UN CONFRONTO SULLE SVALUTAZIONI DELL’AVVIAMENTO PER IMPAIRMENT TRA BILANCIO CONSOLIDATO E BILANCIO SEPARATO: UN’ANALISI DELLE SOCIETÀ ITALIANE

Abstract

This paper aims at examining whether goodwill impairment losses are coherent in consolidated and separate financial statements. This topic is particularly innovative because of management assumptions regarding goodwill impairment test are firstly examined analysing both consolidated and separate financial statements. Italy is an interesting context because it is one of the few countries where the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is mandatory for both reports. In such a context, we explore whether goodwill impairment losses in consolidated financial statements affect the carrying amount of investments in associates in separate ones. According to this perspective, the paper presents all cases of possible inconsistencies. To test whether empirical evidence is actually linked to the presented theoretical cases, we analyse a sample of Italian listed companies. It includes Italian listed companies in Italy (excluding credit institutions and insurance companies) with the highest market capitalization over a five-year period (2007 - 2011). Our results suggest a lot of cases of incoherencies between the two reports. These could hide management opportunistic behaviours that try to avoid goodwill impairment losses in consolidated financial statements. Additionally, we find that notes to the financial statements are often lacking with regard to disclosure on goodwill impairment losses.


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👤  Marco Sorrentino
👤  Elisa Roncagliolo