Impairment: IASB - FASB Comparison

This paper focuses on the accounting concept of impairment of long lived assets and goodwill. The objective is to identify the differences between the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) standards on impairment and to recommend a converged standard that will be acceptable to both bodies. Information for the research was obtained through primary sources such as the FASB Codification, Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts and International Accounting Standards. Information obtained from the FASB and IASB web sites, other professional research, and trade articles supplemented the primary sources. The paper identified three differences between the FASB and IASB for impairments: (1) the methods of determining impairment and its calculation, (2) the allocation of goodwill, and (3) the reversal of goodwill. We recommend there should be a two-step process to test for impairments