An Examination of the practice of goodwill disclosure among Australian firms during 2007

The adoption of international accounting standards in Australia for all reporting periods from 1 January 2005 saw changes to a number of reporting practices. These include significant changes in the treatment and reporting of goodwill. Now in 2007, with two reporting periods having passed since the commencement of the new standards, it is appropriate to consider how firms in Australia are responding to the standard as it relates to goodwill. This report replicates research carried out by Carlin, Finch and Ford (2007a) in 2006 with regard to the assessment of disclosure quality and compliance levels by large listed Australian firms. In particular this report sets out to determine whether there has been in improvement compliance levels and the nature and quality of the disclosure, given that firms have now had two reporting periods to adjust to the standard. This report also seeks to determine whether the compliance levels and quality of disclosure found are comparable on an industry sector basis or indicate standard practice by auditor. Further research in this area has been carried out by Carlin, Finch and Ford (2007b) observed patterns of practice when firms were aggregated by auditor rather than sector.