Auditors’ Perceptions of Goodwill Write-Offs Under IFRS

In this paper, we explore auditors' perceptions of goodwill accounting under IFRS with a survey of Finnish KHT-certified auditors in 2011. Exploratory factor analysis indicates that auditors are divided in two distinct groups: one group has a favorable attitude towards the IFRS procedures of goodwill accounting, while the other group sees that managerial interests affect goodwill impairment decisions. A binary choice model shows that Big 4 auditors are more likely to belong to the favorable group