商誉减值研究述评及中国情境下研究展望

随着资本市场并购浪潮的兴起,商誉风险激增,减值测试制度下商誉减值问题已引起广泛关注。为此,从管理者私利动机、公司经济因素、并购特征等角度对商誉减值文献进行综合回顾,揭示了商誉减值的成因;从管理者、企业和中介机构等主体方面,分析了商誉减值产生的经济后果,并归纳了商誉减值的分类研究方法,梳理了商誉减值中“洗大澡”和规避行为的监督机制。在上述分析的基础上,结合我国制度背景,提出了未来可拓展的研究方向,包括:(1)回归到商誉本身的经济价值,探索商誉减值更为科学的分类计量方法;(2)结合股权结构特征,考察控股股东在商誉减值决策中的影响作用;(3)实证分析商誉减值规避等不当行为的不利影响及其作用边界条件;(4)重点关注和探讨商誉减值规避的外部监督机制,以及不同监督机制的相互作用效果。

Goodwill Impairment:A Literature Review and Prospects for Research in China's Context

After several waves of mergers and acquisitions,the potential risks of goodwill assets in the capital market have increased sharply,and the issue of goodwill impairment under impairment test system has attracted wide attention.This paper takes stock of the existing literature by documenting the causes of goodwill impairment from the perspectives of managers'self-interest motives,corporate economic factors,mergers and acquisitions characteristics,investigating the economic consequences of goodwill impairment for managers,corporations and intermediaries,summarizing the classification methods of goodwill impairment and evaluating the monitoring mechanisms for the misbehavior in impairment record,such as“big bath”and impairment avoidance.By taking into account the Chinese institutional background,this paper suggests that the following issues are worthy of further studies in the future:(1)to cling to the economic value of goodwill assets and explore ways to categorize and measure goodwill impairment more accurately;(2)to examine the influence of controlling shareholders in goodwill impairment decisions by taking into account the characteristics of the listed firms'ownership structure;(3)to investigate the negative effects of such kinds of misbehavior like goodwill impairment avoidance and define the parameter of these effects;(4)to explore the external monitoring mechanisms for the avoidance of goodwill impairment and monitor the combined effects of different mechanisms.