FASB Announces Decisions on Goodwill.

• Position: Financial Accounting Standards Board - Brief Article

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has tentatively decided that goodwill recorded on corporate balance sheets, arising from acquisitions completed prior to the date the board issues its final statement on business combinations, should no longer be amortized. From the date of issuance, all goodwill would be accounted for using an impairment approach, that is, written down and expensed against earnings, only in the periods in which the recorded value of goodwill is more than its fair value.

In addition, the board decided to issue for public comment its tentative decisions regarding an impairment-only approach to accounting for goodwill, which was announced in Dec. 2000. The board plans to issue this revised limited...