Introduction to IFRS 8 - Operating Segments

Reasons for issuing the IFRS

1 International Financial Reporting Standard 8 Operating Segments sets out requirements for disclosure of information about an entity’s operating segments and also about the entity’s products and services, the geographical areas in which it operates, and its major customers.

2 Achieving convergence of accounting standards around the world is one of the prime objectives of the International Accounting Standards Board. In pursuit of that objective, the Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the United States have undertaken a joint short-term project with the objective of reducing differences between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) and US generally accepted accounting principles (US GAAP) that are capable of resolution in a relatively short time and can be addressed outside major projects. One aspect of that project involves the two boards considering each other’s recent standards with a view to adopting high quality financial reporting solutions. The IFRS arises from the IASB’s consideration of FASB Statement No.131 Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information (SFAS 131) issued in 1997, compared with IAS 14 Segment Reporting, which was issued in substantially its present form by the IASB’s predecessor body, the International Accounting Standards Committee, in 1997.

3 The IFRS achieves convergence with the requirements of SFAS 131, except for minor differences listed in paragraph BC60 of the Basis for Conclusions. The wording of the IFRS is the same as that of SFAS 131 except for changes necessary to make the terminology consistent with that in other IFRSs.

Main features of the IFRS

4 The IFRS specifies how an entity should report information about its operating segments in annual financial statements and, as a consequential amendment to IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting, requires an entity to report selected information about its operating segments in interim financial reports. It also sets out requirements for related disclosures about products and services, geographical areas and major customers.

5 The IFRS requires an entity to report financial and descriptive information about its reportable segments. Reportable segments are operating segments or aggregations of operating segments that meet specified criteria. Operating segments are components of an entity about which separate financial information is available that is evaluated regularly by the chief operating decision maker in deciding how to allocate resources and in assessing performance. Generally, financial information is required to be reported on the same basis as is used internally for evaluating operating segment performance and deciding how to allocate resources to operating segments.

6 The IFRS requires an entity to report a measure of operating segment profit or loss and of segment assets. It also requires an entity to report a measure of

segment liabilities and particular income and expense items if such measures are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker. It requires reconciliations of total reportable segment revenues, total profit or loss, total assets, liabilities and other amounts disclosed for reportable segments to corresponding amounts in the entity’s financial statements.

7 The IFRS requires an entity to report information about the revenues derived from its products or services (or groups of similar products and services), about the countries in which it earns revenues and holds assets, and about major customers, regardless of whether that information is used by management in making operating decisions. However, the IFRS does not require an entity to report information that is not prepared for internal use if the necessary information is not available and the cost to develop it would be excessive.

8 The IFRS also requires an entity to give descriptive information about the way the operating segments were determined, the products and services provided by the segments, differences between the measurements used in reporting segment information and those used in the entity’s financial statements, and changes in the measurement of segment amounts from period to period.

9 An entity shall apply this IFRS for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009. Earlier application is permitted. If an entity applies this IFRS for an earlier period, it shall disclose that fact.

Changes from previous requirements

10 The IFRS replaces IAS 14 Segment Reporting. The main changes from IAS 14 are described below.

Identification of segments

11 The requirements of the IFRS are based on the information about the components of the entity that management uses to make decisions about operating matters. The IFRS requires identification of operating segments on the basis of internal reports that are regularly reviewed by the entity’s chief operating decision maker in order to allocate resources to the segment and assess its performance. IAS 14 required identification of two sets of segments—one based on related products and services, and the other on geographical areas. IAS 14 regarded one set as primary segments and the other as secondary segments.

12 A component of an entity that sells primarily or exclusively to other operating segments of the entity is included in the IFRS’s definition of an operating segment if the entity is managed that way. IAS 14 limited reportable segments to those that earn a majority of their revenue from sales to external customers and therefore did not require the different stages of vertically integrated operations to be identified as separate segments.

Measurement of segment information

13 The IFRS requires the amount reported for each operating segment item to be the measure reported to the chief operating decision maker for the purposes of allocating resources to the segment and assessing its performance. IAS 14 required segment information to be prepared in conformity with the accounting policies adopted for preparing and presenting the financial statements of the consolidated group or entity.

14 IAS 14 defined segment revenue, segment expense, segment result, segment assets and segment liabilities. The IFRS does not define these terms, but requires an explanation of how segment profit or loss, segment assets and segment liabilities are measured for each reportable segment.

Disclosure

15 The IFRS requires an entity to disclose the following information:

(a) factors used to identify the entity’s operating segments, including the basis of organisation (for example, whether management organises the entity around differences in products and services, geographical areas, regulatory environments, or a combination of factors and whether segments have been aggregated), and

(b) types of products and services from which each reportable segment derives its revenues.

16 IAS 14 required the entity to disclose specified items of information about its primary segments. The IFRS requires an entity to disclose specified amounts about each reportable segment, if the specified amounts are included in the measure of segment profit or loss and are reviewed by or otherwise regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker.

17 The IFRS requires an entity to report interest revenue separately from interest expense for each reportable segment unless a majority of the segment’s revenues are from interest and the chief operating decision maker relies primarily on net interest revenue to assess the performance of the segment and to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment. IAS 14 did not require disclosure of interest income and expense.

18 The IFRS requires an entity, including an entity with a single reportable segment, to disclose information for the entity as a whole about its products and services, geographical areas, and major customers. This requirement applies, regardless of the entity’s organisation, if the information is not included as part of the disclosures about segments. IAS 14 required the disclosure of secondary segment information for either industry or geographical segments, to supplement the information given for the primary segments.