Empirical Goodwill Research: Insights, Issues, and Implications for Standard Setting and Future Research
综述了商誉报告的实证文献，围绕确认、计量、披露及治理等政策问题，评估证据有效性，指出商誉受经济因素、管理层动机和制度环境影响，并提出未来研究建议。
This paper reviews the empirical literature on the determinants and decision usefulness\nof goodwill reporting. We structure our discussion around five guiding questions that reflect\nlongstanding policy issues: recognition, initial and subsequent measurement, disclosure, and the\nrole of governance and monitoring. In addition to summarizing the findings, we assess the validity\nof the evidence. Our review indicates that goodwill amounts, on average, are associated with the\nunderlying economics of the combining firms but are also shaped by managerial incentives and\ninstitutional context. Empirical research does not allow us to conclude whether current goodwill\naccounting rules provide for an optimal degree of discretion. Nonetheless, our analysis yields a\nnumber of policy implications and research suggestions. In addition to pointing out new research\nquestions that could be addressed by further archival research, we advocate reproduction studies to\ntest the generalizability of existing findings across contexts, and we encourage standard setters to\ninitiate quasi-experiments to generate causal evidence and to render policymaking more accountable. We further suggest that researchers make more use of behavioral theories and non-archival\nmethods to elucidate the motives and interactions of decision makers in goodwill accounting.