Dissent of Anthony T Cope, James J Leisenring and Geoffrey Whittington
DO1 Messrs Cope and Leisenring and Professor Whittington dissent from the issue of IAS 36.
DO2 Messrs Cope and Leisenring and Professor Whittington dissent because they object to the impairment test that the Standard requires for goodwill.
DO3 Messrs Cope and Leisenring agree with the prohibition, in paragraph 54 of IFRS 3 Business Combinations, of amortisation of goodwill. [The Board issued a revised IFRS 3 in 2008. The amortisation of goodwill is prohibited, but the paragraph reference no longer exists in IFRS 3 (as revised in 2008)] Research and experience have demonstrated that the amortisation of goodwill produces data that is meaningless, and perhaps even misleading. However, if goodwill is not amortised, its special nature mandates that it should be accounted for with caution. The Basis for Conclusions on IAS 36 (paragraph BC131) states that ‘if a rigorous and operational impairment test [for goodwill] coul
…