There is a long-standing debate on the recognition of intangible assets and whether they can be measured reliably. Most recognized intangibles are acquired in business combinations, and estimating their fair values is highly subjective. Using a broad sample of business combinations in the U.S....

A large body of literature demonstrates that acquisitions are on average value-destroying for the acquirer. We investigate whether the change in the acquirer's information uncertainty contributes to acquirer wealth losses. Information uncertainty affects the discount rate (the cost of capital),...

This paper examines changes in acquirer and target companies' Credit Default Swap (CDS) spreads as a proxy for default risk around official mergers and acquisitions (M&A) announce-ments. Related literature extensively documents wealth effects triggered by M&A from the shareholders' perspective,...

Small acquirers enjoy announcement period returns that are significantly higher than announcement returns for larger acquirers, but small acquirers significantly underperform after the acquisition is consummated. We investigate why the market appears to “get it wrong” at the announcement of...

This paper examines changes in Credit Default Swap (CDS) spreads as a proxy for default risk after M&A announcement for the companies involved. Existing literature extensively documents wealth effects triggered by M&A announcements from the shareholders' perspective, but there is limited...

Private equity grows from strength-to-strength, with 2021 being a record year for private equity buyouts. The success of private equity is dependent upon making large returns on investment. Partly, success is derived from growing acquired companies, making acquired companies more efficient, and...

This study examined whether external users of financial statements are capable of assessing goodwill impairment apart from management. This study aimed at investigating goodwill write-offs resulted from acquisitions among Jordanian shareholding companies in Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during...

This case can be used as a supplement to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. -- Intercorporate Investments (A) (UVA-C-2240). Students are presented with hypothetical data related to one of Berkshire Hathaway's investments and asked to compare the financial statement impacts of the investment if it is...

Due to the concerns about the annual SFAS 142 impairment test, the FASB has recently added a project to its technical agenda to evaluate potential alternatives for measurement of goodwill. Motivated by the FASB's consideration of a change in goodwill accounting, I examine the impact of SFAS 142...

We investigate the suggested substitutive relation between executive compensation and the disciplinary threat of takeover imposed by the market for corporate control. We complement other empirical studies on managerial compensation and corporate control mechanisms in three distinct ways. First,...