Corporate governance, financial indicators and asset impairments during the COVID-19 pandemic period

Abstract

This study examines the effect of corporate governance and financial indicators on long-lived asset and goodwill impairments during pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods for a sample of United States (U.S.), France, Germany and the United Kingdom (U.K.). We find that goodwill impairment is greater during the COVID-19 than the pre-COVID-19 periods for all four countries, and long-lived asset impairment is greater during the COVID-19 period for the U.S. and the U.K. The effects of corporate governance on asset impairments and the effects of short-term financial indicators (cash flow and/or sales) and long-term financial indicators (stock returns) vary by country.