The impairment of goodwill is not only an accounting technical issue but also involves arhetorical game when justifying the impairment. Therefore, the purpose of this study has been toenhance the readers' understanding of the rhetoric found in the justifications of goodwillimpairments. This was done by examining the presentation of goodwill impairments in financialreports. The theoretical framework is based on previous research on goodwill impairments andthe theory of impression management. To address the research question, a qualitative case studywas employed as the scientific method. Furthermore, a text analysis of the annual reports of thecase companies was conducted, with a focus on the note on intangible assets. The sampleconsisted of four Swedish companies in the industrial construction and engineering industry. Theresults indicate that rhetorical categories and strategies identified in previous research were alsofound in this study. The rhetoric in the companies' justifications is interpreted as rhetoricalattempts to deny own responsibility, diminish the significance of the impairment, and make theimpairment difficult to interpret. In the analysis, the study referred back to the theoreticalframework and built upon concepts from impression management after applying them to theempirical data. This building process concluded with a summary model of how rhetoricalcategories and strategies were utilized in the data sample. After the analysis, the study could drawthe overall conclusion that the case companies attempted to influence stakeholders' perception ofthe companies in a positive manner through rhetorical presentation of the impairment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:ltu-98514 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Joed, Aron, Mohamud, Faduma |
| Publisher | Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för ekonomi, teknik, konst och samhälle |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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