Primary and Secondary Segment Reporting Formats

The dominant source and nature of risks and returns of an enterprise should govern whether its primary segment reporting format will be business segments or geographical segments. Internal organisation and management structure of an enterprise and its system of internal financial reporting to the board of directors and the chief executive officer should normally be the basis for identifying the predominant source and nature of risks and differing rates of return facing the enterprise and, therefore, for determining which reporting format is primary and which is secondary, except as provided paragraphs below:

• If risks and returns of an enterprise are strongly affected both by differences in the products and services it produces and by differences in the geographical areas in which it operates, as evidenced by a ‘matrix approach’, then the enterprise should use business segments as its primary segment reporting format and geographical segments as its secondary reporting forma; and
• If internal organisational and management structure of an enterprise are based neither on individual products or services or groups of related products/services nor on geographical areas, it should be determined whether the risks and returns of the enterprise are related more to the products and services it produces or to the geographical areas in which it operates and accordingly, choose segments.