Impairment of assets (IAS 36), a consistent application, to what extent?

The objective of this paper is to determine whether the application of impairment of assets -IAS 36- is consistent among companies and countries. The study covers 302 companies in 16 countries which mandate the application of IFRS for listed and consolidated companies. A descriptive analysis was performed on information obtained from financial statements for the reporting year 2008. This same information was used for linear and logistic regressions that were conducted on a number of variables that are determined from the literature to have an impact on the impairment recognition and magnitude. Some of these variables such as return, market to book ratio and leverage were found to have an impact on the impairment decision and magnitude. The impact of these variables was different whether we consider all countries pooled together or whether we put European and Non-European countries in separate groups. If we go further and treat each country individually, when enough companies are available, we notice that the impact of these variables still is different. In addition, the study showed differences in percentage of non-explained variables embedded in the residuals obtained from the regressions performed on individual and grouped countries. These differences are an indication of the presence of factors that affect the consistent application of IFRS. Some of these factors are difference in interpretation, influence of domestic accounting standards, culture and enforcement bodies.