This study examines the impact of Statements of Financial Accounting Standards No. 141 and No. 142 (hereafter SFAS 141, 142) on the characteristics of financial analysts' earnings forecasts after mergers. Specifically, I predict lower forecast errors for firms that experienced mergers after the enactment of SFAS 141, 142 than for firms that went through business combinations before those accounting changes. Study results present strong evidence that earnings forecast errors for companies involved in merging and acquisition activity decreased after the adoption of SFAS 141, 142. Test results also suggest that lower earnings forecast errors are attributable to factors specific to merging companies such as SFAS 141, 142 but not common to merging and non-merging companies. In addition, evidence implies that information in corporate annual reports of merging companies plays the critical role in this decrease of earnings forecast error. Summarily, I report that SFAS 141, 142 were effective in achieving greater transparency of financial reporting after mergers. In my complementary analysis, I also document the structure of corporate analysts' coverage in "leaders/followers" terms and conduct tests for differences in this structure: (1) across post-SFAS 141,142/pre-SFAS 141, 142 environments, and (2) between merging and non-merging firms. Although I do not identify any significant differences in coverage structure across environments, my findings suggest that lead analysts are not as accurate as followers when predicting earnings for firms actively involved in mergers. I also detect a significant interaction between the SFAS-environment code and leader/follower classification, which indicates greater improvement of lead analyst forecast accuracy in the post-SFAS 141, 142 environment relative to their followers. This interesting discovery demands future investigation and confirms the importance of financial reporting transparency for the accounting treatment of business combinations.

The diploma thesis is focuses on monitoring the effectiveness of marketing resources and increasing the brand value of the company. The theoretical part deals with the findings about the company issues, brand and its value. The thesis subsequently presents a list of elements that relate to increasing of the brand value. The final topic of the theoretical part aims at methods of evaluation of brand value and interviewing methodology. In the practical part, the thesis deals with the analysis of the selected construction company, evaluation of its brand in comparison with another company of similar character and hypothesis testing. Finally, on the basis of the findings, marketing tools are proposed to effectively increase brand value of the company.

The master´s thesis focused on the issue of consolidated financial statemant of chosen enterprise and evalution of influence on spreading consolidated unit on its economic situation. The first part of a thesis consists of theoretic solutions for preparation of financial statements. There is introduced chosen concern and evaluated its economical situation in second part. By an application of theoretic findings are formed a consolidated rules and a new financial statement spread with a new subsidiary. Finally there is evaluated a consequence of spreading consolidated unit on its economical situation.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine if impairment of goodwill is a value relevant factor to the investors in the companies listed on the Stockholm Large Cap stock exchange. This paper focuses on the annual reports from the 100 largest companies listed on the exchange.   The empirical model used is Capital Market Research and Market Based Accounting Research which is derived from Positive Accounting Theory. Capital Market Research and Market Based Accounting Research are based on critical assumptions made in the Efficient Market Hypothesis which is why it has its own section in the theoretical chapter. The theoretical chapter contains extensive information regarding the components of goodwill, its uses in accounting and how it is meant to be dealt with.  The analysis connects our empirical findings with our empirical model in order to draw conclusions from the output gathered in Minitab. Our analysis shows that only small proportions of the large quantities of goodwill on the Swedish stock exchange are impaired on a yearly basis. We also find that impairment of goodwill does not have a significant impact on market value, however goodwill itself does.  Investors either do not view impairment of goodwill as value relevant, or the impairment was known beforehand and was therefore reflected in the price of the stock. Goodwill is considered value relevant most likely due to investors viewing the preeminence of goodwill as a sign that the company will draw benefit from the underlying assets for years to come.    We conclude that impairment of goodwill is not a value relevant factor to the investors in the Swedish stock exchange, but that goodwill, and increasing goodwill is. The paper ends with suggestions for further research. / Syftet med denna avhandling är att fastställa om nedskrivning av goodwill är en värderelevant faktor för investerarna på den svenska Large Cap-börsen. Denna avhandling fokuserar på årsredovisningarna från de 100 största bolagen som är noterade på denna börs.  De empiriska modeller som används är kapitalmarknadsforskning och marknadsbaserad redovisningsforskning, vilka båda härstammar från positiv redovisningsteori. Kapitalmarknadsforskning och marknadsbaserad redovisningsforskning baseras på viktiga antagande gjorda i den effektiva marknadshypotesen, som har sitt egna avsnitt under teorikapitlet. Teorikapitlet innehåller omfattande information gällande komponenterna i goodwill, dess användning inom redovisning samt hanteringen av goodwill.  Analysen kopplar samman våra empiriska fynd med vår empiriska modell i syfte att dra slutsatser kring resultaten som sammanställts från programmet  Minitab. Vår analys visar att förhållandevis små mängder av de enorma goodwillposterna på den svenska Large cap-börsen skrivs ner på årlig basis. Vi finner också att nedskrivning av goodwill inte har någon väsentlig påverkan på bolagets marknadsvärde, vilket däremot goodwillposten i sig har. Antingen så ser inte investerarna nedskrivning av goodwill som värderelevant eller så var nedskrivningarna kända i förväg och således redan inräknade i aktiens pris. Att goodwill i sig är betraktat som värderelevant beror troligen på att investerarna ser innehavet av goodwill som ett tecken på att bolaget kommer dra nytta av dessa underliggande tillgångar under de kommande åren.    Vi drar slutsatsen att nedskrivning av goodwill inte är en värderelevant faktor för investerarna på den svenska börsen, men däremot att goodwill och en ökning av goodwillposten är värderelevant. Uppsatsen avslutas med förslag till ytterligare forskning

The topic of business acquisitions has been much debated in 2022, largely due to Microsoft’s record-breaking acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Historically, business acquisitions and their corresponding goodwill values have been a thoroughly examined and debated subject between scholars and regulators due to the complexity and ambiguity of goodwill. Discussions regarding goodwill and acquisitions have been the foundation of many studies throughout the years. However, the effects of accounting standards on the factors of business acquisitions have not been examined thoroughly and therefore represents a knowledge gap in existing accounting literature. This thesis examines the relationship between the accounting standards IFRS and Swedish GAAP and their influence on business acquisitions. The focus of the thesis is on the number of business acquisitions as well as goodwill, or value added, to test if the standards themselves affect these factors. Other elements which could affect these factors are presented to broaden the research and isolate the accounting standard variable.  By examining Swedish business acquisitions during a five-year period, the authors have identified 406 business acquisitions that were of such quality that they could be examined further. The study is inspired by other studies in similar areas, especially a paper written by Kashiwazaki et al. (2019) in which the effect of IFRS adoption on business acquisitions in Japan is researched. However, this study is not focused on adoption, the aim of the research is to examine the impact of the standards themselves. By examining the two accounting standards and their correlation with the frequency of acquisitions as well as change in goodwill, patterns can be identified and conclusions regarding whether accounting standards affect the two factors can be drawn. Several theories are discussed in order to contextualize the research, and different perspectives regarding the acquisitions and goodwill are presented. To broaden the context of the subject, specific theories and their counterparts are presented to get both perspectives of a phenomenon. Agency theory and stewardship theory are explained and compared throughout the thesis and the conclusion of this paper is that stewardship theory is more valid when examining Swedish business acquisitions. Other theories such as the resource-based view are explained and connected to business acquisitions and the results of the thesis. Lastly, motives and benefits behind business acquisitions are discussed and conclusions are drawn based on the results of the tests conducted.  Two OLS regressions with corresponding T-tests for verifications showed a nonsignificant relationship between the dependent and independent variables in both tests. This means that there is no statistical significancy between either of the two factors and accounting standards. These findings suggest that there are other factors that are correlated with the number of business acquisitions and value added and explain the variance in these two factors. Some of the observable factors were the size of the firm, return on assets, operating income among others. In conclusion, there were no indications that accounting standards influence the number of business acquisitions nor value added.

A rational long-horizon stock investment decision is a complex process due to uncertainty in supply and demand, competitive advantage, macroeconomic parameters and various perspectives of investors. Today, the '€˜non-tangible assets'€™ (NTA) that include goodwill and intangible assets are a significant part of corporate assets, but their role in stock performance has not well studied. The purpose of this research is to empirically analyze the implications of NTA and of gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States on the stock price. According to the efficient market hypothesis, stock price reflects all relevant information. The research question focused on the extent to which NTA and the GDP reflected in the stock price. To determine the extent to which NTA and GDP reflected on the stock price, regression analysis and other statistical tests were used. The sample for the empirical study was 56 corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ). The required data from October 2007 to September 2018 were collected from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the United States Bureau of Economics (BEA). The key findings of the study are: the NTA and stock price of 45 corporations have a statistically significant correlation as opposed to 11 corporations. The combined NTA of these 11 corporations for the third quarter of 2018 was $531.64 billion. Furthermore, the GDP and stock price of 53 corporations have a statistically significant correlation, but no evidence for three corporations was found. The significance for positive social change is knowledge from this research about the implications of NTA and GDP on stock performance that the investors, policymakers, and other stakeholders could use for preserving the limited resources and creating wealth.

Change from a regulated to deregulated structure means that, the centralized maintenance system is not valid any more. In the surveyed published literature, there is not a single model which incorporates all maintenance cost components to analyze the effect of different maintenance strategies for generator companies (GENCOs). The work enclosed in this thesis demonstrates that there is a considerable requirement for accurately modelling cost components of the maintenance model, to be used in maintenance scheduling for deregulated power system, in order to attain a superior schedule with major financial and operational impact. This research investigates and models most cost factors that affect the maintenance activities of the deregulated GENCOs, and demonstrates the utilization of the developed cost models in maintenance scheduling. It also presents the data gathering process for the developed maintenance cost model. A generator maintenance scheduling model that considers direct and indirect maintenance costs, opportunity costs (i.e. loss of customer goodwill), effective maintenance strategies, failures, and interruptions is developed. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) based approach is employed to achieve maintenance schedules to various generators maintenance scenarios. An Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach is proposed for modelling customer goodwill. The maintenance model was redeveloped under the Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) strategy to analyze the effect of a maintenance strategy on maintenance costs. Case studies are presented to demonstrate the utilisation of the developed models.The investigation shows that the market prices, opportunity costs and maintenance strategy have an effect on the final maintenance schedule. The research demonstrates that the cost components are critical factors to achieve an effective maintenance schedule, and they must be considered and carefully modelled in order to reflect more realistic situation for maintenance scheduling of generator units in deregulation environment.

企業併購商譽產生係由「併購公司投資成本」與「被併購公司可辨認淨資產公平價值」產生差異所致，本文先由「併購商譽攤銷」之行政訴訟進行分析，進而研究我國稅捐稽徵機關是否應當發展公平價值評價審查制度以解決相關租稅爭議。另外由於在我國102年起上市櫃公司全面採用國際財務報導準則的前提下，透由我國上市櫃公司於102年度之商譽減損測試執行狀況，將該分析結果與國際現況進行比較，試圖了解我國上市櫃公司之商譽會計政策是否隱藏併購公司高估商譽之風險，並進而探討公司負責人於併購時點所作之投資決策，是否有「經營判斷原則」之適用？在此混沌不明的過渡期間中，本文希望透過此研究而呼籲我國監理機關能盡早正視此一問題。 / M&A Goodwill arises from the difference of "M&A investment cost" and "the acquired company's identifiable net assets at fair value" .This study analyzes the administrative litigation about the " amortization of goodwill" at first. Further we study that whether the tax authority should develop the examination system of fair value evaluation to resolve disputes related to income tax. In addition , science Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) formally announced that all listed companies must apply International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) after year 2012, we summary the the Goodwill impairments during year 2013 evaluated by the listed companies and compare with the international status ,trying to understand the listed companies`s accounting policy and weather the M&A Goodwill is without evaluation . At last, this study discuss when responsible person of the corporation high paying to the acquired company whether there is "business judgment rule" applicable? In this chaotic period, this study hopes that this research result could let FSC to notice this issue as soon as possible.

The implementation of the IFRS framework in 2005 had a significant impact on the listed companies, as they became obligated to adhere to the new standard in preparing their consolidated financial statements. The new framework replaced annual amortization with regular impairment tests for goodwill. This shift provided management with the opportunity to influence the reporting to their advantage. The aim of this study is to examine the underlying factors that influence companies' decisions regarding goodwill impairments. Among the various factors that can affect goodwill impairments, four specific factors have been chosen for closer investigation in this study: CEO turnover, economic conditions, company size, and low profitability. In the present study, a quantitative method has been used to examine and analyze the research questions. Additionally, a deductive approach has been applied in the study. The data collected is based on annual reports from publicly traded companies listed on the OMX 30, OMXC25, OMXH25, and OSEBX 25 Oslo indexes between the years 2020-2022. The results of the study indicated that factors such as CEO turnover, economic downturn, or low profits did not have a significant impact on firms' decisions to write down goodwill. However, the results were more varied when it came to the factor of firm size. Two out of three statistical tests showed no significant relationship between firm size and goodwill impairments. However, the regression analysis suggested a possible significant relationship between the variables. / Införande av IFRS regelverk år 2005 hade en betydande påverkan på de börsnoterade företagen eftersom från denna tidpunkt blev de skyldiga att följa den nya standarden vid upprättandet av sin koncernredovisning. Det nya regelverket ersatte årliga avskrivningar med regelbundna tester för nedskrivning av goodwill. Detta innebar att företagsledningen fick möjlighet att påverka rapporteringen för sin egen fördel. Syfte med denna studie är att undersöka de bakomliggande faktorerna som påverkar företagens val av goodwillnedskrivningar. Av de olika faktorer som kan påverka goodwillnedskrivningar har fyra faktorer valts för att undersökas närmare i detta arbete. De faktorerna som ska undersökas är: VD-byte, konjunkturläge, företagets storlek samt lågt resultat.  I föreliggande studie har en kvantitativ metod använts för att undersöka och analysera forskningsfrågorna. Dessutom har en deduktiv ansats tillämpats i studien. Data som har samlats in baseras på årsredovisningar från börsnoterade företag på listor OMX 30, OMXC25, OMXH25 samt OSEBX 25 Oslo mellan åren 2020–2022. Resultaten från studier indikerade att faktorer som VD-byte, lågkonjunktur eller lågaresultat inte hade någon signifikant påverkan på förtegens beslut att skriva ned goodwill. Däremot var resultaten mer varierade när det gällde faktorn företagets storlek. Två av tre statistiska tester visat inget signifikant samband mellan företagens storlek och goodwillnedskrivningar. Dock visade regressionsanalysen på ett möjligt signifikant samband mellan variablerna

The graduation thesis is targeted at the issue of accounting methods for business combinations. The main goal of the thesis is to describe and compare tree basic accounting methods for business combinations -- purchase method, pooling of interests method and new entity method, especially in terms of the International Financial Reporting Standards and the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Essential part of the thesis is dedicated to the historical development of harmonization of business combination accounting. Changes in calculation of goodwill are also included.