Segment Reporting practices in India : A case study of TCS Ltd

Diversification of companies into different business sectors is one of the key strategies of today's business world. At the same time the analysis of companies with more than one line of business has inherent difficulties as compared with the analysis of companies engaged in a single business. Traditional Annual Report contains general-purpose information in the form of consolidated statement of accounts. Consolidated statements enable the management to hide important information from the stakeholders. Some segments may be running at a loss but the consolidated statements will merely show the profit of all the segments taken together. Therefore, the stakeholders are not in a position to take economic decisions. This book gives an insight of segment reporting practices. Segment Reporting establishes principles for reporting financial information about different types of products and services an enterprise produces and different geographical areas in which it operates. The information is expected to help users of financial statements, to better understand the performance and assess the risks and returns of the enterprise.