This master dissertation consists of a literature review about the role of accounting information and the companies' disclosure polices in the financial market, as well as the information asymmetry issues that may occur for a firm. More specifically, we address the segment reporting issue. We present briefly the most important empirical research concerning segment reporting as well as the evolution of the accounting regulations proposed by the FASB and the IASB in USA and in Europe (and other countries) respectively. We focus on the changes that the IFRS 8: "Operating Segments" has brought for companies since its mandatory adoption in 2009. Furthermore, we present a review of the most significant literature regarding Information Asymmetry issues and we present the dominant theories about the proxies for measuring the levels of information asymmetry for a firm. Finally, we conduct a research proposal, during which we will attempt to investigate the impact of IFRS 8: "Operating Segments" on the levels of Information Asymmetry, the extent of the firms' compliance with the new regulation as well as the determinants of the voluntary adoption of IFRS 8. We believe the proposed empirical research will shed light to the effectiveness of the newly imposed regulation and will contribute to the existing literature concerning the relevance of the International Financial Reporting Standards.
