Goodwill is an asset that is recorded on the balance sheet and whose definition and calculation is specific to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, i.e., GAAP. This specific description helps managers and investors to understand the answer to the question, “what Is Goodwill in accounting?”
What Is Goodwill in Accounting?
A business’ Goodwill is the totality of the advantage it enjoys in its reputation and the extent of the network it has with its customers, plus the circumstance of the situation it operates in. Goodwill, therefore, presents the link with any other product or business and the intangible value of customers’ attraction to what the business owns, does, and is.
The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) IAS 38 does not permit an entity to recognize internally generated Goodwill, e.g., publishing titles and internally generated brands. It states that the only Goodwill in accounting that is acceptable is one that has been attained externally through acquisitions or business combinations. What Is Goodwill in accounting? It is an externally measured standard.
What Is Goodwill in Accounting According to GAAP?
GAAP answers the question “what Is Goodwill in accounting” by describing a firm’s Goodwill as the surplus of the total cost of an acquired business over the present fair assessment of the independently exclusive net assets of the purchased company. Goodwill is an asset to an organization’s balance sheet if that organization has bought over another business.
The acquiring firm will record Goodwill as an asset on its books of accounts, i.e., the balance sheet based on the acquisition of the other company which has nothing to do with the acquiring firms own Goodwill.
GAAP does not permit a firm to record its own Goodwill because of the imprecise nature that makes it hard for someone to make a measurement. Businesses engage in discussion about Goodwill which they believe they have created in the act of their operations as reported in their annual reports, but which they have not recorded in the balance sheets.
Fair value is a GAAP term that many investors and managers refer to us the market value. In the process of a firm acquiring another entity, it values its assets typically at the market value, but because many assets are deprived of a fully functioning market, the technical term fair value is always used which may be based on bids, transactional history, etc.
The net asset is a term that denotes assets minus liabilities, while independently exclusive net assets refer to liabilities plus assets that can be distinguished from the rest of the business and can be rented, sold, settled, leased, etc. For example, you cannot detach an employee’s morale or a client’s loyalty from the rest of a firm’s asset: hence they are not independently exclusive net assets.
On the other hand, a client list is independently identifiable because it can be sold, rented or leased. It is important to note that Goodwill per se is not detachable from the purchased entity’s net assets and one can only buy it as part of the entire company to which it is attached. Furthermore, GAAP defines intangible assets as items stated in the balance sheet as assets but separate from goodwil.
Is Goodwill an Intangible Asset?
What Is Goodwill in accounting? Is it an intangible asset? Technically Goodwill is not an intangible asset as it is an amount paid by an acquiring business which is over and above the fair value of the totality of all independently exclusive net assets that comprise all intangible assets.
This definition brings about confusion as GAAP defines Goodwill as an asset which is invisible but actually cannot be classified as an intangible asset in the books of accounts. These have led to businesses listing Goodwill separately from intangible assets or combining and recording them as “Goodwill plus intangible assets.”
An Intuitive Answer to “What is Goodwill in Accounting?”
Goodwill is best defined as an acquiring business that is willing and able to compensate the acquiree’s fair value of its total net assets plus an excess amount (Goodwill) for non-identifiable items; for example, workers’ knowledge of business operations, good customer relations, advantageous location, well-respected business name, etc.
These non-identifiable items, like an employee’s morale and good client relations, are untouchable assets that cannot be quantified easily, but they give the business an edge over its competitors and are worth something.
Who Needs to Know about It and Why
Accountants list Goodwill as an asset in the balance sheet, but you cannot sell or buy it. For some analysts, they prefer to overlook it when analyzing the net worth of a firm or when analyzing a company’s assets. One measure commonly used by an analyst is the tangible book value that excludes noncash items on the balance sheet like amortization and Goodwill.
The exact amount of Goodwill is hard to extract as it is amorphous. This means an acquiring entity can pay more for the acquiree and when the acquired net assets drop in value, an accountant writes them down through a process known as impairment. They charge these impairment costs to the income statement which will ultimately affect a company’s earnings per share and its stock price.
Why Goodwill in Accounting Is Analyzed on a Balance Sheet
Expert investors and analyst scrutinize the Goodwill amounts closely on the balance sheet of a business as it aids in assessing whether the acquiring firm overpaid during an acquisition or merger or is undertaking a considerable risk when purchasing another entity.
If more money was paid for the Goodwill, investors and analyst will be keen to know how the managers aim to generate more wealth from that acquisition after paying a price above the definable net assets. When Goodwill becomes impaired overtime, it means that the purchase was a failure and wealth had been lost.
How to Calculate Goodwill in Accounting
Today, Goodwill is no longer being amortized, and it remains on the balance sheet as an asset without annual write-offs till it is impaired. The impairment testing of Goodwill is sophisticated, and it involves performing such things as a discounted cash flow analysis of the expected cash flow from the Goodwill measures. The philosophy of the current method of calculating Goodwill is that the ongoing business value, if solid with a lot of franchise value, will rarely decline; but with time it grows and expands.
Calculating Goodwill
IFRS 3 that deals with business combinations calculate Goodwill as the net amount involving the consideration amount that is transferred from the purchaser to acquiree plus the independently exclusive net assets that have been purchased. This formula under the IFRS is listed as:
Goodwill in Accounting = Consideration paid + Sum of non-controlling interests + Fair value of prior equity interests – Recognized Net assets
Note that the sum of non-controlling interest is part of the formula, hence the method used to derive the non-controlling interest (NCI) will impact the determination of the business’s Goodwill. In line with International Financial Reporting Standard 3, two techniques are available for coming up with the non-controlling interest amount:
- 1Fair value
- 2Non-controlling interest’s equitable allocation of the independently exclusive net assets of the purchased business
Example
ABCY Ltd acquired a 90% stake in XYZ Ltd for 50 million, and the fair value was $16 million for the noncontrolling interest. The investors settled to purchase the fair value of the identifiable and exclusive net assets at $70 million, and there was no existence of the equity interest. Under the full Goodwill method, the analyst derived Goodwill at $38 million calculated as:
Goodwill = ($100 + $8 – $70)= $38 million
In the second method for deriving NCI, the value of Goodwill is found to be $37 million calculated as:Goodwill = (100+ [70×0.1]-70= $37 million
Therefore there is a discrepancy of $1 million involving the amounts of the calculated Goodwill with the two techniques.
Conclusion
The above explanation answer the question “what is Goodwill in accounting.” Even though Goodwill is intangible, it is still quantifiable and a very significant part of a firm’s valuation. Under the GAAP rules, Goodwill on the books of accounts (balance sheet) represents the premium amount that was paid when purchasing a business at a higher price than what has been quantified as the actual value of the identifiable assets of an entity.
When one company buys another one, the amount it pays is referred to as the purchase price, which accountants take and subtract from an entity’s book value and other purchase adjustments; for example, assigning a specific amount to the business’ customer relations or location.
That value which accountants cannot allocate to a tangible asset is transferred to a particular account called Goodwill. If an organization has an intangible value concerning trademarks, patents, or brand names, this will eventually support the value of the Goodwill amount. Goodwill signifies the amount that an acquirer paid for a business beyond its building, cash, inventory, and fixtures.