Are Goodwill Impairments Value Relevant? : A comparative study between two European countries

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the value relevance of goodwill impairments in regard to market value. A quantitative methodological approach was used to determine if the relation between goodwill impairments was influenced by different institutional settings, which was the first research question. The second research question was to see if there was a learning effect associated with the use of goodwill impairments that has appeared in the post- implementation period of the mandatory IFRS standards, that were enforced in the European Union in 2005. This was done by statistically comparing data from Swedish firms with data from British firms. The findings show that there are indeed institutional differences, but the evidence also suggests a learning effect to some extent. These findings add to the literature that there are important institutional differences and learning effects associated with the implementation of accounting standards, as well as offering some insight to standard setters on the value relevance of goodwill impairments.