A Comparison of Goodwill Trends between Financial and Information Technology Firms

The purpose of this project is to compare the trends in goodwill between the top two most active industries in terms of mergers and acquisitions, financial and information technology firms, after FASBs 141 and 142 were released in 2001. Data was collected and analyzed from financial statements and organizational web sites. All of the information is publicly available. The outcome of this project is an analysis of the trends and effects that have resulted from the implementation of FASB 141 and 142. The project will show that goodwill levels remain constant in financial firms, while levels in information technology firms were more volatile