Disclosure Quality of Goodwill Impairment Testing: A Disclosure Index

Abstract:This study sets out to offer proof of several important questions relating to the quality of information disclosed on goodwill impairment process under the new requirements of FRS 36. This study investigates the compliance level and disclosure quality of FRS 36 by top 20 of Singaporean listed firms in SGX at 2007 based on their market capitalization. In order to achieve the objective of this study, the weight- ed index is chosen because this index is able to differentiate the quality and impor- tance of each mandatory disclosure under FRS 36. The weighted index was developed by constructing a disclosure scoring sheet, obtaining annual reports of 20 sampled Singapore firms for particular year, complet- ing scoring sheet for each firms by assigned weighted for the disclosure items and calculating disclosure weighted index. The weighted index was analyzed to examine the firm’s compliance with the FRS 36 disclosure requirements. The results of this study revealed that 18 out of 20 (90%) firms in Singapore failed to comply with the most basic elements of the FRS 36 pertaining to goodwill impairment testing espe- cially in allocating goodwill into the CGUs and key assumptions used in determin- ing the recoverable amount of CGU assets.