Disclosing Disaggregated Information
How companies and auditors have met the challenge. For many years, analysts and other users of external financial reports have expressed concern about the form and usefulness of the segment reporting companies include in these statements. Analysts believe that understanding the components of a multifaceted enterprise is vital to obtaining a complete understanding of that business. Financial statement users expressed great dissatisfaction with the information companies presented in financial reports prepared in compliance with FASB Statement no. 14, Financial Reporting for Segments of a Business Enterprise, issued in 1976. Because the definition of an industry, segment under Statement no. 14 was imprecise (to accommodate a wide variety of businesses subject to the rule) the result was that companies provided only limited information. Disclosures made under Statement no. 14 were not helpful to financial statement users. In some cases, businesses exploited the imprecision of the industry segment definition to avoid providing useful information. Both the AICPA Special Committee on Financial Reporting and the Association for Investment Management and Research noted the importance of segment data and the shortcomings of Statement no. 14. The groups stressed the need for a company to present segment data in the same way it organized and managed its business. FASB responded by issuing Statement no. 131, Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information. Statement no. 131 was effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1997. While it appeared, at first reading, to be straightforward, Statement no. 131 has proven to be quite subtle and complex. Quality disclosures do not come easily. The nature of the required disclosures increases the level of risk for management and auditors alike. Management faces increased competitive risk as a result of competitors knowing more about the company. Most companies guard information on the profitability of segments carefully. If too much information is revealed in financial statements, the company could lose its negotiating advantage in an acquisition. Auditors, in turn, face the risk of not knowing how the SEC will respond to disclosures on which the auditor had rendered an opinion. If the auditor discloses too much information, the client faces a competitive disadvantage. Disclosing too little might raise the ire of the SEC. Prepared properly, however, the required disclosures can prove useful to both management and statement users, particularly when compared to Statement no. 14. A number of issues have arisen since companies began applying Statement no. 131, including implementation issues confronting both financial managers and outside auditors. To help CPAs better understand them, this article offers some examples of how some businesses have applied Statement no. 131. THE BASICS OF THE NEW APPROACH The exhibit on page 49 summarizes the requirements of Statement no. 131. The statement adopts a management approach to defining segments and uses the term operating segment rather than industry segment. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise * That engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses related to transactions with other components of the enterprise). * Whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to decide how to allocate resources to the segment and assess its performance. * For which discrete financial information is available. This definition includes reporting separately segments that sell their products or services primarily or exclusively to other operating segments of the enterprise if management reports these segments separately for decision-making purposes. Statement no. 131 requires information only about reportable operating segments. …