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236
Accounting Standard (AS) 17
Segment Reporting
Contents
OBJECTIVE
SCOPE Paragraphs 1-
DEFINITIONS 5-
IDENTIFYING REPORTABLE SEGMENTS 19-
Primary and Secondary Segment Reporting Formats 19-
Business and Geographical Segments 24-
Reportable Segments 27-
SEGMENT ACCOUNTING POLICIES 33-
DISCLOSURE 38-
Primary Reporting Format 39-
Secondary Segment Information 47-
Illustrative Segment Disclosures 52
Other Disclosures 53-
ILLUSTRATIONS
214 AS 17 (issued 2000)
Accounting Standard (AS) 17
Segment Reporting
(This Accounting Standard includes paragraphs set in bold italic type and plain type, which have equal authority. Paragraphs in bold italic type indicate the main principles. This Accounting Standard should be read in the context of its objective and the General Instructions contained in part A of the Annexure to the Notification.)
This Accounting Standard is not mandatory for Small and Medium Sized Companies, as defined in the Notification. Such companies are however encouraged to comply with the Standard.
Objective
The objective of this Standard is to establish principles for reporting financial information, about the different types of products and services an enterprise produces and the different geographical areas in which it operates. Such information helps users of financial statements:
(a) better understand the performance of the enterprise;
(b) better assess the risks and returns of the enterprise; and
(c) make more informed judgements about the enterprise as a whole.
Many enterprises provide groups of products and services or operate in geographical areas that are subject to differing rates of profitability, opportunities for growth, future prospects, and risks. Information about different types of products and services of an enterprise and its operations in different geographical areas - often called segment information - is relevant to assessing the risks and returns of a diversified or multi-locational enterprise but may not be determinable from the aggregated data. Therefore, reporting of segment information is widely regarded as necessary for meeting the needs of users of financial statements.
Scope
- This Standard should be applied in presenting general purpose financial statements.
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other economic environments. Factors that should be considered in identifying geographical segments include:
(a) similarity of economic and political conditions;
(b) relationships between operations in different geographical areas;
(c) proximity of operations;
(d) special risks associated with operations in a particular area;
(e) exchange control regulations; and
(f) the underlying currency risks.
5.3 A reportable segment is a business segment or a geographical segment identified on the basis of foregoing definitions for which segment information is required to be disclosed by this Standard.
5.4 Enterprise revenue is revenue from sales to external customers as reported in the statement of profit and loss.
5.5 Segment revenue is the aggregate of
(i) the portion of enterprise revenue that is directly attributable to a segment,
(ii) the relevant portion of enterprise revenue that can be allocated on a reasonable basis to a segment, and
(iii) revenue from transactions with other segments of the enterprise.
Segment revenue does not include:
(a) extraordinary items as defined in AS 5, Net Profit or Loss for the Period, Prior Period Items and Changes in Accounting Policies;
(b) interest or dividend income, including interest earned on advances or loans to other segments unless the operations of the segment are primarily of a financial nature; and
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(c) gains on sales of investments or on extinguishment of debt unless the operations of the segment are primarily of a financial nature.
5.6 Segment expense is the aggregate of
(i) the expense resulting from the operating activities of a segment that is directly attributable to the segment, and
(ii) the relevant portion of enterprise expense that can be allocated on a reasonable basis to the segment,
including expense relating to transactions with other segments of the enterprise.
Segment expense does not include:
(a) extraordinary items as defined in AS 5, Net Profit or Loss for the Period, Prior Period Items and Changes in Accounting Policies;
(b) interest expense, including interest incurred on advances or loans from other segments, unless the operations of the segment are primarily of a financial nature;
Explanation:
The interest expense relating to overdrafts and other operating liabilities identified to a particular segment are not included as a part of the segment expense unless the operations of the segment are primarily of a financial nature or unless the interest is included as a part of the cost of inventories. In case interest is included as a part of the cost of inventories where it is so required as per AS 16, Borrowing Costs, read with AS 2, Valuation of Inventories, and those inventories are part of segment assets of a particular segment, such interest is considered as a segment expense. In this case, the amount of such interest and the fact that the segment result has been arrived at after considering such interest is disclosed by way of a note to the segment result.
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- The factors in paragraph 5 for identifying business segments and geographical segments are not listed in any particular order.
- A single business segment does not include products and services with significantly differing risks and returns. While there may be dissimilarities with respect to one or several of the factors listed in the definition of business segment, the products and services included in a single business segment are expected to be similar with respect to a majority of the factors.
- Similarly, a single geographical segment does not include operations in economic environments with significantly differing risks and returns. A geographical segment may be a single country, a group of two or more countries, or a region within a country.
- The risks and returns of an enterprise are influenced both by the geographical location of its operations (where its products are produced or where its service rendering activities are based) and also by the location of its customers (where its products are sold or services are rendered). The definition allows geographical segments to be based on either:
(a) the location of production or service facilities and other assets of an enterprise; or
(b) the location of its customers.
- The organisational and internal reporting structure of an enterprise will normally provide evidence of whether its dominant source of geo- graphical risks results from the location of its assets (the origin of its sales) or the location of its customers (the destination of its sales). Accordingly, an enterprise looks to this structure to determine whether its geographical segments should be based on the location of its assets or on the location of its customers.
- Determining the composition of a business or geographical segment involves a certain amount of judgement. In making that judgement, enterprise management takes into account the objective of reporting financial information by segment as set forth in this Standard and the qualitative characteristics of financial statements as identified in the Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. The qualitative characteristics include the relevance, reliability, and comparability over time
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of financial information that is reported about the different groups of products and services of an enterprise and about its operations in particular geographical areas, and the usefulness of that information for assessing the risks and returns of the enterprise as a whole.
- The predominant sources of risks affect how most enterprises are organised and managed. Therefore, the organisational structure of an enterprise and its internal financial reporting system are normally the basis for identifying its segments.
- The definitions of segment revenue, segment expense, segment assets and segment liabilities include amounts of such items that are directly attributable to a segment and amounts of such items that can be allocated to a segment on a reasonable basis. An enterprise looks to its internal financial reporting system as the starting point for identifying those items that can be directly attributed, or reasonably allocated, to segments. There is thus a presumption that amounts that have been identified with segments for internal financial reporting purposes are directly attributable or reasonably allocable to segments for the purpose of measuring the segment revenue, segment
- In some cases, however, a revenue, expense, asset or liability may have been allocated to segments for internal financial reporting purposes on a basis that is understood by enterprise management but that could be deemed arbitrary in the perception of external users of financial statements. Such an allocation would not constitute a reasonable basis under the definitions of segment revenue, segment expense, segment assets, and segment liabilities in this Standard. Conversely, an enterprise may choose not to allocate some item of revenue, expense, asset or liability for internal financial reporting purposes, even though a reasonable basis for doing so exists. Such an item is allocated pursuant to the definitions of segment revenue, segment expense, segment assets, and segment liabilities in this Standard.
- Examples of segment assets include current assets that are used in the operating activities of the segment and tangible and intangible fixed assets. If a particular item of depreciation or amortisation is included in segment expense, the related asset is also included in segment assets. Segment assets do not include assets used for general enterprise or head-office purposes. Segment assets include operating assets shared by two or more segments if a reasonable basis for allocation exists. Segment assets include goodwill that is directly attributable to a segment or that can be allocated to a segment
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by the fact that it operates in different countries or other geographical areas, its primary format for reporting segment information should be geographical segments, with secondary information reported for groups of related products and services.
- Internal organisation and management structure of an enterprise and its system of internal financial reporting to the board of directors and the chief executive officer should normally be the basis for identifying the predominant source and nature of risks and differing rates of return facing the enterprise and, therefore, for determining which reporting format is primary and which is secondary, except as provided in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) below:
(a) if risks and returns of an enterprise are strongly affected both by differences in the products and services it produces and by differences in the geographical areas in which it operates, as evidenced by a ‘matrix approach’ to managing the company and to reporting internally to the board of directors and the chief executive officer, then the enterprise should use business segments as its primary segment reporting format and geographical segments as its secondary reporting format; and
(b) if internal organisational and management structure of an enterprise and its system of internal financial reporting to the board of directors and the chief executive officer are based neither on individual products or services or groups of related products/ services nor on geographical areas, the directors and management of the enterprise should determine whether the risks and returns of the enterprise are related more to the products and services it produces or to the geographical areas in which it operates and should, accordingly, choose business segments or geographical segments as the primary segment reporting format of the enterprise, with the other as its secondary reporting format.
- For most enterprises, the predominant source of risks and returns determines how the enterprise is organised and managed. Organisational and management structure of an enterprise and its internal financial reporting system normally provide the best evidence of the predominant source of risks and returns of the enterprise for the purpose of its segment reporting. Therefore, except in rare circumstances, an enterprise will report segment information in its financial statements on the same basis as it reports internally
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to top management. Its predominant source of risks and returns becomes its primary segment reporting format. Its secondary source of risks and returns becomes its secondary segment reporting format.
- A ‘matrix presentation’ — both business segments and geographical segments as primary segment reporting formats with full segment disclosures on each basis -- will often provide useful information if risks and returns of an enterprise are strongly affected both by differences in the products and services it produces and by differences in the geographical areas in which it operates. This Standard does not require, but does not prohibit, a ‘matrix presentation’.
- In some cases, organisation and internal reporting of an enterprise may have developed along lines unrelated to both the types of products and services it produces, and the geographical areas in which it operates. In such cases, the internally reported segment data will not meet the objective of this Standard. Accordingly, paragraph 20(b) requires the directors and management of the enterprise to determine whether the risks and returns of the enterprise are more product/service driven or geographically driven and to accordingly choose business segments or geographical segments as the primary basis of segment reporting. The objective is to achieve a reasonable degree of comparability with other enterprises, enhance understandability of the resulting information, and meet the needs of investors, creditors, and others for information about product/service-related and geographically- related risks and returns.
Business and Geographical Segments
- Business and geographical segments of an enterprise for external reporting purposes should be those organisational units for which information is reported to the board of directors and to the chief executive officer for the purpose of evaluating the unit’s performance and for making decisions about future allocations of resources, except as provided in paragraph 25.
- If internal organisational and management structure of an enterprise and its system of internal financial reporting to the board of directors and the chief executive officer are based neither on individual products or services or groups of related products/services nor on geographical areas, paragraph 20(b) requires that the directors and management of the enterprise should choose either business segments or geographical
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enterprise and its internal financial reporting system to identify the business and geographical segments of the enterprise for external reporting purposes is sometimes called the ‘management approach’, and the organisational components for which information is reported internally are sometimes called ‘operating segments’.
Reportable Segments
- A business segment or geographical segment should be identified as a reportable segment if:
(a) its revenue from sales to external customers and from transactions with other segments is 10 per cent or more of the total revenue, external and internal, of all segments; or
(b) its segment result, whether profit or loss, is 10 per cent or more of -
(i) the combined result of all segments in profit, or
(ii) the combined result of all segments in loss,
whichever is greater in absolute amount; or
(c) its segment assets are 10 per cent or more of the total assets of all segments.
28.^ A business segment or a geographical segment which is not a reportable segment as per paragraph 27, may be designated as a reportable segment despite its size at the discretion of the management of the enterprise. If that segment is not designated as a reportable segment, it should be included as an unallocated reconciling item.
- If total external revenue attributable to reportable segments constitutes less than 75 per cent of the total enterprise revenue, additional segments should be identified as reportable segments, even if they do not meet the 10 per cent thresholds in paragraph 27, until at least 75 per cent
- The 10 per cent thresholds in this Standard are not intended to be a guide for determining materiality for any aspect of financial reporting other than identifying reportable business and geographical segments.
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Illustration II attached to this Standard presents an illustration of the determination of reportable segments as per paragraphs 27-29.
- A segment identified as a reportable segment in the immediately preceding period because it satisfied the relevant 10 per cent thresholds should continue to be a reportable segment for the current period notwithstanding that its revenue, result, and assets all no longer meet the 10 per cent thresholds.
- If a segment is identified as a reportable segment in the current period because it satisfies the relevant 10 per cent thresholds, preceding-period segment data that is presented for comparative purposes should, unless it is impracticable to do so, be restated to reflect the newly reportable segment as a separate segment, even if that segment did not satisfy the 10 per cent thresholds in the preceding period.
Segment Accounting Policies
- Segment information should be prepared in conformity with the accounting policies adopted for preparing and presenting the financial statements of the enterprise as a whole.
- There is a presumption that the accounting policies that the directors and management of an enterprise have chosen to use in preparing the financial statements of the enterprise as a whole are those that the directors and management believe are the most appropriate for external reporting purposes. Since the purpose of segment information is to help users of financial statements better understand and make more informed judgements about the enterprise as a whole, this Standard requires the use, in preparing segment information, of the accounting policies adopted for preparing and presenting the financial statements of the enterprise as a whole. That does not mean, however, that the enterprise accounting policies are to be applied to reportable segments as if the segments were separate stand-alone reporting entities. A detailed calculation done in applying a particular accounting policy at the enterprise-wide level may be allocated to segments if there is a reasonable basis for doing so. Pension calculations, for example, often are done for an enterprise as a whole, but the enterprise-wide figures may be allocated to segments based on salary and demographic data for the segments.
- This Standard does not prohibit the disclosure of additional segment information that is prepared on a basis other than the accounting policies
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segment nor more than one geographical segment, segment information as per this Standard is not required to be disclosed. However, the fact that there is only one ‘business segment’ and ‘geographical segment’ is disclosed by way of a note.
Primary Reporting Format
- The disclosure requirements in paragraphs 40-46 should be applied to each reportable segment based on primary reporting format of an enterprise.
- An enterprise should disclose the following for each reportable segment:
(a) segment revenue, classified into segment revenue from sales to external customers and segment revenue from transactions with other segments;
(b) segment result;
(c) total carrying amount of segment assets;
(d) total amount of segment liabilities;
(e) total cost incurred during the period to acquire segment assets that are expected to be used during more than one period (tangible and intangible fixed assets);
(f) total amount of expense included in the segment result for depreciation and amortisation in respect of segment assets for the period; and
(g) total amount of significant non-cash expenses, other than depreciation and amortisation in respect of segment assets, that were included in segment expense and, therefore, deducted in measuring segment result.
- Paragraph 40 (b) requires an enterprise to report segment result. If an enterprise can compute segment net profit or loss or some other measure of segment profitability other than segment result, without arbitrary allocations, reporting of such amount(s) in addition to segment result is encouraged. If that measure is prepared on a basis other than the accounting policies adopted for the financial statements of the enterprise, the enterprise will include in its financial statements a clear description of the basis of measurement.
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- An example of a measure of segment performance above segment result in the statement of profit and loss is gross margin on sales. Examples of measures of segment performance below segment result in the statement of profit and loss are profit or loss from ordinary activities (either before or after income taxes) and net profit or loss.
- Accounting Standard 5, ‘Net Profit or Loss for the Period, Prior Period Items and Changes in Accounting Policies’ requires that “when items of income and expense within profit or loss from ordinary activities are of such size, nature or incidence that their disclosure is relevant to explain the performance of the enterprise for the period, the nature and amount of such items should be disclosed separately”. Examples of such items include write- downs of inventories, provisions for restructuring, disposals of fixed assets and long-term investments, legislative changes having retrospective application, litigation settlements, and reversal of provisions. An enterprise is encouraged, but not required, to disclose the nature and amount of any items of segment revenue and segment expense that are of such size, nature, or incidence that their disclosure is relevant to explain the performance of the segment for the period. Such disclosure is not intended to change the classification of any such items of revenue or expense from ordinary to extraordinary or to change the measurement of such items. The disclosure, however, does change the level at which the significance of such items is evaluated for disclosure purposes from the enterprise level to the segment level.
- An enterprise that reports the amount of cash flows arising from operating, investing and financing activities of a segment need not disclose depreciation and amortisation expense and non-cash expenses of such segment pursuant to sub-paragraphs (f) and (g) of paragraph 40.
- AS 3, Cash Flow Statements, recommends that an enterprise present a cash flow statement that separately reports cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities. Disclosure of information regarding operating, investing and financing cash flows of each reportable segment is relevant to understanding the enterprise’s overall financial position, liquidity, and cash flows. Disclosure of segment cash flow is, therefore, encouraged, though not required. An enterprise that provides segment cash flow disclosures need not disclose depreciation and amortisation expense and non-cash expenses pursuant to sub-paragraphs (f) and (g) of paragraph 40.
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(c) the total cost incurred during the period to acquire segment assets that are expected to be used during more than one period (tangible and intangible fixed assets) by geographical location of assets, for each geographical segment whose segment assets are 10 per cent or more of the total assets of all
- If primary format of an enterprise for reporting segment information is geographical segments (whether based on location of assets or location of customers), it should also report the following segment information for each business segment whose revenue from sales to external customers is 10 per cent or more of enterprise revenue or whose segment assets are 10 per cent or more of the total assets of all business segments:
(a) segment revenue from external customers;
(b) the total carrying amount of segment assets; and
(c) the total cost incurred during the period to acquire segment assets that are expected to be used during more than one period (tangible and intangible fixed assets).
- If primary format of an enterprise for reporting segment information is geographical segments that are based on location of assets, and if the location of its customers is different from the location of its assets, then the enterprise should also report revenue from sales to external customers for each customer-based geographical segment whose revenue from sales to external customers is 10 per cent or more of enterprise revenue.
- If primary format of an enterprise for reporting segment information is geographical segments that are based on location of customers, and if the assets of the enterprise are located in different geographical areas from its customers, then the enterprise should also report the following segment information for each asset-based geographical segment whose revenue from sales to external customers or segment assets are 10 per cent
(a) the total carrying amount of segment assets by geographical location of the assets; and
(b) the total cost incurred during the period to acquire segment assets that are expected to be used during more than one period (tangible and intangible fixed assets) by location of the assets.
Illustrative Segment Disclosures
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- Illustration III attached to this Standard illustrates the disclosures for primary and secondary formats that are required by this Standard.
Other Disclosures
- In measuring and reporting segment revenue from transactions with other segments, inter-segment transfers should be measured on the basis that the enterprise actually used to price those transfers. The basis of pricing inter-segment transfers and any change therein should be disclosed in the financial statements.
- Changes in accounting policies adopted for segment reporting that have a material effect on segment information should be disclosed. Such disclosure should include a description of the nature of the change, and the financial effect of the change if it is reasonably determinable.
- AS 5 requires that changes in accounting policies adopted by the enterprise should be made only if required by statute, or for compliance with an accounting standard, or if it is considered that the change would result in a more appropriate presentation of events or transactions in the financial statements of the enterprise.
- Changes in accounting policies adopted at the enterprise level that affect segment information are dealt with in accordance with AS 5. AS 5 requires that any change in an accounting policy which has a material effect should be disclosed. The impact of, and the adjustments resulting from, such change, if material, should be shown in the financial statements of the period in which such change is made, to reflect the effect of such change. Where the effect of such change is not ascertainable, wholly or in part, the fact should be indicated. If a change is made in the accounting policies which has no material effect on the financial statements for the current period but which is reasonably expected to have a material effect in later periods, the fact of such change should be appropriately disclosed in the period in which the change is adopted.
- Some changes in accounting policies relate specifically to segment reporting. Examples include changes in identification of segments and changes in the basis for allocating revenues and expenses to segments. Such changes can have a significant impact on the segment information reported
