By: Ersa Tri Wahyuni

This piece was written back in 2006 where I am still fascinated by Goodwill Accounting. My research interest has been developed, but goodwill accounting is always an interesting issue to follow… occasionally…

I love history… and I love accounting… please enjoy the goodwill accounting from a humble accounting historian perspective.

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Goodwill appears in the balance sheet of a company when a business purchases another business and pays for more than the fair value of the specifically identified net assets of the acquiree. In United States, where accounting standards are more advanced than in most other countries, goodwill has been reported for more than 100 years, but before the 1970s there was no single accounting and financial treatment for goodwill (Kintzele et.al, 2005). (more…)