ASC 280: Segment Reporting

ASC 280 Segment Reporting provides guidance to public entities on how to report certain information about operating segments in their financial statements. It also requires public entities to provide information about their products and services, the geographic areas in which they operate, and their major customers. By providing such information through the “eyes of management,” users of the financial statements are able to gain a better understanding about the entity’s performance.

However, ever since the guidance was issued back in 1997, segment reporting has always been in the top 5 issues noted by the SEC in their comment letters. Why? Because, let’s face it, companies really don’t like reporting such granular information about their business which could be used against them by their competitors.

In this CPE-eligible, eLearning course (1.0 CPE) you’ll learn how to identify operating segments using the management approach and determine which operating segments rise to the level of reportable segments. It also provides an overview of the segment disclosures required by ASC 280, including the improvements to reportable segment disclosures set out in ASU 2023-07. Finally, we’ll discuss the issues with segment reporting noted by the SEC in their comment letters.

Learning Objective(s): By the end of this course, you should be able to: 

• Identify operating and reportable segments using the management approach
• Recall the segment disclosures required by ASC 280, including the improvements set out in ASU 2023-07
• Recognize issues with segment disclosures noted by the SEC in their comment letters