Ändamålsenligheten med revisorers arbete vid granskning av goodwillvärdering
With the introduction of IFRS, the IASB left the previously used method of amortization and instead introduced fair value. Studies show that firms manipulate the value of goodwill based on agency related incentives and opportunities, such as bonus payment, management tenure and acquisition of firms. The responsibility of checking the quality of financial reports, and give other market participants reasons to trust them, is primarily on accountants. The transition to fair value thus creates a problem for accountants to actually check the fair values produces by firms. Our purpose is to investigate whether the working method of accountants is purposeful in order to maintain the credibility of goodwill values. We have conducted interviews with accountants from the Big 4. We found that accountants, through the use of WACC specialists, well developed documentation methods and their proactive inquiring about goodwill values to firms, show that their working methods are purposeful to maintain the credibility of goodwill values.