영업손익의 공시 등에 관한 연구

The result of operating activities is core information to assess firm performance and therefore the Korean GAAP required firms to present 'operating income,' defined as gross profits minus selling and administrative expenses, as a separate line item in the income statement. On the other hand, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) neither provide the definition of operating activities nor require a separate disclosure of the result of operating activities. When first introduced, the Korean-adopted IFRS (K-IFRS) did not require the separate disclosure of operating income in order to fully follow IFRS. As a result, some of the early adopters of K-IFRS did not disclose operating income. Even among firms that disclosed operating income, the items constituting operating income varied across firms, which in turn hamper comparability of financial information across preparers. In order to facilitate more consistent financial reporting across preparers, the Korea Accounting Standard Board (KASB) revised K-IFRS in 2010 to require firms to disclose operating income. However, since the KASB provides no guidance on what to include in operating income, there are still great variations as to what constitutes operating income. Hence, this study examines whether there is a need for guidance to clarify items to be included in operating income, and makes suggestions regarding how to improve disclosure of operating income. Specifically, we review the practice of and academic research on operating income disclosures, conduct a survey to identify financial statement users' needs for operating income, and conduct empirical analysis for informativeness of various definitions of operating income. The results reveal that in general accounting standards of other countries do not require the separate disclosure of operating income. Nevertheless, many countries require the disclosure of operating income by the Company Act or by the stock exchange listing rules. The survey of financial statement users reveals that while the survey participants agree on importance of operating income information, they display reservation as to whether the K-IFRS requirement is sufficient to provide useful information of operating income. Although the survey participants prefer operating income defined by K-GAAP the most among alternative definitions of operating income, they also recognize importance of operating income that is extended to include other income/loss from operating activities. Furthermore, the survey respondents support the presentation of operating income in the statement of comprehensive income rather than in the notes to financial statements. Operating income defined by K-GAAP and operating income that is extended to include other income/loss from operating activities are equally informative to stock returns, indicating that investors recognize the extended definition of operating income as important as K-GAAP operating income. Based on these results, we provide definitions of operating activities and operating income, and make suggestions as to how to issue regulatory guidance and how to classify income statement items by activity.