The Economic Effects of IFRS Goodwill Reporting

Abstract

The promotion of the international harmonisation of goodwill accounting has led to the approval of SFAS 141 and 142 and IFRS 3, IAS 36 and IAS 38. The aim was to improve the quality and comparability of financial statements through these standards by eliminating the pooling of interests method and substituting the application of amortisation with an annual impairment test. However, recent decisions by regulating bodies such as the FASB, the IASB and the European Parliament have compromised this harmonisation. Currently, steps are being taken to reintroduce systematic amortisation in conjunction with the impairment test. In this dual normative scenario, where two accounting methods coexist (impairment test or amortisation), we analyse the economic consequences of the application of one method over the other in the information transmitted by the firms listed in the Spanish securities market. The contrast of two periods, pre-IFRS (1998 to 2004) and post-IFRS (2005 to 2011), reveals that the application of either of these methods affects financial statements and the usefulness of the information. Therefore, the possibility of opting for one or the other could distort the quality and comparability of the information transmitted by firms and the accurate assessment of future cash flows.