Goodwill and return on M&A: financial statements results for 2010-2020 (trends and conclusions)

This article is a continuation of the material presented in No. 5 2020 of the journal «Izvestia of the St. Petersburg State University of Economics» and contains the results of our study of the recognition and goodwill impairment by several the largest Russian companies. We have identified that up to 75 companies from the 500 largest companies in Russia recognised partial or full impairment of goodwill during 20102020. Goodwill impairment was recognised in 89 cases during this period, and the total impairment amounted to RUB 0.5 trillion which was more than 30% of the current goodwill value of all companies in the sample. We also need to note, that management of companies often tend to apply optimistic approaches in impairment tests. Therefore, there is a chance of additional goodwill impairment as well as impairment of other intangible assets, property, plant and equipment and other assets in transactions where goodwill was not recognised in case more conservative approaches to value in use of assets are applied.