Time For Goodwill Hunting

“商誉”作为一个会计学术语听起来很无辜。不过对亚洲公司而言，它将会很令人头痛。一家公司的资产负债表中的商誉可以作为它被收购时的溢价，是高出其市值以外的部分。它的账面价值取决于年度减值测试。如果相关业务未来创造现金的前景大幅下降，公司可能被迫冲减这部分资产，进而打击公司的收益。由于亚洲近年来的并购活动大量增加，商誉问题就更令人关注。2004年至2007年期间，并购交易增加了一倍以上。Macquarie Research的分析显示，在此期间，平均溢价水平约为16%，总体商誉水平大幅上扬。如今，随着交易状况的急剧恶化，这些商誉资产看来也要进行大规模的减记了。迄今为止公司发布的业绩可以更充分地说明这点。比如，新西兰电信(Telecom Corp. of New Zealand)第二季度利润较上年同期下滑了92%，主要就是由于2007年收购一家澳大利亚公司的3,500万美元支出。Macquarie Research列举了不少商誉在市值中占有很高比例的亚洲公司，其中包括渣打银行(Standard Chartered)和汇丰控股(HSBC Holdings)等金融类股，以及国泰航空(Cathay Pacific Airways)和印度塔塔钢铁(Tata Steel)等公司。不过，商誉的会计方法留下了很大的判断余地。它属于非现金支出，因此并不见得会损害公司的经营环境。因此，它也为企业在实际中夸大商誉减记敞开了大门，以期突出未来利润的回弹。Andrew Peaple相关阅读日本并购交易逆势增长 2009-01-07巴西和中国08年并购交易额双双创下新高 2008-12-24科技企业看到新“钱途” 2008-12-23并购新时代 买家说了算 2008-12-12


The accounting term 'goodwill' sounds harmless enough. For Asian companies, it is about to cause quite a headache.Goodwill arises on a balance sheet as the premium a company pays for an acquisition, over and above the market value of what it's buying. Its carrying value is subject to an annual impairment test. If the future cash-generation outlook for an underlying business has declined significantly, companies may be forced to write down the asset, taking a hit to earnings.In Asia, where recent years have seen booming acquisition activity, that's a particular concern. Acquisition volumes more than doubled from 2004 to 2007. In that time, average premium levels were around 16%, and overall goodwill levels have soared, analysis by Macquarie Research shows.Now, with trading conditions nose-diving, those goodwill assets look ripe for heavy write-downs.Company results released so far suggest as much. Telecom Corp. of New Zealand, for example, saw its second-quarter profit slump 92% from a year earlier, largely due to a US$35 million charge taken on an Australian company it bought in 2007.Macquarie lists a number of Asian firms where goodwill is high as a percentage of market value, including several financial stocks like Standard Chartered and HSBC Holdings, along with the likes of Cathay Pacific Airways and India's Tata Steel.Still, goodwill accounting leaves a lot of room for judgment. And it's a noncash charge that won't necessarily hurt the operating environment for a business.As such, it also leaves the door open for companies to actually inflate their goodwill write-downs, in the hope of accentuating future profit recoveries.Andrew Peaple