Assignment Description SEGMENT REPORTING   AASB 8 requires that ‘an entity shall disclosure information to enable users of its financial statements to evaluate the nature and financial effects of th

Assignment Description

SEGMENT REPORTING

AASB 8 requires that ‘an entity shall disclosure information to enable users of its financial statements to evaluate the nature and financial effects of the business activities in which it engages and the economic environments in which it operates’. [Para. 1]

This group assignment is on segment reporting. It consists of both a general theory part and an application part that involves researching on the disclosure practice of real-world Australian listed companies.

Part 1: GENERAL

a)            In your own words, discuss the arguments for and against segment reporting as required by AASB 8. Do you think the proposed benefits of segment reporting outweigh its costs?

b)            According to AASB 8, what is the ‘management approach’ to segment reporting? What are the rationales for adopting this approach? Do you think this approach would result in companies disclosing too much private information to their competitors?

c)            In what ways can segment reporting (AASB 8) be seen as the opposite of consolidation accounting (AASB 10)? Do you think it is paradoxical to require both segment reporting and consolidation accounts in the same financial report?

Part 2: APPLICATION (using real companies)

Each group will be allocated 3 ~ 5 companies (one for each member) to research on their 2018 annual reports. Your assignment should cover the following:

a)            For each company, describe the principal activities it engages in and of its various business components by referring to the ‘management discussion and analysis’ section(s) of the annual report.

b)            Critically evaluate the segment information disclosed in the annual report to ascertain if the disclosure practice of the company complies with the requirements of AASB 8 as regards the definition of ‘operating segments’ and ‘reportable segments’. [Hint: You may wish to verify the reportable segments disclosed by referring to the various quantitative thresholds adopted in AASB 8.]

c)            For each disclosed financial item, does the total of all the reportable segments equal to the corresponding consolidated figures for the whole group? What explains the differences between these two sets of numbers?

The ASX listed companies that may be used for this assignment includes the following,

Company name

Symbol (Ticker)

AMP Limited

BSL

Ramsay Healthcare

RHC

AGL Energy Limited

AGL

Qantas Airways Limited

QAN

Computershare Limited

CPU

NAB Bank Ltd

BEN

Wesfarmers Limited

WES

TPG Telecom Limited

TPM

Westpac Banking Corp

WBC

Telstra Corporation Ltd

TLS

Format of the assignment

•        An assignment coversheet (ensure group members’ full names and student numbers are correctly written, and the part each student completed specified)

•        A table of contents

•        An introduction

•        The body of the assignment

•        References

•        12-point Arial or Times New Roman font with a 1-inch margins on all sides.

•        Double-spaced

•        All pages following the cover page should have a page number.

•        Appropriately cite reference for original work, author(s) etc. Citation and referencing must conform to Harvard/APA 6 referencing system.