Goodwill Impairment Test Disclosures Under IAS 36: Disclosure Quality and its Determinants in Europe

Abstract

The European Securities and Markets Authority (EMSA) criticizes the low disclosure quality and boilerplate disclosures in the accounting for goodwill among European listed companies, but it does not identify possible causes. Prior research also finds generally low compliance with disclosure requirements but usually does not consider disclosure quality or systematically examine the drivers of the observed levels of either compliance or disclosure quality. In this study, we analyze compliance and disclosure quality among European listed companies. We find low levels of compliance and disclosure quality and both are positively associated with firm size, goodwill intensity, enforcement and free float. In addition, disclosure quality is positively affected by board skills and company growth but negatively affected by proprietary cost. Our findings are of interest to regulators and enforcers who intend to increase the quality of disclosures. Moreover, we direct the attention of capital market participants to large differences in disclosure quality and the associated firm and governance characteristics.