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The objective of this paper is to assess the value relevance of goodwill impairment losses with reference to the listed companies operating in the European Union area during the period from 2008 to 2011. We investigate whether the information of goodwill impairment is a relevant factor that influences the investment decisions of market operators, testing the statistical significance and the explanatory power of a multivariate regression model widely known in literature for estimating market stock prices of companies using balance sheet data, including goodwill impairment. To this end, we select two samples of companies: a first group of listed companies operating in United Kingdom from 2008 to 2011 that is similar to the one used in previous researches on the same topic; a second group of firms operating in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom that reported a goodwill impairment loss for the same period, to extend the analyses also to other economic contexts. Each sample is split into further subsamples differentiated in terms of country of domicile, reference year, industry sector and level of relative importance of goodwill impairments. We propose some changes to the original model, including a new explanatory variable aimed at considering also country-specific differences. The analyses of subsamples show that goodwill impairment is significant only for two years (2008 and 2009) and for French listed companies across all periods. Therefore, further investigation should help in understanding these differences that could be related to country-specific factors such as cultural, environmental and regulatory aspects.

Under the IAS-IFRS standards, agricultural activity is accounted for using a fair value model. In 2014, the IASB amended the accounting treatment for bearer plants with the aim to address some concerns that have emerged since the application of the IAS 41. Th e amendments require that bearer plants be accounted for like property, plant and equipment (IAS 16). In the paper, there are analysed the aspects introduced by these amendments, moving from the IASB project. In particular, the reasons that led to these amendments are explained and it is explored whether all the concerns previously identifi ed by accounting scholars and practitioners have been addressed. Moreover, there are identifi ed some possible obstacles to the practical application of the amendments to the IAS 41.

Using a large sample of public and private Italian companies, I investigate whether regional tax compliance affects earnings management activity in response to a decrease in the corporate tax rate. I find evidence that the higher the regional tax compliance where the company is based, the less managers engage in tax motivated earnings management. On the other hand, empirical results do not support the hypothesis that companies with an audit committee manage their earnings less in order to reduce their tax burden. Further analyses, however, show that the presence of an audit committee is relevant when interacted with the regional tax compliance. The impact of regional tax compliance on tax motivated earnings management declines when a company has an audit committee and this suggests a substitution effect between internal and external monitoring mechanisms. Finally, sensitivity tests show that both the intensity of earnings management for tax purposes and the effect of regional tax compliance are more material for small firms