TheCorporateCounsel.net

Back in August, I blogged about an upcoming FASB proposal to tweak segment disclosures. Earlier this month, FASB issued its proposed ASU laying out the details of the changes it wants to make. This excerpt from FASB’s press release summarizes those proposed changes:

The amendments in the proposed ASU respond to feedback received from investors and other allocators and would improve reportable segment disclosure requirements, primarily through enhanced disclosures about significant segment expenses. The key amendments in the proposed ASU would:

1. Require that a public entity disclose, on an annual and interim basis, significant segment expenses that are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker (CODM) and included within each reported measure of segment profit or loss.

2. Require that a public entity disclose, on an annual and interim basis, an amount for other segment items by reportable segment and a description of its composition. The other segment items category is the difference between segment revenue less the significant expenses disclosed and each reported measure of segment profit or loss.

3. Require that a public entity provide all annual disclosures about a reportable segment’s profit or loss and assets currently required by Topic 280, Segment Reporting, in interim periods.

4. Clarify that if the CODM uses more than one measure of a segment’s profit or loss, at least one of the reported segment profit or loss measures (or the single reported measure if only one is disclosed) should be the measure that is most consistent with the measurement principles used in measuring the corresponding amounts in a public entity’s consolidated financial statements.

5. Require that a public entity that has a single reportable segment provide all the disclosures required by the amendments in the proposed ASU and all existing segment disclosures in Topic 280.

The amendments would apply to all public companies that are required to report segment information. Fortunately, however, they would not change how those companies identify their operating segments, aggregate those operating segments, or apply the quantitative thresholds to determine reportable segments. FASB’s deadline for comments on the proposal is December 20, 2022.

– John Jenkins