International and U.S. accounting standard setters are poised to take opposite positions on how to account for goodwill, the hard-to-value intangible asset that arises in business acquisitions.
A joint meeting Thursday between the International Accounting Standards Board and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board showed that FASB would prefer to allow public companies to amortize goodwill, or write it off over time. The IASB, in contrast, has made a preliminary decision to stick with the present impairment system, under which companies only need to write down the goodwill’s value if there is an event that makes ...