The accounting standard setter's apparent lean toward allowing public companies to amortize goodwill ignores key analytical and economic consequences.
But goodwill impairments are on the rise, having climbed 23% in 2017.
The struggling conglomerate took the biggest impairment charge in almost a decade, causing the SEC to widen its investigation of GE's accounting practices.
Where there are impairments for intangible assets such as goodwill, other liabilities may be lingering on the balance sheet as well.
Ongoing weakness in energy prices and some large writedowns in tech resulted in a notable year for goodwill impairments.
Royal Bank of Scotland writes down the value of Citizens Financial in an admission it overpaid for the U.S. bank and subsequent bolt-on deals.
Final rules on two items in the FASB private-company framework — accounting for goodwill and interest-rate swaps — are due by December 31.
When the equity market turned around and share prices started moving higher in 2009, using stock price as a key determinant in assessing goodwill impairment became less common.
Here are four ways companies can mitigate some of the largest risks of acquiring another business.
FASB's new way to bypass numeric goodwill testing might add to the compliance costs of big, complex companies rather than curb them.
An end to pooling-of-interest accounting and less time to write off goodwill could slow down mergers-and-acquisitions activity.
Pooling of interests in mergers and acquisitions may be problematic, but so is the alternative.
