Reporting Discontinued Segments In A Cash Basis Statement Of Changes In Financial Position.

This article recommends the reporting of discontinued segments in a direct manner in the statement of changes in financial position (SCFP). Management's decision to discontinue or otherwise abandon a segment of its business (discontinued segment) represents a major divestiture strategy which may have a material effect on the entity's present and prospective cash flows. However, since current financial reporting standards do not provide guidance for the disclosure of discontinued segments in the SCFP, a diversity of disclosure practices exist. Many of these disclosure practices tend to obscure the distinction between the cash flows of the discontinued segment and cash flows of the continuing business, thereby diminishing financial statement users' ability to assess the effect of the discontinued segment on the entity's present and prospective cash flows. This paper proposes improvements in current practice by recommending that the cash flows of each discontinued segment be reported separately and in a direct manner in the SCFP of each period presented. The recommendations in this paper may help improve the financial statement user's capacity to assess the current and prospective cash flows of the continuing business and make more meaningful intercompany comparisons.