Segment Reporting Research

During the late 1960s, a large number of business combinations resulted in highly diversified corporations. Segment reporting has become more important as the number and size of conglomerates increase, as foreign operations increase, and as companies continue to diversify. The primary benefit of segment reporting is the released of?hidden datd?from consolidated financial information. Different industry segments and geographic areas may possess different levels of profitability, risk, and growth This important information is merged in the consolidated amounts. Assessing future cash flows and their associated risks can be aided by segment data For example, knowledge of the level of enterprise operations in a growth or declining industry can help cash flow predictions, while knowledge of the level of enterprise operations in an unstable geographic area can help assess risk. In general, information about the nature and relative size of an enterprise? s various businesses is considered useful. Due to the advantages listed above, and we have not established specific guidelines for the required disclosure of segment information on financial reports issued to stockholders. So it is necessary to do research on segment reporting. There are four pieces in this paper. The first piece describes the evolution of segment reporting studies in United States, United Kingdom, United Nations, European Union, OECD, and International Accounting Standard Committee. The second piece focuses on the disclosures of segment reporting for operations in different industries, operations in different geographic areas, export sales, and major customers. The third piece describes and compares the standard_setting and reporting practices of segment reporting in the selected countries and international organizations. The purpose is to realize the difference in them, harmonize the accounting standards, and enhance comparability of accounting information. The last piece discusses the problems about disclosure of segment reporting information in our country.