美國於2001年6月發佈SFAS No.142: Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets，此號公報對商譽及其他無形資產的會計處理有了新的規定，商譽不再適用於預計耐用年限之攤銷，改作每年至少一次之減損測試。SFAS No. 142之發佈給了管理階層認列資產減損重大的裁量權，因此容易被拿來做盈餘管理工具之使用。本研究首先探討SFAS No.142資產減損之認列是受到哪些因素之影響；研究結果發現當公司接近違反債務契約時認列資產減損金額較小；當公司有洗大澡、盈餘平穩化、高階經理人變動動機時，較會認列資產減損。除此之外，管理階層可能會同時使用SFAS No.142資產減損與裁決性應計項目達到盈餘下修之目的，因此本研究進一步探討SFAS No.142資產減損與裁決性應計項目之關聯性。研究結果指出，SFAS No.142資產減損與裁決性應計項目具有內生關係，特別當公司有較佳的盈餘績效時，管理階層會認列較大的資產減損及讓淨利減少之裁決性應計項目達到讓淨利下修之目的。 In June 2001, the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets.” Under SFAS No. 142, goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite useful lives are not amortized, but instead are tested for impairment at least annually. SFAS No. 142 gives the management more discretionary power to record assets impairment. Therefore, asset write-offs appear to be used as an earnings management tool should firms have the intent to do so. This study starts the empirical analyses by examining whether the incentives determine the magnitude of SFAS No. 142 assets impairment. The results reveal that firms that are close to violate their debt covenants tend to record a smaller amount of SFAS No. 142 write-offs and that firms with “big bath”, smoothing incentives, and a change in senior management are more likely to record SFAS No. 142 write-offs. In addition, this paper investigates the association between SFAS No. 142 write-offs and discretionary accruals, given that both earnings management tools may be used jointly reduce earnings. The results document that SFAS No. 142 write-offs and discretionary accruals are endogenous. Specifically, firms with favorable earnings performance tend to manage the earnings downward by recording larger asset write-offs and income-reducing discretionary accruals.
