Topic: Goodwill Impairment at the Target Level: New Evidence from China

Date & Time: 14:30-15:30  May 9, 2026

Venue: Room 245, Quanxue Building

Organizers: School of Accounting, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics; Liaoning Province Capital Market Finance and Accounting Graduate Innovation and Academic Exchange Center

Abstract：

Research on goodwill impairment has long been constrained by the lack of target-level data, with prior studies relying on firm-level proxies that introduce substantial measurement error. We exploit Chinese merger and acquisition disclosures that allow us to observe both the earnings forecasts used to value acquisition targets and the realized earnings of those targets. This setting enables us to develop an earnings-based indication of goodwill impairment at the target level. Using 668 acquisitions by Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2022, we find that the indication is strongly associated with impairment recognition. Impairment recognition is associated with weaker future target performance, consistent with managers conveying private information. Meanwhile, managers facing stronger agency-driven incentives are less likely to recognize impairment timely. Our study advances the goodwill impairment from the firm level to the target level, which helps to better understand the triggering mechanism of impairment and the roles of goodwill accounting.

Introduction of Speaker:

Qingquan XIN, Professor of Accounting and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University, is a Distinguished Professor of the "National Major Talent Project" of the Ministry of Education (2019) and a selected scholar of the Ministry of Finance's "Accounting Masters Training Project" (2019). His research interests include accounting, auditing, securities regulation, and corporate governance. His academic papers have been published in top-tier global accounting journals such as The Accounting Review, renowned SSCI journals including the British Accounting Review, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Business Ethics, as well as leading domestic journals such as Accounting Research, Journal of Financial Research, Nankai Business Review, Economic Research Journal, Management World, and China Economic Quarterly. In 2020, Professor Xin Qingquan received the Second Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Humanities and Social Sciences from the Eighth Ministry of Education Awards. His doctoral dissertation was nominated for the National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2009. He currently serves as the Director of the Office of Social Sciences, and the President and Editor-in-Chief of the Periodicals Press at Chongqing University. He is also the Associate Editor of Contemporary Accounting Review, Field (Accounting) Editor of Luojia Management Review, Invited Editorial Board Member of China Accounting Review, and Editorial Board Member of Accounting and Economic Research.