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Towards an understanding of the phases of goodwill accounting in four Western capitalist countries: From stakeholder model to shareholder model

Author

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  • Ding, Yuan
  • Stolowy, Hervé
  • Richard, Jacques
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to illustrate that the change in shareholders’ attitude towards firms (from stakeholder model to shareholder model) influences the accounting treatments of goodwill. This study is based on four countries (Great Britain, the United States, Germany, and France) and covers more than a century, starting in 1880. The authors explain that all these countries have gone through four identified phases of goodwill accounting, classified as (1) “static”(immediate or rapid expensing), (2) “weakened static” (write-off against equity), (3) “dynamic” (recognition with amortization over a long period) and (4) “actuarial” (recognition without amortization but with impairment if necessary).

Suggested Citation

  • Ding, Yuan & Stolowy, Hervé & Richard, Jacques, 2007. "Towards an understanding of the phases of goodwill accounting in four Western capitalist countries: From stakeholder model to shareholder model," HEC Research Papers Series 872, HEC Paris.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:heccah:0872
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Goodwill – Accounting history – Social nature of accounting – Stakeholder/shareholder models – Corporate governance; France; Germany; Great Britain; United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

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