IASB Discusses Methods to Improve the Accounting for and Disclosures of Goodwill

At their 9-11 April 2019 meeting, the IASB discussed several ideas relating to how accounting requirements and disclosure of goodwill may be improved, based on the Board’s objective from its July 2018 meeting. These discussions are at very early stages, however, ideas raised during the meetings include:

• Ongoing disclosures concerning the subsequent performance of an acquired business to enable users of financial statements to evaluate the subsequent merits of an acquisition;
• Reintroducing the requirement to amortise goodwill to reduce the cost of preparing annual impairment tests; and
• Adjustments to the guidance on determining value in use (‘VIU’) in impairment calculations.

These are concepts that have been brought forward to the IASB for consideration, but are still very early stage and no decisions, tentative or otherwise, have been made.

The papers and meeting notes can be accessed here.