The IFRS Interpretations Committee (Committee) discussed the following matter and tentatively decided not to add a standard-setting project to the work plan. The Committee will reconsider this tentative decision, including the reasons for not adding a standard-setting project, at a future meeting. The Committee invites comments on the tentative agenda decision. All comments will be on the public record and posted on our website unless a respondent requests confidentiality and we grant that request. We do not normally grant such requests unless they are supported by good reason, for example, commercial confidence.
Tentative Agenda Decision
The Committee received a request about how an entity applies the requirements in paragraph 23 of IFRS 8 to disclose for each reportable segment specified amounts related to segment profit or loss.
The request asked:
- whether an entity is required to disclose the specified amounts in paragraph 23(a)–(i) of IFRS 8 for each reportable segment if those amounts are not reviewed separately by the chief operating decision maker (CODM);
- whether an entity is required to disclose the specified amounts in paragraph 23(f) of IFRS 8 for each reportable segment if the entity presents or discloses those specified amounts applying a requirement in IFRS Accounting Standards other than paragraph 97 of IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements; and
- how an entity determines ‘material items’ in paragraph 23(f) of IFRS 8. In particular:
- whether ‘material items’ are only those that are material on a qualitative basis;
- whether ‘material items’ include amounts that are an aggregation of individually quantitatively immaterial items; and
- whether the materiality assessment is performed at an income statement level (from an overall reporting entity perspective) or at a segment level.
The Committee observed that there are two main aspects to the questions:
- the requirements of paragraph 23 of IFRS 8 to disclose, for each reportable segment, specified amounts included in segment profit or loss reviewed by the CODM; and
- the meaning of ‘material items of income and expense’ in the context of paragraph 97 of IAS 1 as referenced in paragraph 23(f) of IFRS 8.
Disclosure of specified amounts
Paragraph 23 of IFRS 8 requires an entity to report a measure of profit or loss for each reportable segment and to disclose specified amounts for each reportable segment. Paragraph 23 sets out specified amounts that an entity is required to disclose for each reportable segment if the specified amounts are included in the measure of segment profit or loss reviewed by the CODM, or are otherwise regularly provided to the CODM, even if not included in that measure of segment profit or loss.
The Committee observed that paragraph 23 of IFRS 8 requires an entity to disclose the specified amounts for each reportable segment when those amounts are included in the measure of segment profit or loss reviewed by the CODM, even if they are not separately reviewed by the CODM, or when those amounts are regularly provided to the CODM, even if they are not included in the measure of segment profit or loss.
Material items of income and expense
Paragraph 23(f) of IFRS 8 sets out one of the required ‘specified amounts’, namely, ‘material items of income and expense disclosed in accordance with paragraph 97 of IAS 1’. Paragraph 97 of IAS 1 states that ‘when items of income or expense are material, an entity shall disclose their nature and amount separately’.
Definition of ‘material’
Paragraph 7 of IAS 1 defines ‘material’ and states ‘information is material if omitting, misstating or obscuring it could reasonably be expected to influence decisions that the primary users of general purpose financial reports make on the basis of those financial statements, which provide financial information about a specific reporting entity’.
Paragraph 7 of IAS 1 also states ‘materiality depends on the nature or magnitude of information, or both. An entity assesses whether information, either individually or in combination with other information, is material in the context of its financial statements taken as a whole’.
Aggregation of information
Paragraphs 30–31 of IAS 1 provide requirements for how an entity aggregates information in the financial statements, including in the notes. Paragraph 30A of IAS 1 states that ‘an entity shall not reduce the understandability of its financial statements by obscuring material information with immaterial information or by aggregating material items that have different natures or functions’.
Applying paragraph 23(f) of IFRS 8—material items of income and expense
The Committee observed that when IAS 1 refers to materiality, it is in the context of ‘information’ being material. An entity applies judgement in considering whether disclosing, or not disclosing, information in the financial statements could reasonably be expected to influence decisions of users of those financial statements.
The Committee observed that, in applying paragraph 23(f) of IFRS 8, an entity:
- applies paragraph 7 of IAS 1 and assesses whether the disclosure of information is material in the context of its financial statements taken as a whole;
- applies the requirements in paragraphs 30–31 of IAS 1 in considering how to aggregate information in the financial statements;
- considers both qualitative and quantitative factors, representing the nature or magnitude of information, or both, in assessing whether an item of income and expense is material; and
- considers an item of income and expense for disclosure without regard to whether that item is presented or disclosed applying a requirement in IFRS Accounting Standards other than paragraph 97 of IAS 1.
Conclusion
The Committee concluded that the principles and requirements in IFRS Accounting Standards provide an adequate basis for an entity to apply the disclosure requirements in paragraph 23 of IFRS 8.
Consequently, the Committee [decided] not to add a standard-setting project to the work plan.
The deadline for commenting on the tentative agenda decision is 5 February 2024. The Committee will consider all comments received in writing by that date; agenda papers analysing comments received will include analysis only of comments received by that date.
