The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is focused on the impairment of assets according to czech law, the second part focuses on the impairment of assets under IFRS. In both parts there is short chapter about valuation, followed by chapters: depreciation, impairment of longlived tangible assets, longlived intangible assets, inventories, receivables and financial assets. In the IFRS part there is also described impairment of assets held for sale.

Prior to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No.121 (SFAS No.121): Accounting for the Impairment of Long-Lived Assets and Long-Lived Assets to Be Disposed Of, managers had substantial discretion concerning the amount and timing of reporting writedowns of long-lived assets. Moreover, the frequency and dollar amount of asset writedown announcements that led to a large “surprise” caused the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to consider the need for a new standard to guide the recording of impairment of long-lived assets. This study has two primary objectives. First, it investigates the effects of SFAS No.121 on asset impairment reporting, examining whether SFAS No.121 reduces the magnitude and restricts the timing of reporting asset writedowns. Second, the study compares the information content (surprise element) of the asset impairment loss announcement as measured by cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) before and after the issuance of SFAS No.121. The findings provide support for the hypothesis that the FASB's new accounting standard does not affect the magnitude of asset writedown losses. The findings also provide support for the hypothesis that SFAS No. 121 does not affect the management choice of the timing for reporting asset writedowns. In addition, the findings suggest that the market evaluates the asset writedown losses after the issuance of SFAS No. 121 as good news for “big bath” firms, while, for “income smoothing” firms, the market does not respond to the announcements of asset writedown losses either before or after the issuance of SFAS No. 121. The findings also suggest that, for “big bath” firms, the market perceives the announcement of asset impairment losses after the adoption of SFAS No. 121 as more credible relative to that before its issuance. This could be because the practice of reporting asset writedowns after the issuance of SFAS No. 121 is under the FASB's authoritative guidance, which brings consistency and comparability in asset impairment reporting.

Till följd av redovisningens utveckling och att olika länder har olika regleringar, har det blivit problematiskt att harmonisera och standardisera redovisningsinformation världen över. För att lösa det problemet lanserade FASB och IASB nya redovisningsregleringar, där t.ex. goodwillavskrivning ersattes med nedskrivningsprövning. I och med de nya regleringarna har det uppstått en diskussion om huruvida goodwillnedskrivning ger värderelevant information till investerare. Det är det som är syftet med den här studien; finns det ett samband mellan goodwillnedskrivning och börsvärde inom industribranschen i Sverige? Således om goodwillnedskrivning används av investerare vid företagsvärdering för räkenskapsåren 2005–2017. Studien har en kvantitativ metod och en deduktiv ansats. Datamaterialet har hämtats från Retriever Business samt direkt från bolagens årsredovisningar. Datamaterialet har analyserats genom en multipel regressionsanalys. Den multipla regressionsanalysen resulterade i ett negativt signifikant samband mellan börsvärde och goodwillnedskrivning, således är goodwillnedskrivning ett värderelevant mått för investerare inom industribranschen i Sverige. / Due to accounting development and different regulations in different countries, it has become difficult to harmonise and standardise accounting information worldwide. To solve this problem FASB and IASB launched a new regulation, where goodwill amortisation was replaced with impairments. With the new regulation, a discussion has arisen as to whether goodwill impairments provide value relevant information to investors. The purpose with this study is to evaluate if there is a relation between market value and goodwill impairments within the industrial sector in Sweden. Thus, if goodwill impairments are used by investors at company valuation for the financial years of 2005-2017. This study has a quantitative method and a deductive approach. The data have been retrieved from Retriever Business and from the company’s annual reports. The data have then been analysed via a multiple regression. The multiple regression showed a negative significant relation between market value and goodwill impairment, thus goodwill impairments are value relevant information for investors within the industrial sector in Sweden

I denna studien har 97 företag på Stockholmsbörsens Large Cap undersökts för de finansiella åren 2016 och 2017. Syftet med studien har varit att förklara sambandet mellan nedskrivning av goodwill och börsvärde för företag på den svenska aktiemarknaden samt att analysera och jämföra studiens resultat med tidigare forskning som utförts på utländska marknader. Det innebär att goodwillnedskrivningens värderelevans har undersökts för att se om företagens börsvärde påverkas när nedskrivning av goodwill görs samt om informationen påverkar investerarens beslut. För att undersöka det har vi utgått från en modell som har tillämpats av andra forskare. Modellen innefattar variablerna börsvärde, eget kapital, resultat före skatt, redovisad goodwill och nedskrivning av goodwill; och information om dessa har inhämtats från företagens årsredovisningar. Undersökningen gjordes med hjälp av en multipel regressionsanalys. Det positiva sambandet mellan börsvärde och eget kapital och resultat före skatt som resultatet påvisade innebar att vi kunde anta att aktiemarknaden i stort är värderelevant. För att undersöka goodwillnedskrivningarnas värderelevans krävdes det att redovisad goodwill var en värderelevant variabel vilket resultatet visade. Ett positivt samband kunde påvisas mellan nedskrivning av goodwill och börsvärde, vilket indikerar att det inte är värderelevant. Detta tyder på att dessa nedskrivningar inte ger investerare någon tillförlitlig information i investeringsbeslut. / In this study 97 companies from Nasdaq Stockholm´s Large Cap has been examined for the financial years 2016 and 2017. The purpose of the study has been to explain the correlation between goodwill impairment loss and market value for companies on the Swedish market and to analyze and compare the study´s results with previous research that has been found on foreign markets. This means that the value relevance of goodwill impairments has been examined to see if the companies´ market value is affected when goodwill impairment loss is made and if the information affects the investors decision. A model previously used by other researchers has been applied to examine this. The model includes the variables market value, book value, pre-tax profit, carrying value of goodwill and goodwill impairment loss; and information about these has been collected from the companies’ annual reports. The study was done using a multiple regression analysis. The positive correlation between market value and the variables of book value and pre-tax profit means that we could assume that the stock market is value relevant. In order to investigate the value relevance of goodwill impairment loss it was required that reported goodwill was a value relevant variable, which the result showed. A positive correlation could be demonstrated between impairment of goodwill and market capitalization, which indicates that it is not value relevant. This indicates that these impairment losses do not give investors any reliable information in investment decisions.