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Goodwill Impairment: Open to Interpretation, Again

Companies and auditors are clamoring for clarification about measuring goodwill impairment.

March 11, 2010

A relatively new goodwill accounting rule got its first real test drive last year when the ripple effect from the 2008 recession hit company balance sheets. More than two-thirds (68%) of public companies in the United States recognized a goodwill impairment under the rule known as Topic 350 (formerly FAS 142), writing down an aggregate $260 billion, according to a report issued by financial advisory firm Duff & Phelps and the Financial Executives Research Foundation. The report examined nearly 6,000 publicly held companies. Read more...

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