Given the ongoing controversy around the accounting treatment of goodwill and the search by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) for improvements to goodwill accounting, this study surveys a global sample of 352 chief financial officers (CFOs) to understand their perceptions of adopting a goodwill impairment-only approach compared to an amortization model. More than half of the respondents agree that alternative accounting treatments of impairment testing might provide more useful information. However, almost two thirds still prefer goodwill impairment testing to the amortization process. Theoretically, the study shows that the impairment-only model preference is associated with characteristics on an individual, firm and country level. The results indicate that more expert CFOs and overall CFO perceptions of firms’ economic conditions and the role of external auditors affect preference for the goodwill accounting model. Further, there is evidence that dominant ownership structures and accounting culture affect CFO preferences. The study investigates several areas in which regulators and standard setters can intervene, thereby contributing to the debate on whether to reintroduce the amortization of goodwill.

鉴于围绕商誉会计处理的持续争议以及国际会计准则委员会 (IASB) 和财务会计准则委员会 (FASB) 寻求改进商誉会计，本研究调查了 352 名首席财务官 (CFO) 的全球样本了解他们对采用仅商誉减值方法与摊销模型相比的看法。超过一半的受访者同意减值测试的替代会计处理可能会提供更多有用的信息。然而，与摊销过程相比，近三分之二的人仍然更喜欢商誉减值测试。从理论上讲，该研究表明，仅损害模型偏好与个人、公司和国家层面的特征相关。结果表明，更多的专业首席财务官和首席财务官对公司经济状况的整体看法以及外部审计师的作用会影响对商誉会计模型的偏好。此外，有证据表明占主导地位的所有权结构和会计文化会影响 CFO 的偏好。该研究调查了监管机构和标准制定者可以干预的几个领域，从而引发了关于是否重新引入商誉摊销的辩论。