Goodwill and Impairment

The Board met on 20 September 2021 to consider its plan to redeliberate the preliminary views it expressed in the Discussion Paper Business Combinations—Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment.

The Board decided to prioritise performing further work:

1. to make tentative decisions on the package of disclosure requirements about business combinations described in the Discussion Paper; and
2. to analyse specific aspects of the feedback on the subsequent accounting for goodwill including:

1. whether it is feasible to make a reliable estimate of the useful life of goodwill and the pattern in which it diminishes; and
2. the potential effects of derecognising significant amounts of goodwill on transition to an amortisation-based model were the Board to decide to reintroduce amortisation.

The Board will then redeliberate its preliminary view that it should retain the impairment-only model to account for goodwill.

All 12 Board members agreed with this decision.