPrinciples

TheExternalRelationsCommitteeoftheInternationalAccountingSection,AmericanAccountingAssociation（AAA）ischargedwithmaintainingrelationshipsbetweentheAAAInternationalSectionandvariousexternalprofessional,academicandstandardsettingbodies.ThecommitteeiscomprisedofpractitionersandacademicsfromtheU.S.andothercountries.Aspartofitsactivities,theExternalRelationsCommitteeischargedwithrespondingtorequestsforcommentfromtheInternationalAccountingStandardsCommittee（IASC）.WhereappropriatetheviewsofthecommitteearereviewedbythePresidentoftheAAAandhisdesignatedreviewersandbecometheofficialviewoftheAAA.

Aspartofitsresponsibilities,thecommitteepreparedaresponsetotheIASCcallforcommentsonits"DraftStatementofPrinciplesonReportingFinancialInformationbySegment."Thecommittee'schairmanalsoprovidedverbaltestimonyatIASChearingsontheDraftStatement.ThefollowingareIASC'sproposals（initalics）togetherwiththecontentofthewrittenresponsetotheIASConbehalfoftheAAA.

KeyIssues

Thedraftspecificallyaskscommentatorstoindicate:

1、WhethertheyagreethatthereisaneedtorevisetheexistingrulescodifiedasIAS14;

2、Whethertheysupporttheobjective,principlesandguidanceinthisDraftStatementofPrinciplesand,ifnot,whatchangestheywouldlikeandthereasonsforthosechanges;

3、Anyadditionalprinciplesandguidancewhichtheyconsidernecessary,togetherwithreasons.

TheNeedtoReviseIAS14

Thisinvolvestwoquestions

（1）whetherthereisanyevidenceofaneedforsegmentreporting;and

（2）whetherthecurrentstandardneedsrevision.Forbothquestions,theanswerwouldappeartobedifferentforlineofbusiness（LOB）andgeographicsegmentaldata.

InthecaseofLOB,asPacter（1994）indicates,over80academicstudieshaveevaluatedthedata.ThosestudiesgenerallyfoundthatLOBdisclosuressignificantlyimprovepredictiveability,areusedbyinvestors（asindicatedbymarketreactionstudies--seeMohr（1983）forasummary）,reducebid-askspreads,（GreensteinandSami1994）,andmayreducethemarket'sassessmentofrisk（beta）ofreportingfirms（CollinsandSimonds1979;Adjinkya1980）.ThisevidencesupportstheneedforLOBreportingandindicatespresentreportingpracticesareatleastsomewhateffective.

Inthecaseofgeographicsegments,theresultsaremuchlessclear.Inalmostallcases,theauthorsnotethatpoorgeographicbreakdownlimitstheabilitytoeffectivelyevaluatethepotentialefficacyofthisdata.Nevertheless,someoftheextantliteraturefindsthatdisclosureofgeographicdatamaycauseashiftinrisk（beta）（ProdhanandHarris1989）orthatitoffersabetterforecastingtoolthanconsolidateddataincertaincircumstances（Roberts1989;Balakrishnanetal.1990）.However,arecentlypublishedpaperinthisarea（Boatsmanetal.1993）castsdoubtonthevalueofrecurringgeographicsegmentdisclosure.UsingU.S.datafromafive-yearperiod（1985-1989）,Boatsmanetal.（1993）findthat,afteradjustingforoutliers,thereislittlerecurringinformationcontenttogeographicsegmentdatainitspresent（coarse）form.Further,ourpractitionermembersfromEuropenotedthatgeographicsegmentdataareseldomused.ThisconfirmsacademicevidencebyRennieandEmmanuel（1992）thatUKgeographicsegmentdataarereportedlessoftenthantenyearsagoandtheformatsarelessinformative.Geographicsegmentreportingthusappearstobeinneedofamajoroverhaulifitistohavesignificantinformationvalue.

Objective,PrinciplesandGuidanceintheDraftStatementofPrinciplesLineofBusinessSegments:

TheIASCfavoredabusinesssegmentsapproachovertheFASB'smanagementapproach.Bothparties'positionsweresummarizedintheDraftStatementasfollows:

IASC:

Abusinesssegmentisadistinguishablecomponentofanenterprisethatisengagedinprovidingaproductorservice,oragroupofrelatedproductsorservices,thatgeneratessignificantrevenuefromexternalcustomers,andthatissubjecttorisksandrewardsthataredifferentfromthoseofotherbusinesssegments.Forthispurpose,abusinesssegmentgeneratessignificantrevenuefromexternalcustomersif:

a）amajorityofthesegment'srevenueisderivedfromsalestoexternalcustomers;or

b）thesegment'srevenuefromsalestoexternalcustomersis10percentormoreoftotalenterpriserevenue.（Principle5）

FASB:

.Themanagementapproachfocusesonreportingfinancialinformationaboutthemajoroperatingunitsofanenterprise,or"operating"segments.Underthatapproach,thesegmentstobereportedarebasedonorganisationalunitsforwhichfinancialresultsarealreadymaintainedandanalysedbymanagementforpurposesofconductingtheenterprise'sbusinessactivities....Tobeclassifiedasanoperatingsegment,anorganisationalunitmustbeanoperatingsegment,anorganisationalunitmustearnrevenuesandincurexpensesanditsmanagermustbedirectlyaccountableforitsfinancialperformancetotheindividualwithprincipalresponsibilityfortheenterprise'soperatingactivities（usuallythechiefoperatingofficerorthechiefexecutiveofficer）.（DraftStatement,paragraph36）

ThecommitteegenerallyfavorsthebusinesssegmentapproachoftheSteeringCommitteebecauseitallowsfinancialanalyststousetheirindustryexpertise.Wesupportthe"riskandreward"criterionfordeterminingbusinesssegmentsandbelieveitprovidesfirmswithsufficientflexibilitytokeepreportingcostsatanacceptablelevel.Onlyfirmsreportingbystrictorganizationalunitswouldincursignificantcosts.Importantly,theSteeringCommitteedoesnotendorsetheuseofstandardizedproductclassificationsystemsfordeterminingsegments.

Analystsacknowledgetheinherentconflictbetweenthetwoapproachestosegmentationandgenerallyindicateawillingnesstoacceptlesscomparabilityforgreaterrelevanceandreliability.IntheAIMR1993positionpaperthatwascitedearlierinthischapter,AIMRstates:

Inanidealworld,anenterprisewouldreportdesegregateddatainaformatthatcoincideswithandreflectshowitisorganizedandmanaged.Italsowoulddisclosethesourceandnatureofrisksthatareexpectedtoaffect,eitherpositivelyornegatively,theamountsandtimingofitsfuturecashflows.Theserisksmaybeassociatedwithgeography,productlines,markets,oravarietyofotherclassifications.Theenterprisewouldrevealtheboundariesbetweenitsassortedlegal-entityconstituents,thusdivulgingrestrictionsontheclaimsofcreditorsandthemovementsofcashwithintheentity.Finally,allthedesegregateddatadisclosedwouldmirrorthewaythebusinessisorganizedandmanaged,whileatthesametimeprovidingcomparabilitytothedesegregateddataofotherenterprises.

Intherealworld,ofcourse,notalloftheseobjectivescanbeachieved.Theyrequiretrade-offsandchoices.Fromthestandpointoffinancialanalysis,webelievepriorityshouldbegiventotheproductionanddisseminationoffinancialdatathatreflectsandreportssensiblytheoperationsofspecificenterprises.Ifwecouldobtainreportsshowingthedetailsofhowanindividualbusinessfirmisorganizedandmanaged,wewouldassumemoreresponsibilityformakingmeaningfulcomparisonsofthosedatatotheunlikedataofotherfirmsthatconducttheirbusinessdifferently.Werealizetheextraordinarydifficultyofmandatingadisclosurestandardwhilemaintainingtheflexibilityofeachenterprisetopresentitsowncircumstancesandorganization,butwebelieveittobeacommendableundertaking（boldfaceitalicsadded）.

ThehighlightedsentenceindicatesthatanalystsintheU.S.haveaddedanimportantcodiciltotheirsupportforthemanagementapproach:

namely,theywanttobeprovidedwithadditionaldetailsofindividualfirms'operations.Theanalystswantenoughinformationtorecasteachfirmintoasomewhatstandardmold.Theendresultwouldseemtobeaformofbusinesssegmentdata.Analysts'roleasinformationintermediarieswouldbefurtherenhancedbydevelopingthisdata.Investorswhodonotreceiveadditionaldirectinformationfrommanagementwouldbeplacedatadistinctinformationdisadvantage.

Thecommitteequestionswhetherthisapproachiswellsuitedtofacilitatetheinternationaltransferofcapital.Non-nationalanalystswouldbeatadistinctdisadvantageinobtaininginformationfrommanagement.Wecanenvisionthesedisclosuresprovidingahindranceratherthanahelptoglobalcapitalintegration.

SpecificPrinciples

ThecommitteewasingeneralsupportoftheIASCSteeringCommittee'sproposalsregardinglineofbusinesssegmentdisclosures.

Principle3

Whenbothparentandconsolidatedfinancialstatementsarepresentedinasinglefinancialreport,segmentinformationneedbepresentedonlyonthebasisofconsolidatedfinancialstatements.

TherewassomediscordonPrinciple3.Onecommitteememberpointedoutthatincertaincountries,consolidatedorgroupaccountswerenotnecessarilyauditedandthatsomefallbackprovisionshouldbemadetoensurethat,inallcountries,atleastonesetofsegmentaldatahadthebenefitofanauditor'sstampofapproval.

Principle6

Abusinesssegmentshouldbeidentifiedasareportablesegmentif:

a）itsrevenuefromsalestoexternalcustomersandfromtransactionswithothersegmentsis10percentormoreofthetotalexternalrevenueofallbusinesssegments;or

b）itssegmentresult,whetherprofitorloss,is10percentormoreofthecombined