IAASA, Ireland’s accounting enforcer, has today published the results of its desk top survey into the operating segment disclosures by issuers. The Paper also sets out some of the enforcement actions taken by IAASA relating to operating segment disclosures. The survey covered the 2016/17 financial statements of twenty-nine entities listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.
The Paper is available here.
Background
Financial reporting standards (IFRS 8 Operating Segments) define an operating segment as a component of an entity:
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that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same entity);
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whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the entity’s Chief Operating Decision Maker (‘CODM’) to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance; and
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for which discrete financial information is available.
Key survey results
IAASA’s desk top survey identified that:
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a total of eighty-four operating segments were presented by the twenty-nine selected issuers in their most recently published annual reports – an average of 2.9 segments per issuer;
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eleven issuers identified the Board of directors as their CODM, while seven issuers identified the Chief Executive Officer as the CODM;
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six issuers did not disclose the judgements made by management in applying the operating segment aggregation criteria;
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seven issuers did not disclose or specifically address the basis of accounting for any transactions between their reportable segments; and
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five issuers did not provide all of the reconciliations required by IFRS 8 Operating Segments.
It is IAASA’s expectation that management, Boards and Audit Committees will continue to carefully assess and consider the disclosure requirements of IFRS 8 Operating Segments and ensure that all relevant information is disclosed in their financial statements.