Crux of the issue
When company Alpha buys company Beta, there are leeways and incentives for Alpha to plan its allocation between goodwill and intangible assets arising.
If Alpha's objective were to maximise reporting of profit, it would be under-reporting the value of intangible assets and over-reporting the value of goodwill.
How come?
Goodwill is not amortised nowaday but subject to impairment test. The clever CFOs have discovered that it would easier to avoid an impairment charge.
Auditors, without a significant authoritative alternative source of info to verify the value of goodwill, would generally concur with the recommendation of the management.
Whereas for acquired intangible assets, they are separately valued on the balance sheet and subject to impairment test too. But as they are separately valued, each asset is individually tested for impairment. Thus it presents a higher risk of being devalued.
1 comment:
Dear Edgar
IFRS 3 includes contingent liabilities of the acquiree in determining fair value of the net assets acquired. Suppose that company A bought the entire net assets of company B including contingent liability of RM20,000, how would A disclose the contingent liability in the combined balance sheet immediately after the take over?
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