IASB issues convergence standard on segment reporting

  • ifrssm.gif Image

30 Nov 2006

The IASB has issued IFRS 8 'Operating Segments' as part of joint project with the US Financial Accounting Standards Board to reduce differences between IFRSs and US GAAP.

IFRS 8 replaces IAS 14 Segment Reporting and aligns the IASB's standards with the requirements of SFAS 131.

IFRS 8 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 basis that it is used internally for evaluating operating segment performance and deciding how to allocate resources to operating segments.

 IFRS 8 Operating Segments:

  • applies only to listed entities
  • requires identification of operating segments based on 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
  • includes a component of an entity that sells primarily or exclusively to other operating segments of the entity in the definition of an operating segment if the entity is managed that way
  • requires the amount of each operating segment item reported to be the measure reported to the chief operating decision maker for the purposes of allocating resources to the segment and assessing its performance
  • requires reconciliations of total reportable segment revenues, total profit or loss, total assets, total liabilities and other amounts disclosed for reportable segments to corresponding amounts in the entity's financial statements
  • requires an explanation of how segment profit or loss and segment assets and liabilities are measured for each reportable segment.
  • 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
  • requires an entity to give descriptive information about the way in which 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
  • applies to the annual financial statements for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009. Earlier application is permitted.

 Click for Press Release (PDF 68k).

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.