Der von Nina Franzen und Barbara E. Weißenberger verfasste Beitrag "The Adoption of IFRS 8 - No Headway Made? Evidence from Segment Reporting Practices in Germany" wurde zur Veröffentlichung im Journal of Applied Accounting Research angenommen.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of our research is to assess the changes in segment reporting practices of German listed firms under the new segment reporting standard IFRS 8.
Design/methodology/approach – We compare hand-collected segment disclosures of German firms in the first IFRS 8 year with those reported in the last IAS 14R year.
Findings – We do not find substantial changes in the segment disclosures of German firms under IFRS 8. While the number of reportable segments slightly increased, the amount of information disclosed for each reportable segment decreased. The same applies to geographic areas reported as secondary segments under IAS 14R compared to entity-wide disclosures under IFRS 8. Furthermore, even though more country-specific information was provided, many firms still disclosed only broad geographic areas.
Research limitations/implications – Future research should extend the analysis to consider more than one year of data following IFRS 8’s adoption and to examine the impact of the standard on smaller firms. Moreover, investigating economic benefits for investors and other financial statement users following IFRS 8's adoption could be an avenue for future research.
Practical implications – Our findings indicate that the IASB’s expectations regarding changes in segment reporting practices under IFRS 8 have only partially been met. Our results also reveal some cases of segment reporting practice where compliance is at least questionable. Both findings are of interest to standard-setters and regulators.
Originality/value – The paper provides new insights into the effects of IFRS 8 adoption in Germany and thereby contributes to the post-implementation review of IFRS 8 recently carried out by the IASB. Our study sheds light on the consequences of applying the ‘management approach’ to segment reporting, thereby contributing to the theoretical discussion on the adequacy of the different concepts for disclosing segment information.