Segment Statements and Informativeness Measures: Managing Capital vs. Managing Resources.
比较了传统分项数据与行业及地域分部披露的信息含量，提出“分项度量”指标，并探讨了管理资本与管理资源的不同信息需求，最后讨论了将分部报表作为第四张主要财务报表的可能性。
Abstract This article examines the informativeness of disaggregated data in financial statements by comparing the informativeness of conventional disaggregation with that of the industry and geographical disaggregations in segment disclosure. The usefulness of disaggregated data depends on both internal factors that relate to the accounting processes and external factors, that relate to uses to which users apply accounting data. This article focuses on a quantitative dimension of the former, proposing the use of the "disaggregation measure" as a measure of the informativeness of disaggregated data. The article focuses on a qualitative dimension of the latter, examining the need to distinguish the information requirements of those who manage capital from those who manage resources. Capital is homogeneous while resources are not. Hence, the conventional disaggregation, which is much more resource-oriented than the two newer disaggregations, loses its significance quickly as data are aggregated across diverse industries or countries. The industry and geographical disaggregations, on the other hand, are capital-oriented and are rapidly gaining in significance as business diversifies and becomes global. Finally, the article explores an accounting policy issue dealing with the possibility of developing a "segment statement" as a fourth primary financial statement, one that would cut across the balance sheet, the income statement, and the cash flow statement.