IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2605.23924.html

Improving the Completeness and Comparability of Segment Disclosures: A Large Language Model Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Yue Liu
  • Zhiyuan Cheng
  • Longying Lai

Abstract

Segment-level disclosures are a central component of financial reporting, providing insight into firms' internal organization and the allocation of economic activities across operating units. However, segment information is often presented in both qualitative and quantitative forms, dispersed across tables and narrative sections of Form 10-K filings. Empirical research relying on structured databases faces both completeness and comparability challenges, as some firm-year observations may be missing, nested segment disclosures are not captured, and support for longitudinal and cross-firm comparability is limited. This study develops a large language model-based framework to extract segment disclosures directly from Form 10-K filings and to preserve both reportable and nested segment information. We further design a retrieval augmented system that incorporates information across multiple filings to support comparability. We use two representative settings to demonstrate its application: longitudinal analysis within a firm to interpret segment changes over time, and cross firm alignment of geographic segments across firms with different reporting structures. The results indicate that the artifact accurately extracts segment-level information and effectively addresses questions that require cross-period knowledge, demonstrating the potential of LLM-based approaches to enhance the measurement and interpretation of segment disclosures.

Suggested Citation

  • Yue Liu & Zhiyuan Cheng & Longying Lai, 2026. "Improving the Completeness and Comparability of Segment Disclosures: A Large Language Model Approach," Papers 2605.23924, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2605.23924
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.23924
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lisa Hinson & Jennifer Wu Tucker & Diana Weng, 2019. "The tradeoff between relevance and comparability in segment reporting✩," Journal of Accounting Literature, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(1), pages 70-86, November.
    2. Paul Hribar & Daniel W. Collins, 2002. "Errors in Estimating Accruals: Implications for Empirical Research," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 105-134, March.
    3. Denis, David J & Denis, Diane K & Sarin, Atulya, 1997. "Agency Problems, Equity Ownership, and Corporate Diversification," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 135-160, March.
    4. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2014. "Measuring Readability in Financial Disclosures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1643-1671, August.
    5. Yanci Zhang & Mengjia Xia & Mingyang Li & Haitao Mao & Yutong Lu & Yupeng Lan & Jinlin Ye & Rui Dai, 2023. "Form 10-K Itemization," Papers 2303.04688, arXiv.org.
    6. Hinson, Lisa & Tucker, Jennifer Wu & Weng, Diana, 2019. "The tradeoff between relevance and comparability in segment reporting," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 70-86.
    7. repec:eme:jal000:j.acclit.2019.11.003 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Wang, Qian & Ettredge, Michael, 2015. "Discretionary allocation of corporate income to segments," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-13.
    9. Philip G. Berger & Rebecca Hann, 2003. "The Impact of SFAS No. 131 on Information and Monitoring," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(2), pages 163-223, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chee Lim & Tiong Thong & David Ding, 2008. "Firm diversification and earnings management: evidence from seasoned equity offerings," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 69-92, January.
    2. Aboud, Ahmed, 2023. "Segmental reporting, accounting enforcement, and analyst forecast dispersion in the European Union," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    3. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.
    4. Liu, Baohua & Huang, Dan & Chen, Tao & Chan, Kam C., 2023. "Mandatory R&D disclosure and analyst forecast Accuracy: Evidence from an emerging market," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    5. Bui, Dien Giau & Chen, Yehning & Chen, Yan-Shing & Lin, Chih-Yung, 2023. "Managerial ability and financial statement disaggregation decisions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Richard Borghesi & Joel Houston & Andy Naranjo, 2007. "Value, Survival, and the Evolution of Firm Organizational Structure," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 36(3), pages 5-31, September.
    7. Marinelli, Federico, 2008. "Persistence of outstanding performance and shareholder value among diversified firms: The impact of past performance, efficient internal capital market, and relatedness of business segments," IESE Research Papers D/758, IESE Business School.
    8. Siraj, Ibrahim & Hassan, M. Kabir & Maroney, Neal, 2020. "Product demand sensitivity and the corporate diversification discount," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    9. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-076 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Haifeng You, 2014. "Valuation-driven profit transfer among corporate segments," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 805-838, June.
    11. Baojun Ma & Lingyun Zhou & Yao Mu & Yi Chen & Jian Zhang, 2026. "Impact of CEO perceived dominance on corporate financial performance: an empirical study based on facial feature extraction via deep learning," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 12(1), pages 1-31, December.
    12. Vasilescu, Camelia & Millo, Yuval, 2016. "Do industrial and geographic diversifications have different effects on earnings management? Evidence from UK mergers and acquisitions," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 33-45.
    13. Michael T. Durney & Kurt H. Gee & Zac Wiebe, 2025. "Segment Profit/Loss and the Limitations of a “Management Approach”," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 71(9), pages 7474-7496, September.
    14. Xiao, Zhijie & Xu, Lan, 2019. "What do mean impacts miss? Distributional effects of corporate diversification," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 92-120.
    15. Tong, Zhenxu, 2011. "Firm diversification and the value of corporate cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 741-758, June.
    16. Chloe Yu-Hsuan Wu & Shou-Min Tsao & Che-Hung Lin, 2025. "Accounting conservatism, corporate diversification and firm value," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 371-415, January.
    17. Onali, Enrico & Mascia, Danilo V., 2022. "Corporate diversification and stock risk: Evidence from a global shock," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    18. Schmid, Markus M. & Walter, Ingo, 2009. "Do financial conglomerates create or destroy economic value?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 193-216, April.
    19. Dong, Xiaobo & Lin, K.C. & Kuang, Yingxu, 2014. "Are inter-segment revenues informative about future performance?," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 298-308.
    20. Gao, Wenlian & Ng, Lilian & Wang, Qinghai, 2008. "Does geographic dispersion affect firm valuation?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 674-687, December.
    21. I-Ju Chen, 2016. "Corporate Governance and the Efficiency of Internal Capital Markets," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(02), pages 1-50, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2605.23924. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.