美國於2001年6月發佈SFAS No.142: Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets公報，此號公報對於商譽評價有重大規定，商譽不再適用預計耐用年限之攤銷方式，而是做商譽減損測試。本研究分為兩部份，首先探討美國上市公司是否利用採用142號公報之時間點來達到盈餘管理之目的，因不再針對商譽作攤銷之會計處理，提早採用142號公報對公司之盈餘影響有可能為正向，也有可能為負向，本研究發現公司若提早採用此公報所造成的損益影響為正數時接近違反債務契約之公司，經理人會較傾向提早採用該公報，符合債務契約假說；此外，本文發現公司若採用此公報所造成的損益影響為負數時，會有洗大澡的情形，而提早採用142號公報；另外，本研究亦發現當公司有高階經理人變動時，公司會傾向提早採用142號公報。第二部分在探討美國上市公司是否利用認列商譽減損金額之大小來達到盈餘管理之目的，在延後採用該公報的公司方面，本研究發現接近違反債務契約之公司，經理人會傾向認列較小之商譽減損損失，若經理人有以財務績效為衡量之紅利時，會傾向認列較小之商譽減損損失；此外，不論提早或是延後採用的公司，皆有洗大澡及損益平穩化的現象。第三部分在探討商譽減損對市場反應之影響，研究結果顯示，當商譽減損皆視為非預期時，不論提早或是延後採用的公司，皆與股價呈現顯著負相關，而將商譽減損分為預期及非預期時，亦皆與股價呈現顯著負相關。總而言之本文之研究結果具體發現公司採用142號公報之時間點及認列商譽減損金額之大小，受到盈餘管理之動機影響，商譽減損對市場反應有著負向關係。 In June 2001, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets.” The provisions of the pronouncement are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2001, with early adoption encouraged. Under SFAS No. 142, goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite useful lives are not amortized, but instead are tested for impairment at least annually. The first objective of the study is to examine the managers’ adoption timing choice is associated with various earnings management motives. The empirical results reveal that firms that are close to violate their debt covenants are more likely to adopt early, if the adoption results in an increase in earnings, consistent with the debt/equity hypothesis. In addition, we found that firms with a negative effect of adoption on earnings and unfavorable earnings performance in the year of adoption tend to adopt early in an attempt to take a “big bath”, and that early adopting firms are more likely to experience a higher incidence of change in senior management in the year of adoption than do late adopters. The second objective of the study is to investigate whether reporting incentives determine the magnitude of goodwill write-offs. Specifically, for the late adopting sample, the paper documents that the level of goodwill write-offs is relatively smaller for more highly leveraged firms. We also found that late adopting firms with management compensation schemes directly tied to income also tend to record a smaller amount of goodwill impairment loss and act in a manner consistent with either “big bath” or “smoothing” behavior. Taken together, the findings imply that the adoption timing choice of SFAS No. 142 and the magnitude of goodwill write-offs are associated with various earnings management motives. The third objective of the study is to examine the influence of impairment declaration on American stock market. The results find that cumulative abnormal returns are negatively associated with both the expected portion and unexpected portion of asset write-offs for early and late adoption firms. this study finds that the stock market appears to respond to the impairment announcement negatively.
