Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Discretionary Behavior With Respect To The Adoption Of Sfas 142 And The Behavior Of Security Prices, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In June 2001, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued SFAS 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, which takes a very different approach to how goodwill is accounted for subsequent to the initial recognition. The new statement requires that goodwill no longer be amortized, but instead requires a transitional goodwill impairment (initial impairment loss or IIL) test in the adoption fiscal year and an annual impairment test thereafter. Since SFAS 142 allows firms substantial judgment in the adoption year in determining the amount of impairment loss, this dissertation first examines management discretionary behavior in measuring the IIL. The result shows …