When a company purchases another, it often pays more than the net fair value of the target's assets and liabilities. This excess is recorded as goodwill, an intangible asset reflecting brand strength, ...

Sometimes a retail business is more than the sum of it's parts. It's not uncommon for a business owner to sell his business for more than the value derived from experts and analysts. The difference ...

The value of a business goes far beyond a collection of assets, inventories or a list of services. A whole series of intangible assets are usually a big part of it, including its brand name, its ...

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has a project to review accounting for goodwill subsequent to its acquisition — again. The issue is whether to continue goodwill impairment testing as required ...

When you feel good about something, you’re usually willing to pay more for it. It’s the same concept when a company considers acquiring another. As a result, acquiring companies are often willing to ...

Goodwill refers to non-physical assets that can increase a company's market valuation. It comes in a variety of forms, including reputation, brand, domain names, intellectual property, commercial ...

This book traces the history of the goodwill accounting controversy in detail. The book explores the problem of recognizing the importance of goodwill as a whole and finding a way of presenting ...

Two of the accounting rules by which companies play the merger game are about to change. A boost to earnings is expected to be one immediate effect. Longer-term, the rule changes will force ...

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and ...

As part of our ongoing series on tax issues for accounting firm transactions, this article discusses the benefits of utilizing personal goodwill in accounting firm M&A deals when appropriate. Personal ...