Title: Segment disclosures are widely regarded as some of the most useful disclosures in financial reports because of the extent to which they disaggregate financial information into meaningful and often revealing groups. Discuss

2. Obtain the most recent annual reports for four FTSE 100 companies of your choice (note: you need to make sure the companies chosen to have more than one operational segment and thus have meaningful segment notes for analysis). Examine the segmental disclosures provided in the segment notes of the annual reports by the selected four companies and comment on the following:

1. Based on extracts from the segment notes,

• how much and what segmental information is provided in the segment notes?
• discuss whether the companies are in compliance with the relevant accounting standard, and
• discuss the similarities and differences between their disclosure practices.

2. What factors could potentially help to explain the differences/similarities in the segmental disclosure practices of the selected companies?
3. What the segmental disclosures indicate about the relative performance of the segments within each of those companies?
4. Comment on whether the information is useful and sufficient to allow shareholders to make informed investment decisions.
5. Discuss the implications of your analysis and findings, such as policy implications.

(80%)

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