In this article, we revisit the history of accounting for goodwill in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Japan following the conclusions and predictions of Ding, Richard and Stolowy (2008). We aim at verifying whether the four phases of development of the accounting for goodwill between 1880 and 2005 are actually determined by the global change from a stakeholder model of corporate governance to a shareholder model. An extended time frame of analysis (until 2016) is considered in this study, which includes Japan among the country-specific accounting systems investigated. Our findings do not support Ding et al.’s predictions for Japan and demonstrate a disagreement between those countries which consider goodwill as a depleting asset and those which consider goodwill as a permanent asset. This observation might explain better the current debate concerning international harmonization on goodwill.

How should corporate sustainability be addressed in financial reporting? This research investigates the potential use of capital maintenance as a framework to develop sustainability reporting. Its claim is that the disclosure of capital should be reconsidered to strengthen corporate accountability.After conducting a historical review of capital maintenance theories, three purpose-oriented treatments are identified: the net assets, dynamic and sustainable views. From the viewpoint of stakeholders' information and corporate social responsibility, disclosure based on the sustainable capital maintenance view would enhance transparency. Furthermore, it would provide a measurement basis that currently lacks for subsequent regulation of corporate behavior.Consistently, relevant accounting methods should be developed to complement the loopholes of modern reporting standards. The claim of this research is that sustainable capital maintenance could be implemented by defining and disclosing three key elements of equity: capital contributed by shareholders, retained earnings, and a sustainability reserve, which would reflect the financial assessment of future environmental and social risks. Since this reserve would only affect the allocation of retained earnings and not the measurement of performance, it would be compatible with international financial reporting standards.

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