We investigate the conditions under which the accounting‐based acquisition goodwill disclosed by U.S. filers appropriately represents an asset to the firm — specifically, whether accounting - based acquisition goodwill is representationally faithful to the underlying economics of the...

Using a novel dataset that includes estimates of the fair value of the targets' purchased tangible and intangible assets, we demonstrate that private targets have significantly more intangible assets than do public targets. We then develop a valuation model that is based on the fair values of...

Acquirers, on average, earn higher announcement-period returns when their targets are privately held than when their targets are publicly traded. We show that private targets have significantly more intangible assets than do public targets. We then develop a valuation model that is based on the...