IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acctbr/v30y2000i3p213-225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accounting for goodwill: an examination of factors influencing management preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Pelham Gore
  • Fauziah Taib
  • Paul Taylor

Abstract

This paper investigates factors that influenced the position of managements of UK-listed companies in the heated debate that surrrounded proposals for a new standard on goodwill accounting, i.e. the factors influencing whether managements preferred immediate write-off or capitalisation-based approaches. The factors investigated are derived from contracting cost theory, and include those associated with debt covenant restrictions and profit- based management schemes. They also include non-agency contracting costs. A key feature of the design is that, compared to prior research, we specify more rigorously circumstances where such contracting cost effects are, or are not, likely to be binding. In addition, the paper investigates the effects on management preferences of their beliefs about revisions in market perceptions of their companies resulting from changes in goodwill accounting. Our results support certain contracting cost-based hypotheses, but they also indicate that management beliefs about changes in market perceptions of their companies constitute a strong influence on their preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Pelham Gore & Fauziah Taib & Paul Taylor, 2000. "Accounting for goodwill: an examination of factors influencing management preferences," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 213-225.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:30:y:2000:i:3:p:213-225
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2000.9728937
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00014788.2000.9728937
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00014788.2000.9728937?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dunne, Kathleen M., 1990. "An empirical analysis of management's choice of accounting treatment for business combinations," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 111-133.
    2. Ayres, Frances L., 1986. "Characteristics of firms electing early adoption of SFAS 52," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 143-158, June.
    3. Mary E. Barth & Greg Clinch, 1996. "International Accounting Differences and Their Relation to Share Prices: Evidence from U.K., Australian, and Canadian Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 135-170, March.
    4. Duke, Joanne C. & Hunt, Herbert III, 1990. "An empirical examination of debt covenant restrictions and accounting-related debt proxies," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 45-63, January.
    5. Chauvin, Keith W. & Hirschey, Mark, 1994. "Goodwill, profitability, and the market value of the firm," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 159-180.
    6. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Araceli Amorós Martínez & José Antonio Cavero Rubio, 2018. "The Economic Effects of IFRS Goodwill Reporting," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(3), pages 309-322, September.
    2. Georgios Voulgaris & Konstantinos Stathopoulos & Martin Walker, 2015. "CEO Pay Contracts and IFRS Reconciliations," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 63-93, May.
    3. Beattie, Vivien, 2005. "Moving the financial accounting research front forward: the UK contribution," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 85-114.
    4. Martin Bugeja & Anna Loyeung, 2017. "Accounting for business combinations and takeover premiums: Pre- and post-IFRS," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 42(2), pages 183-204, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas W. Scott, 1991. "Pension disclosures under SFAS No. 87: Theory and evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 62-81, September.
    2. Heibatollah Sami & Mary Jeanne Welsh, 1992. "Characteristics of early and late adopters of pension accounting standard SFAS No. 87," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 212-236, September.
    3. MARK L. DeFOND & JAMES JIAMBALVO, 1993. "Factors Related to Auditor†Client Disagreements over Income†Increasing Accounting Methods," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(2), pages 415-431, March.
    4. Hand, John R. M. & Skantz, Terrance R., 1997. "The economic determinants of accounting choices: The unique case of equity carve-outs under SAB 51," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 175-203, December.
    5. Vernon J. Richardson & James F. Waegelein, 2003. "Characteristics Associated with the Corporate Decision to Adopt Long‐term Performance Plans," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3‐4), pages 621-644, April.
    6. Jonas Oliveira & Graça Azevedo & Bertina Oliveira, 2018. "Impairment Losses: The Impact of First‐time Adoption of the Accounting Standardisation System in Portugal," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(4), pages 556-576, December.
    7. Rihab Guidara & Younes Boujelbene, 2014. "R&D-Based Earnings Management and Accounting Performance Motivation," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 4(2), pages 81-93, April.
    8. Markarian, Garen & Pozza, Lorenzo & Prencipe, Annalisa, 2008. "Capitalization of R&D costs and earnings management: Evidence from Italian listed companies," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 246-267, September.
    9. Bowen, Robert M. & DuCharme, Larry & Shores, D., 1995. "Stakeholders' implicit claims and accounting method choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 255-295, December.
    10. Balsam, Steven & Haw, In-Mu & Lilien, Steven B., 1995. "Mandated accounting changes and managerial discretion," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 3-29, July.
    11. Araceli Mora & William Rees, 1998. "The early adoption of consolidated accounting in Spain," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 675-696.
    12. Watts, Ross L., 1992. "Accounting choice theory and market-based research in accounting," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 235-267.
    13. Aboody, David & Kasznik, Ron & Williams, Michael, 2000. "Purchase versus pooling in stock-for-stock acquisitions: Why do firms care?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 261-286, June.
    14. Humayun Kabir & Fawzi Laswad, 2015. "The Impact of Improvements in Institutional Oversight on IFRS Accrual Quality in Europe," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 25(4), pages 428-444, December.
    15. Bagna, Emanuel & Ramusino, Enrico Cotta & Ogliari, Matteo, 2023. "The impact of different goodwill accounting methods on stock prices: A comparison of amortization and impairment-only methodologies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. George Emmanuel Iatridis & Nathan Lael Joseph, 2006. "Characteristics of UK firms related to timing of adoption of Statement of Standard Accounting Practice No. 20," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(3), pages 429-455, September.
    17. Warfield, Terry D. & Wild, John J. & Wild, Kenneth L., 1995. "Managerial ownership, accounting choices, and informativeness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 61-91, July.
    18. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    19. Kasznik, Ron & Aboody, David & Williams, Michael, 2000. "Purchase versus Pooling in Stock-for-Stock Acquisitions: Why Do Firms Care?," Research Papers 1614, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    20. Bauman, Mark P. & Shaw, Kenneth W., 2018. "Value relevance of customer-related intangible assets," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 95-102.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:30:y:2000:i:3:p:213-225. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RABR20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.