Goodwill and impairment
Project plan (Agenda Paper 18)
In March 2020, the Board published Discussion Paper DP/2020/1 Business Combinations—Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment which included the Board’s preliminary views to address feedback the Board heard during the post-implementation review (PIR) of IFRS 3.
At the July 2021 Board Meeting, the Board said they would like additional information about the disclosures about business combinations to be proposed, and further analysis of the feedback received on the subsequent accounting for goodwill, to help them make their decisions. In response to this, the staff have updated the project plan to provide this information to the Board.
In this meeting, the staff presented this plan to the Board and asked the Board whether they agree with the proposed plan.
Board discussion
Board members generally supported the proposed updated project plan, as it adds focus to areas that previously had not been looked at in detail and provides a good basis for any future decisions in the project.
Some Board members were concerned that deciding on the subsequent accounting of goodwill before other topics, such as the effectiveness of the impairment test, may result in important feedback being excluded. In response, the staff explained that, if the Board felt that they needed to discuss other topics prior to making decisions, these could be brought into an amended future project plan.
The Board voted in favour, with 12 votes, when asked to vote.