The nuts and bolts of impairment testing

Description

Abstract: In today’s tumultuous economy, many companies have been forced to report impairment losses in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. This article explains how valuators test for impairment, briefly describing several Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) statements and their implications for reporting both tangible and intangible asset impairment. The article notes that impairment testing is designed to give investors, lenders and other stakeholders fair warning of impending financial troubles and other problems as well as to fairly state balance sheet values.