Verantwoording van goodwill bij overnames: purchased goodwill dan wel full goodwill

In verband met de in de toekomst geldende IFRS 3 – naar verwachting ingaande 1 januari 2009 – waarin naast ‘purchased goodwill’-verantwoording ook ‘full goodwill’- verantwoording als mogelijkheid komt, wordt hierop in deze bijdrage ingegaan. Teneinde deze verantwoordingswijze goed in beeld te brengen, wordt eerst een uiteenzetting gegeven van de gangbare verwerking van goodwill bij aandelenacquisities onder de huidige wetgeving (Titel 9 Boek 2 BW; EU IFRS-regime). Stilgestaan wordt bij de achtergrond van de gebruikelijke en voorgestelde verwerkingswijzen. Tot de voorgestelde verwerkingswijzen behoort ook de ‘full goodwill approach’. Daarin wordt bij de overnemende partij de goodwill van de overgenomen onderneming verantwoord, ongeacht het aandelenbelang dat wordt verworven. De auteur acht deze methode een mooi bouwwerk, passend binnen IFRS. Het gevolg van dit voorstel is dat het deel van de goodwill dat samenhangt met de waardering van het minderheidsbelang, tegen marktwaarde op de geconsolideerde balans tot uiting komt. Aangenomen dat deze marktwaarde boven het evenredig aandeel in het saldo van de marktwaarden van de overgenomen onderneming uitkomt, heeft de voorgestelde verwerking een positief effect op de solvabiliteitsverhouding. Wel vraagt hij zich af waarom de International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) met dit voorstel is gekomen, nu de geldende verslaggevingsregimes en -praktijk niet blijk geven van wensen op dit terrein.

The value relevance of goodwill and goodwill amortization in a Danish setting

Based on data from the Danish Stock Exchange, this paper examines the value relevance of purchased goodwill and explores how goodwill should be measured subsequent to initial recognition. Danish accounting legislation requires capitalization and amortization of purchased goodwill. As of 2005 Danish listed companies must comply with international financial reporting standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Boards (IASB). An exposure draft (ED 3: Business Combinations) is presently under consideration by the IASB. If this exposure draft is implemented, Danish listed companies must carry out impairment tests on goodwill. The value relevance is tested by examining the association between goodwill and goodwill amortization and share prices, incremental to other accounting variables.The overall findings suggest that investors perceive goodwill as an asset with a long economic life time. The results support the Danish Financial Statements Act that requires capitalization of all purchased goodwill. The findings brings into question if goodwill amortization provides useful information to investors. This suggests that impairment testing might be an alternative way to measure acquired goodwill assets in subsequent years

The Impact of Continuity on Concurring Partner Reviews: An Exploratory Study

Public expectations of auditors' objectivity, the on-going debate over auditors' independence (SEC 2001), and previous research motivate our study of one aspect of auditor rotation. Using an experimental case, we examine the impact of continuity on concurring partner reviews. Continuity specifically refers to a concurring partner's assumed degree of prior involvement with a client engagement. We explore two levels of prior involvement—a continuing concurring partner (i.e., involved as a concurring partner in the current and prior year's engagement) and a new concurring partner (i.e., involved as a concurring partner in the current year's engagement only). Based on information in the case, audit partners in the role of concurring partners make judgments related to goodwill impairment. Consistent with our expectation, continuing concurring partners are less likely than new concurring partners to conclude that purchased goodwill may be impaired. Based on our results, the recent regulatory actions mandating within-firm rotation of concurring partners are likely to affect audit firm judgments.

The Effects of Goodwill Tax Deductions on the Market for Corporate Acquisitions

We analyze the effect of the tax deduction for goodwill amortization provided by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (OBRA) on the market for corporate acquisitions. We analyze a sample of taxable corporate acquisitions, including acquisitions of subsidiaries, private firms, and public firms, occurring over the period 1990 through 1996. We assess the impact of the goodwill legislation by (1) quantifying the frequency and size of qualifying acquisitions and comparing these acquisitions to nonqualifying acquisitions pre- and post-OBRA and (2) investigating if and how the goodwill amortization deduction influenced the premium paid for qualifying corporate acquisitions. We estimate a regression of acquisition premiums on target-firm characteristics including a proxy for purchased goodwill. We find that acquisitions qualifying for goodwill amortization comprise less than 17 percent of sample taxable corporate acquisitions before OBRA, and this percentage does not increase after the enactment of OBRA. Nonetheless, our regression results indicate that the OBRA goodwill provisions did contribute to a significant increase in acquisition premiums associated with purchased goodwill for qualifying transactions. Thus, rather than operate as a subsidy to acquiring firms, we find that a majority of the tax benefits associated with the goodwill amortization deduction accrues to target-firm shareholders.